We headed to Sendai from Nagano. We sent our luggage from our hotel in Nagano, to receive them in Sapporo, Hokkaido, a few days later. In the meantime, we travelled with our backpacks. From Nagano, we rode a first Shinkansen to Omiya (56 minutes), then from Omiya to Sendai (1 hour 7 minutes).
The train to Sendai was really busy, it’s the only train trip where we were not able to sit together, although we booked our seats in advance. We discovered the reason only when we arrived in Sendai: we chose to stay there right during the Aoba Matsuri, a popular local festival.
Sendai Loople bus
To visit Sendai, you can ride a loop bus, called “Loople”. It continuously tours the city, stopping at main attractions. It’s a cute retro style bus, but the seats are tiny. A steward is helping tourists before they enter the bus, by pointing all the stops of interest, based on what they want to visit. He was also kind enough to let us know how many stairs we would have to climb for each point of interest of ours…
The ticket is valid for a whole day, as you can hop-on and hop-off as much as you want. It cost 630 yens (about 4€)*.
Zuihoden mausoleum
The first point of interest we picked was Zuihoden mausoleum, a lavish looking place which is worth visiting as it looks totally different from the generally humble buildings in Japan. It doesn’t take long to visit but it was really beautiful and interesting.
Aoba castle
Around noon, we went back to the bus and hopped off at Aoba castle. There is a canteen on the castle grounds, so we first stopped for lunch. The orders are made with a machine, however everything is written in Japanese without pictures. Luckily, the lady behind us was kind enough to help us (I guess she was hungry and didn’t have the patience for us to scan the whole lot of buttons with Google translate, but still appreciated the help). We had two beef tongue baos (beef tongue, “gyutan”, is a specialty of Sendai) and some zundamochi, which are mochis wrapped with mashed edamame (also a local specialty).
We then went to see the castle, which is more precisely castle ruins (in fact, only the grounds are still there). Not really interesting in itself, in my opinion, however the place offers a great view on part of the city, as well as on a huge Buddhist statue of Daikannon (a goddess) far away.
Osaki Hachimangu
Next stop was the Osaki Hachimangu temple, located on top of a flight of stairs. The temple was also decorated with golden elements.
Aoba Matsuri
As we’re not crowd lovers, we didn’t especially want to participate in a festival (matsuri) and didn’t look for one to include in our itinerary. But there we were, in Sendai right during their big annual festival. However, we crossed a few participants of the matsuri during our bus trips and grew some interest… and decided it was a great opportunity to see what a matsuri actually is. After dropping our backpacks at the hotel and a short break, we went back to the city center.
It was around 5 PM, the city felt really lively, probably due to the festival. We found a spot to watch the festival pass by. Groups of dancers were performing their version of the Suzume Odori, a folk dance with paper fans. There are flute and drum players with them.
I’m so grateful that we could experience this, as it remains one of the most vivid memories I have from my first trip to Japan. We kept on watching it for two hours and didn’t see time fly.
It’s a really big festival but the crowds never felt overwhelming. People were really respectful of each other, keeping a distance from each other. Even if you don’t like really big gatherings, they definitely don’t feel the same in Japan. Being surrounded by so many people felt really confortable.
The sky darkened around 6.30 PM, and dancers were replaced by floats with lanterns, totally hand-maneuvered.
Nikugen Sendai
We went to the meat restaurant Nikugen, for which we make a reservation in advance. We heard of it because it got a lot of attention on social networks thanks to its “Stairway to heaven”, a meat set displayed on a stair-like tower. Unfortunately, as most of the “Instagram recommendations” we tried in Japan, it was more for show off than for food quality, in my opinion. The food was ok but I think it was overpriced (although we didn’t eat a lot of meat in Japan, so hard to compare), and the service felt a bit odd (I had the impression they tried to leave a whole bottle of wine with us to make us pay for a all-you-can-drink, while we just ordered a glass, for example).
Nikka Miyagikyo distillery
The day after, we headed to the Nikka distillery in Miyagikyo. As brewed and distilled products lovers, and as we particularly enjoy whisky, we had to visit at least one whisky distillery in Japan.
We took the JR train for about 45 minutes and arrived at 9.01 AM at the station, in time to ride the free shuttle to the distillery, leaving at 9.10 AM. I loved how confortable it was to use the public transportation in Japan: we could take the train that was arriving 9 minutes before the shuttle leaves, because we knew it would be on time!
I booked the tour by phone** a few days before, for 10 AM, but since we were on the premises earlier, we could join the 9.30 AM tour. The guide speaks in Japanese, but we got audio guides to follow along in English.
**At the time, it was only possible to book by phone in Japanese, but now it seems to be possible directly on the website, with an English interface. It’s also possible to go there directly without booking, but you would only be allowed on a tour if they’re not fully booked.
The surroundings of the distillery were gorgeous, very green. We’ve been to several distilleries already, like the ones on the preserved island of Islay in Scotland, but Nikka Miyagikyo was something totally different. The buildings were designed to mix with the surrounding greenery. I absolutely recommend the visit to whisky lovers visiting Japan, it was one of my favorite experiences there.
At the end of the tour, we received a tasting set with 3 products of the distillery. After this complementary set (part of the complementary visit), you are allowed to choose up to three additional drams per person, to order at the bar (paid). There’s also a shop, where we picked a few bottles as they are way cheaper than the ones we can find in Europe (with lots of export fees). They sell whole bottles, but also miniatures or half bottles, which is great if your home country has strict limitations for alcool purchases from abroad.
Japanese whiskies are generally subtle, full of delicate flavors. We really enjoy all the bottles we brought back!
Leaving Sendai for Hokkaido
After our visit, the free shuttle took us back to the station, and we arrived in Sendai around noon. Enough time to buy a train station bento (ekiben) and some snacks, and eat before boarding the Shinkansen to Hakodate, Hokkaido at 1.57 PM. The trip from Sendai to Hakodate (shinkansen station) lasted a bit less than 3 hours, from which 53 kilometers where in a tunnel underwater.
You can go on with our Hokkaido journey, or (re)read all posts about Japan.
*Local prices and conversation to euro based on the prices and exchange rate at the time of our trip (May-June 2023)
