With our bodies definitely rested now, we proceeded with the next plan to maximize JR Pass usage! A friend had recommended an island full of cats off the coast of Sendai to me, and Friend J and I had come up with a plan to spend a night in Sendai to make it happen.
Early Start
We woke up early this time and got ready for the day. We got breakfast at the lounge this time, which was basically a subset of yesterday’s breakfast except the drink options were more diverse and there was truffle oil that you could put on stuff that was pretty good. I was struck with the thought that I might just be a sucker for truffle flavoring, since it just goes well with so many things. After eating we packed our bags quickly and ran out the door as per usual. We checked out of our hotel and called a taxi, and I was able to actually specify to the driver which part of the station to drop us off at which was a huge win in my book.
We got off the taxi and ran to our platform and barely made it! Surely at some point this trip we won’t cut it close but today was definitely not that day. As we were settling in our seats I saw a 20-30 something early old jokingly sit on her mom’s lap while trying to get into the window seat, who laughed about it. I thought it was actually a really cute and wholesome moment. The train ride was only an hour and a half which was great since when we got the Sendai it was still before 11AM. We got off the train in Sendai and looked for the next station but ended up just walking to the hotel since it was just easier that way and we wanted to see the city a bit.
We dropped off our bags to store them, then immediately went back to the station to catch another train. We took the train to Shiogama to catch a sightseeing tour. We bought tickets for the boat tour and figured since we had time we may as well get some lunch nearby. We looked at an Italian place which had a line that seemed too long, so we went to a random sushi place next door.
It was one of those places with tatami mats where we had to take off our shoes, which are always a vibe. We ordered our food, and when it arrived it looked super fresh. The taste was really good, as expected of a restaurant on the water’s edge.
However we realized we were running out of time when the food arrived. We had a ton of food so we would have to just eat some and run to the tour. We tried asking for the check and the waitress looked super confused at how much food we had left, which I felt really bad about. We somehow managed to communicate with her that we had to catch the 1PM ferry and she super nice and rushed out the door to ask the ticketing desk downstairs if we could use our ticket for the next ship at 2PM. She came back and told us that the desk said it was okay so we could take our time eating, which was a huge help. With more time we took our time with our meal. After paying we went up to the roof where the observatory was, which let us see the port and also a bit of the surrounding city.
We boarded the boat and started our tour of the nearby islands.
We didn’t understand the narration at all but it was really cool seeing all the small islands around Matsushima and their strange shapes. The boat really zipped around the water, splashing water up onto the windows constantly. But we were also still allowed to get up and walk around (as we learned from watching others do so), so we were able to go to the back of the boat which was open, and enjoyed the breeze and the views as we zoomed past islands.
The boat tour dropped us off in Matsushima, a good 10 kilometers away from where we started. We walked around near the water, and there were actually a decent number of people walking around that seemed like they could be tourists. We saw a small shrine that houses statues that apparently are only shown once every 35 years, so we joked about going back in 2039. As we kept walking we came across a stall that was selling zunda products, one of Sendai’s specialty foods.
Zunda is basically just young soybeans (edamame) that have been boiled, peeled and smashed with some salt and sugar. This stall had a bunch of random things that we were curious about.
We ended up getting a zunda beer, zunda mochi, and zunda agepan (fried bread). I didn’t think I’d like it however it was all really good (even the beer). The texture is a lot like red bean paste but tastes a bit more like edamame as you might expect. The beer still tasted primarily like a beer, but it had a hint of soybean flavor and was really mellow.
After eating we saw a huge red bridge which Friend J loves, so we decided to buy tickets to cross it. The bridge lead to a small island called Fukuurajima. I had literally just said earlier “I wish we could stop on one of the islands and just explore” while we were on the boat, and this was the perfect chance to do so.
There were a few sakura trees on the island, but we mostly just walked the loop around and took pics of the island surrounding the area.
We joked about the bus factor, like if one of us fell off the cliff and didn’t come back to America how bad would it be for the other person and our teams at work.
It was getting pretty cold outside so we decided to go back to Sendai for dinner instead of staying around the area. We walked back over the bridge seeing more boats coming into the port, but figured taking a train back would make the most sense.
We decided to try our luck at one of the gyutan places I found, which was highly praised on Google reviews and also had the highest rating on Tabelog.
The line went up the stairs and around the corner (skipping the stairs itself cause the sign in front said not to wait on them). However waiting wasn’t actually too bad, we waited for a while and eventually got in. They first brought out an appetizer as the table charge.
And then we each got a place of gyutan which was really good. We thought we didn’t order enough but it was actually totally fine.
We walked back to the hotel to check in, sleep and get ready for a long day tomorrow. We did find a bit of time to grab a few things from a nearby convenience store first though.
The view from the top of the hotel was super nice, our room was pretty high up and overlooked the city where the station was.
Thoughts
Although today’s purpsoe was to just get us to Sendai, we actually had some really memorable experiences and got to do a lot of really fun things with our first day in Sendai. I’m glad we decided to plan the trip this way since we got to see a bit more of the area. Sendai’s reputation for both gyutan and zunda exist for a reason, I really like both and I’d definitely go back just to have some more.
Day 10 Travel Numbers
3 hours and ¥12,130 yen covered by JR Pass
0 hours and ¥0 yen not covered by JR Pass (not counting the boat since it was a tour)
JR Pass Value after Day 10
Cost saved: ¥101,290 + ??
Time Travelled: ~27 hr
Not covered by JR Pass
Cost: ¥5,550
Total Transportation Time
Time Travelled: ~29.5 hr
Some information may be outdated