As you may have noticed I've gotten a little more detailed with travel planning/pricing. I've got people reading that live here in Misawa and hope that the info I provide can help them enjoy adventuring as much as we do and realize that there's tons of places to explore!
We left the day after Christmas and had a couple busy days exploring! Sendai is about 210 miles south of Misawa, the drive takes about 4 hours, but since it's winter and the weather is unpredictable we decided to pay a little extra and take the Shinkansen (bullet train). Driving would have cost about ¥14,000 round trip in tolls plus gas and the cost for both train tickets was ¥36,000 ($360). The train only takes about 2 hours, including a 20 minute slow train from Misawa to Hachinohe's train station where the Shinkansen stops.
The Shinkansen is Japan's high speed rail system. The trains' maximum speeds range from 150-200mph. They have tested them at higher speeds and some of the newer lines they are still constructing will probably go at the higher speeds, I've read it could be somewhere around 300mph...crazy! The trains only stop for a couple minutes at each stop and they are almost always within seconds (not minutes) of their scheduled arrival/departure times.
This was going to be my first experience taking the bullet train so I didn't really know what to expect. First, they are really nice. Lots of leg room compared to a plane. Little things like coat hooks and cup holders were nice. It's ok to eat and drink on the bullet trains whereas on other trains/subways it is considered impolite. The seats can rotate 180 degrees so they always face forward (since the trains don't turn around) or so that you can spin around and have a party with the row behind you :) A group on our train did this, it was pretty neat!
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| Train arriving at the station. |
Our first day in Sendai we got checked into our hotel (my first Japanese style hotel room), walked the shopping streets downtown, went to see the giant Buddha statue and checked out the Pageant of Starlight!
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| Most of the places we went were right downtown. The red point to the northwest is the location of the Buddha Statue. |
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| This is a close up of downtown and our stops. |
Stayed at the Hotel Green Mark, a short walk from the train station. It was pretty cheap, less than $70/night I think. We had a "semidouble" room which in Japan means one bed, slightly larger than a twin. Booking a "twin" room will get you 2 twin sized beds. The "semidouble" rooms are usually just over 100 sq ft.
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| Looking in the room from the door. |
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| This gives a good idea of how small the bathroom is... sink hangs over the edge of the tub. |
From the hotel we walked to the covered streets full of stores/restaurants. On the way we passed an outdoor market and lots of flowers (crazy to see in December, and it is cold in Sendai).
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| The tan things are lotus root. |
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| Keenan calls these "bacon bit shrimp" The tiniest little shrimp I've ever seen, maybe 1 cm long. |
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| Wandering the streets, I enjoyed seeing "real" stores again even though I didn't shop for anything! |
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| Lunch at Sukiya, a fast food chain. Loved their animations for size options. |
From lunch we headed toward the Sendai Daikannon, the Buddha statue. The closest train station to the statue was still not within walking distance so we had to take a cab the rest of the way. Our cab was some sort of old hybrid car, when the driver put it in park at red lights the engine shut off and the started again when he put it in drive.
The Daikannon statue is 100m (330ft) tall and is the 6th tallest statue (of any kind) in the world. Kannon is the Buddhist deity of mercy/compassion.
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| Me in front of the statue. |
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| View from the top. |
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| There are 108 Buddha statues inside the Kannon statue. They are spread over 12 stories. We took an elevator to the top and walked down the stairs to each level. Each Buddha represents an earthly passion, to rid yourself of passions you pray to the appropriate Buddha's. |
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| One of the 108 Buddha statues. |
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| This is their explanation, not perfectly clear. |
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| Think Tommy Lee Jones knows he's on vending machines all over Japan? |
Went to dinner at a yakiniku restaurant called Higashiyama.
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| Our plate of different cuts of beef. |
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| Outside of the restaurant, it was in the basement. |
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| Mmmm, corn soup in a can from a vending machine! |
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| Or maybe Hot Lemonade?? |
Up next: Pageant of Starlight (Sendai - Part 2)
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