Sendai is the largest city in the Tohoku region of Japan located at a distance of 365 km from Tokyo (capital of Japan). The city has many tourist destinations. I visited Sendai in Oct 2016 when I was in Japan for a conference (ICFD 2016). The conference was held at Sendai International Center from 10 Oct 2016 - 12 Oct 2016. During my stay at Sendai, I explored different tourist places around the conference venue.
I planned and made a list of places to be visited and saved the offline google map of these locations. A GPS enabled smart phone with google map application is very helpful while traveling an unknown place. The saved offline map along with GPS helped me a lot while traveling without internet within Japan.
I carried some amount of Japanese Yen, International debit card, credit card and a SBI Travel card. It is unnecessary to issue a travel card if you posses international debit card/credit card (VISA/Mastercard). The air ticket was booked in AirIndia at a cost of INR 43200 (including return ticket) through AirIndia online booking. Journey to Sendai:
Journey started from IIT Kanpur. First, I traveled to Delhi on 7th Oct 2016 by Shrama Shakti Express which departed Kanpur Central at 11:45 PM and arrived New Delhi railway station at 6:45 AM on 8th Oct 2016. I went to the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 6 PM by Delhi metro to catch the flight. My luggage was checked in at the AirIndia counter and received the boarding pass. After the immigration and security check, I went to the boarding gate and boarded the flight (AI 306). The flight took off at 9:15 PM and flew to Tokyo. The flight landed at Narita international airport at 8:45 AM (Tokyo time). My VISA got stamped at the immigration check and walked to the Japan Rail Pass counter. I presented my Exchange order of Japan Rail Pass and passport at the counter and received my Japan Rail Pass (JRP). I booked a ticket in Narita Express using the JRP and travel to Tokyo. Then I traveled to Sendai in Shinkansen which departed Tokyo at 11:20 AM and arrived Sendai station at 12:54 PM covering a distance of 365 km in 1 hour 34 minutes. This was my first experience in bullet train.
Exploring Sendai:
During that time the famous YOSAKOI festival was going on and this was the last day of the festival. The festival was happening at a walking distance of half kilometer from the hotel. I was very much fortunate to arrive on the day of this festival and watched the festival. It was very colorful. Different traditional dance were performed by different groups with colorful costumes. Mostly, the performer were young. The dance groups are performing on the road towards the Kotodai park. Audience were watching this festival with joy and full of interest. Japanese are very much emotionally attached to their tradition and feel proud of it. There was a stage at the Kotodai park where different dances were also performed by school children. The park has many food stalls. After spending approximately 4 hours at the festival, I returned to the capsule hotel and went to sleep after the dinner. The conference which was organized at Sendai international center started on 10 Oct. The conference venue is at a distance of 1.5 km from the hotel which can be reached by foot. I attended few lectures related to my research field. There was a lunch break of 2 hours. I went to a nearest tourist place, Sendai castle which is at a distance of 1.2 km from the conference venue. The castle is located at the top of a hillock. Sendai city can be seen from the castle. There was a beautiful temple just nearer to the castle and it was crowded by local people and tourists. I spent one hour at the place and walked towards the conference venue. There was a small water body where few beautiful Mandarin ducks were swimming and I took a snap of these birds and moved on. After the conference, I returned to the hotel and went to sleep after the dinner at a nearest Indian restaurant. The restaurant was within few meters from the hotel.
I presented my paper on the next day (11 Oct) and attended few presentations. In the afternoon, I planned to visit Rinno-ji temple which was at a distance of 3 km from the 9 hour hotel. The temple was founded in 1441 and is a very important religious site of Sendai. The temple premise is covered with tress and has a beautiful garden inside it. The temple has a beautiful wooden gate and the main temple is at a distance of 200 meters from the gate. Few Japanese were there. There was a wooden pagoda in the garden which enhances the beauty of the temple. Many other statues are there inside the premise. After spending one hour, I returned to the conference venue. We roamed around the city in the evening after the conference, visited few market places, first time tried susi. Then returned to the hotel and went to sleep after the dinner at the Indian restaurant. English is not widely spoken by Japaneses. Language barrier is a problem in communicating with the people. However, Japanese are very generous, helpful and friendly towards foreigners. I was not familiar with the Japanese cuisines. Hence, most of the time I had my lunch and dinner at the Indian restaurant or in a McDonald. Fruits are easily available at different market places which is a good choice for breakfast. I tried few Japanese sweets which are very tasty.
Next day, after attending few lectures I went to another important shrines of Sendai in the afternoon. It was Osaki Hachimangu shrine which is at a distance of 2.5 km from the Sendai international center. It is a Shinto shrine built between 1604 and 1607 and religiously very significant in Japan. God of war, Hachiman is the presiding deity of the shrine and considered to be the protector of the city. The shrine was well maintained and designated as national treasure of Japan. Wooden boards are found just before entering the main building and these boards contains lots of information about the shrine written in Japanese. The wall of the shrine is decorated with brilliantly colored carvings and fine paintings. Every temple and shrine premise has a board which contains ema (wooden plates) where people write there wishes on a wooden plate or paper (omikuji) and tied on the board. It is believed that it brings good fortune and fulfill their wishes. After spending one hour at the shrine, I returned to the hotel.
I left Sendai at 6:36 AM (13 Oct) and traveled to Kyoto where I spend two days covering different tourist places. The Kyoto travel information were mentioned in another blog. On 14 Oct, I returned to Tokyo and then to Narita International Airport from Tokyo by Narita Express which arrived at the Airport at 4:30 PM. I stayed at 9 hours capsule hotel located at the airport. I spent the evening time in the airport waiting area and shopped few items from the airport. After the dinner in the airport, I went to the capsule hotel to sleep. Next day morning, I flew to Delhi from Narita airport at 11:15 AM on 15 Oct and arrived at Delhi at 5:00 PM, then returned to IIT Kanpur by train.
The experience at Sendai was nice and memorable. Lots of important tourist places were missed due to lack of time. The vibrant and well preserved rich tradition of Japan is inspiring and memorable.
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10 Oct 2016
About me
Tapan Kumar Pradhan Post Doc, IIT Kharagpur PhD, IIT Kanpur http://tapankp.weebly.com Currency Conversion:
1 US dollar = 69 INR 1 INR = 1.63 JPY 1 US dollar = 112 JPY Japanese Visa:
Single or multiple entry: INR 490 Transit visa: INR 40 More information: http://www.in.emb-japan.go.jp/short_term%20visas.html Distance:
Tokyo - Sendai = 365 km. Sendai station - 9 hour =1.3 km. 9 hour - Conference venue= 1.5 km Conference venue-Sendai castle =1.2 9 hour - Rinnoji temple = 3 km Conf venue - Hachimangu = 2.5 km |