How to spend two days in Sendai and gain three pounds

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📝 Transportation

From Tokyo to Sendai, it takes only one and a half hours on the Shinkansen designated seat and two hours on the free seat Shinkansen. Tickets cost about 11,000 yen, and the difference between reserved and free seats is less than 1,000 yen.

In order to make the trip more flexible, we chose to go with a designated seat (that is, a designated vehicle and seat, and guaranteed to have a seat), and return to Tokyo with a free seat (although the appointment is designated a car, but as long as there is a free seat on the same day of the Shinkansen can be randomly seated).
Friends in Japan recommend using えきねっと to purchase tickets online, select the electronic ticket, after purchase, enter their IC card number and then you can directly swipe the card to take the Shinkansen, do not need to queue up at the window to get a ticket, very silky smooth. Reimbursement vouchers can also be issued online later.
Although the return ticket here is for 17:00, I recommend that you try to choose the last class of the day when you make an appointment for a free seat, so that you can change the assigned seat when you face the えきねっと online before you take the ride. If you make an appointment too early, it will not be easy to change it online after this train.
Sendai has joined the nationwide IC card network, so you can use your Tokyo or Osaka transportation card on local buses and trains, which is very convenient!

🤗 Travel destination

There aren't that many attractions in Sendai, but the ones that I often visit are Lu Xun Memorial Hall (with a side trip to Tohoku University), Sendai Castle Ruins, Sendai Asaichi, Daikannon, Sendai Media Center, and nearby Matsushima Bay.

The Sendai Castle Ruins, as well as the Seiho-den and Toshogu Shrine, are good for history buffs, while the Sendai Media Center, designed by Toyo Ito, is a relatively niche site for architecture enthusiasts.

The Lu Xun Memorial Hall and Tohoku University are only open on weekdays and are closed during the Sendai Asaichi Sangyo holiday, so we mainly visited Sendai Daikanyin and Matsushima Bay. The pace of these two attractions over the two days was actually just right, and even a little bit of physical exertion.

Sendai Daikanyin can be accessed by bus from the city center, using Google Maps to search for the station, the bus is relatively punctual. You need to swipe your card once when you get on the bus and again when you get off.

The interesting thing about Sendai Daikanyin is that it's not just a statue to look at from the outside, but you can go inside. Take the elevator to the 12th floor, and then you can walk down the spiral staircase while looking at the 108 statues. Inside, it looks like this, which is a bit of a surprise:

Although we don't have a deep knowledge of Buddhism, the detailed names as well as descriptions are written on each statue, and it was interesting to read them while viewing them over.

It closes a bit early though, and people are rushed out early 5-10 minutes before the end time, so it's best to allow a little extra time.

On the first day, due to the rain, our itinerary was to take the Shinkansen at 10am - arrive in Sendai at noon - eat beef tongue - see the kannon - go to a mawashi store for dessert - go back to the hotel and rest - go to an izakaya for the evening.

On the second day, we got up and went to a cafe inside Sendai station <杜の香り> and had a very, very amazing breakfast and delicious coffee.

The coffee is from a siphon pot, so the aroma and flavor is pure and distinct, and you can pour 2-3 cups worth, and it's recommended that each person order different beans to taste each other. The sweet butter and red bean sandwich and the savory egg and ham sandwich were both superb! The carrot and potato salad was also delicious.

The next day the weather was nice, and the city of Sendai is extremely green, so after dinner we took a casual city walk for a while, and played some King of Thieves-themed scratch-offs along the way.

After that, we boarded the JR Senseki Line to Matsushima, a journey of about 40 minutes.

Matsushima is one of the Three Views of Japan, and the highlight activity is a sightseeing tour boat ride through the large and small islands. The scenery is very beautiful on a good day.

When you take the ride, you can first make a reservation for a ticket at the sightseeing boat homepage; you don't need to pay, just fill in the rider. Just make a reservation and you can get the boat tickets at the lowest price.

When you exit the JR station, you will immediately see the ticket exchange window, so go to the window where you have already made a reservation (the old man holding the ticket), give your name, and pay for your ticket.

On the way from the station to the boat pier, there are big and small stores selling grilled seafood, beer, and all kinds of snacks, so you can take the boat ride without a tight schedule, and allow yourself half an hour to an hour to take your time, shop, and buy something to eat on the boat. We arrived at Songdo Coast Station at about 12:00 and made an appointment for the 13:00 boat. It was a leisurely walk to see and eat along the way.

The shrimp cakes are great to take to the boat with a glass of beer, or you can go near the marina and buy your own freshly baked fish cakes to drink with a sweet mozzarella milkshake.

There are premium seats with tables on the second floor of the sightseeing ship “Inoue Maru”, and you can go up to the second floor for an additional 600 yen on the spot. Together with the ferry ticket of 900, the total fare is 1,500 yen per person, and the journey takes about 50 minutes.

After disembarking, you can walk across the red Fukupu Bridge to Fukupu Island to take a stroll, the hike around is about 30-45 minutes, which requires some stamina, but you can see Matsushima Bay again from a different perspective. This time I was also the first time on Fukupu Island, if you like to stroll slowly, not in a hurry special forces, will be very comfortable and cozy. The origami display corner on the island, all made out of single sheets of paper:

Some of the trees were carved with names, and many others, when they were done, turned into wide indentations as the tree slowly grew.

After getting off the island, I went back to Matsushima Bay to browse the small stores and buy some souvenirs.

Sendai's specialty, Maodo Jam, is a sweet jam that goes really well with muffins!

The original plan was to go back to Sendai after Matsushima, do some shopping at the station and take the Shinkansen back. But since we didn't enjoy the beef tongue once, we decided to have it again. This is where the benefits of buying free seats come into play.

There is a “cow tongue street” in Sendai station, which gathers several famous stores, so you can get the same level of cow tongue as in the city directly here, and the line is a bit faster.

We ended up taking the 8:30pm Shinkansen back to Tokyo. It was also the last Shinkansen with free seats, and everything was just in time.

📎 Sendai Must Eat

After the itinerary, we'll finish with recommendations for Sendai food that you must try:

ox tongue

I don't think there's anyone who goes to Sendai without eating beef tongue, which is the original and ultimate purpose of going to Sendai!

The most famous stores are probably all of those, which are:

Zenjirou: the most famous but with the biggest queue.

Rikyu: not much of a queue but mixed reviews

Kaku: highly rated but not that famous yet, the advantage is that you can check the queues of several branches on the homepage at any time

Si: haven't been there yet

Be aware that most ox-tongue stores close at 14:00 pm and open again in the evening, so be sure to calculate the time to include a queue. Usually stores don't rush people immediately at 14:00, but considering the dining experience, it's best to be able to get in at 13:30.

The restaurant we went to immediately after arriving in Sendai on our first day was Kaku. When we checked online, it said there was a 45-minute line, but in reality it was only about 30 minutes.

Not only are his prices fair, the quality of the beef tongue is really very good and super worth the trip.

The set doesn't come with mashed yam (とろろ) or pickled chili peppers (南蛮みそ漬), but they're both traditional side dishes for eating beef tongue, so I recommend ordering them on their own. The restaurant's lemon shawarma (レモンサワー) is well carbonated and very addictive with the beef tongue. We also ordered the braised beef tongue, which also melted in your mouth.

I've been to Rikyu before, the chain is a bit more atmospheric and has the advantage of offering several different beers to go with the beef tongue. It was still a good meal, but I didn't go there this time because there is also a store in Tokyo.

The next day we ate at Sendai Station at Zenjiro. This one at the station is said to have a higher turnover rate and a faster line. It took about 45 minutes to get in.

The menu suggests ordering the most expensive “Manaka Tan”, which is the thickest cut and has the best flavor. The beef tongue is thicker than the one at Kaku. If you don't have a big appetite, the three-piece set is enough (note that three pieces comes out to nine!).

ずんだ ground green soybeans

Sendai is basically the only place in Japan where you can eat motsunabeans (or jicama in Japanese) as a dessert. When the beans are processed, the membrane on the outside is removed, so they don't have a foul flavor and are full of flavor and sweetness in the mouth.

A variety of desserts have been developed from zunodama, such as zunodama milkshake, zunodama shaved ice, zunodama cookies, etc., but the original is zunodama rice cake.

One of the most famous old stores is Murakami Yakitori, which is also near Sendai Station.

There are two lines in front of the store, dine-in and take-out, so if you don't want to wait in line for too long, you can just buy and eat.

Since the owner of Murakami House Bakery is very old, the store bakes all its own rice cakes, so they often take breaks for health reasons. It's a good idea to check their Twitter account for notifications before you go so you don't make a wasted trip.

The green color in the picture above is the mozuku (rice cake), the black color is the sesame rice cake, and the brown color is the walnut rice cake. Although the sesame and walnut rice cakes are also delicious, the mochi is a little more flavorful, so it is recommended that you buy a few servings of mochi to get you started.

Another essential thing to do is to bring frozen mochi back to Tokyo. You can buy them at Sendai Station's “Zunanda Chaya”, and for an extra 110 yen you can add an insulated package that lasts up to 5 hours. You can put them in the freezer and eat them as long as you like. After thawing for three hours at room temperature, they are as sweet as fresh ones.

Oyster & Fish Cake

Sendai is also one of the more famous oyster producers in Japan. Just off the coast of Matsushima, there are super small stores that offer raw oysters, grilled oysters, steamed oysters, and more. There's no trick to picking a store, just order as big as you can.

Kamaboko (fish cake) stores are also located near Matsushima Pier, so you can buy a skewer and grill it yourself, or buy it as a souvenir and enjoy it at home if you like.

📝 Transportation

🤗 Travel destination

📎 Sendai Must Eat

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