Sendai
Capital Of Miyagi Prefecture; Castle Town Of The Date Clan · Sendai, Miyagi
The largest city in the Tohoku region of northern Honshu, founded in 1600 by Date Masamune, the one-eyed warlord whose crescent-moon helmet is one of the most recognised images of the samurai age. Its tree-lined avenues gave it the name City of Trees. Little of the old castle survives, but the site on Aoba hill has a statue of Masamune on horseback and a view over the city, and his mausoleum, Zuihoden, is a richly carved and painted hall in a cedar forest, rebuilt after the war. The Sendai Mediatheque, by Toyo Ito, is a landmark of modern architecture. The city is famous for gyutan, grilled beef tongue, and zunda, a sweet paste of green soybeans. Its great event is Tanabata in early August, when huge paper streamers hang over the shopping arcades. Sendai is the gateway to Matsushima, whose bay of pine-covered islands is one of the three classic views of Japan, and to the Yamadera mountain temple. The coast to the east was devastated by the 2011 tsunami, and memorial sites tell that story. It is about ninety minutes from Tokyo by shinkansen.
Chuo, Aoba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-0021, Japan
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED - CONFIRM BEFORE GOING. The typical pattern: Zuihoden and the museums open from about 9am to 4:30 or 5pm, with shorter hours in winter and last entry about 20 to 30 minutes earlier; many museums close on Mondays. The Aoba castle site is open at all hours. The Loople bus runs from morning to early evening, not late. Tanabata runs from about 10am to 9pm on 6 to 8 August. Matsushima cruises and Yamadera keep daytime hours, with the last trains back from Yamadera sparse. The traps: Monday closures, the last Loople bus, and Tanabata hotel prices. Confirm times before relying on them.