Sendai appeared on my radar because of the marathon, which if I had managed to sign up for in time would have meant me being in the city two weeks ago. Nevertheless, despite the time crunch requiring me to skip most of Honshu, I figured it was worth popping into Tohoku’s main city. The overnight bus was not the best with my seat front and center, but I managed to catch some zzz’s before we arrived at the Sendai train station at 6am. Japan is so bright. I really don’t understand how the sun just seems so much stronger here than anywhere else.
I was about to head to a Family Mart to get some coffee and kill some time on the internet, but I saw a McDonald’s. I ordered a Mega McMuffin (which I’ve never seen before: double sausage patty, egg, cheese, and a slice of bacon) and killed two hours there. I wouldn’t be able to check in to my guesthouse until 4pm and it was out in the suburbs anyways, so I still had a whole day to kill. I found the coin lockers in the train station to lighten my load and just wandered west, following the shopping arcades which were only full of people rushing to work.
I found a public park, which was a little run down looking, but found a shady spot under a tree and laid out my picnic blanket to take a nap. To keep my phone charged, I positioned the solar panel in the sunlight. I didn’t fall asleep, but it was good to lay down flat for a while.
Sendai has a couple of museums and stuff, but after gorging on museums in Tokyo, I don’t really want to shell out for any admission tickets for a while. The only real site to see is the ruins of Sendai’s castle, which is basically just a hill to climb. There were some views of the city, so that was nice. I was rapidly getting bored, and needed to find something to do. I looked up recommended restaurants in the Lonely Planet, and decided to try a local delicacy: charcoal grilled cow tongue. It was delicious. Finally, I wandered around the shopping arcades again until I found a Starbucks, where I parked for a couple hours drinking iced coffee.
At four, I headed back to the train station, grabbed my stuff and hopped on a line out to the suburbs to find my guesthouse. The family-run guesthouse had a B&B vibe to it and the owners were very friendly. I decided to pay the extra 700 yen for the home cooked dinner and went out for a jog.
After showering, I hung out in the dining room downstairs studying a bit of Japanese until it was dinner time. I had been thinking of availing myself of the in-house bar, but was a little put off by another guest who had her two sons with her (ages 2 and 5). They and an elderly couple as well as a German cyclist circled round the table for the dinner. It was quite good: raw tuna and this other kind of tiny fish on a rice bowl with pickles and a vegetable soup. I didn’t join in the Japanese conversation, and ate my food quickly and quietly. I was still a bit hungry afterwards and quite conflicted about whether I should do my usual post-dinner snack run and whether I wanted to drink or not.
Eventually, I caved in and headed up the street to the little supermarket to “have a look.” I grabbed a package of kimchi that was marked down 50%, a bottle of Japanese whisky, and a bottle of soda water. Back at the guesthouse, the old Japanese man was trying a flight of local sake, and several other guests were drinking beers. The table had a huge bag of snacks on it. After putting her kids to bed, the mom drank too. There was a lot of drinking going on, but I didn’t quite feel at ease.
I ended up going to bed fairly early.
| McDonald’s | 550 |
| Pasmo topup | 1000 |
| Gyutan Set Meal | 1598 |
| Starbucks | 604 |
| Guesthouse (1 night) | 2500 |
| Dinner | 700 |
| Whisky and Kimchi | 815 |
| Total: | 7767 JPY (535.9 RMB) (USD 77.66) |
Running Total: 36657.5 RMB (USD 5312.5)
Daily Average: 316 RMB (USD 45.8)