Sunday 3 April - the sun broke through this morning so it was the day to head to one of the three most scenic places in Japan - Matsushima. Elected several centuries ago they are - (1) Matsushima Bay, (2) Amanohashidate and (3) Miyajima (we have seen).
A local train from Sendai station and 40 minutes later we were there. Despite being a Sunday it was not that busy and so we bought our boat ride ticket and headed off in search of lunch. It seems that oysters are the local speciality but that seemed a bit too adventurous for lunch so we opted for a Mom and Pop store offering tempura and Japanese beef curry.
The boat ride we opted for was the shorter ‘round the bay’ type and by selecting the Yen 600 upgrade to go upstairs we had a good view of the pine clad islets which dot the bay. Scenic it is but somewhat spoilt by the industrial development in the middle distance - oh well I am sure when selected the view was industry free.
As with all tourist spots there was a great selection of souvenir shops and Mr Softy ice-cream but the quality was somewhat better than the average UK costal resort !
Back to Sendai and off to Tokyo Hands to find all those things you never knew you needed.
A local train from Sendai station and 40 minutes later we were there. Despite being a Sunday it was not that busy and so we bought our boat ride ticket and headed off in search of lunch. It seems that oysters are the local speciality but that seemed a bit too adventurous for lunch so we opted for a Mom and Pop store offering tempura and Japanese beef curry.
The boat ride we opted for was the shorter ‘round the bay’ type and by selecting the Yen 600 upgrade to go upstairs we had a good view of the pine clad islets which dot the bay. Scenic it is but somewhat spoilt by the industrial development in the middle distance - oh well I am sure when selected the view was industry free.
As with all tourist spots there was a great selection of souvenir shops and Mr Softy ice-cream but the quality was somewhat better than the average UK costal resort !
Back to Sendai and off to Tokyo Hands to find all those things you never knew you needed.