Japan Day 7 - Sapporo Fletch and I woke up to the most amazing view from the apartment, overlooking the park and the mountains in the distance. After booking everything, I had realized that we would be spending almost our entire time in Japan in cities, and while cities are definitely a change of pace from our normal lifestyle, they all begin to look the same after a while. It was nice to see some green. I watched the little lake with amusement for a while, where several couples were trying to figure out how to maneuver the oars on
Japan Day 6 - Sendai to Sapporo Fletch and I checked out of Hotel Vista Sendai where we had spent the last two nights, and walked the five minutes across the street to the train station. I had tried to strategically position us as close to the train stations as possible in each city, so that we wouldn’t have to deal with maneuvering our backpacks through packed subways or local trains. Japan is a place where you definitely don’t want to overpack, because maneuvering between crowds and small areas can get to feeling very claustrophobic. I feel claustrophobic at times
Japan Day 5 - Matsushima The other most memorable thing that my host family did with me while I was in Sendai, was take me on a day trip to Matsushima. Matsushima is the Palau of Japan, just take away the warm, tropical setting, and crystal clear blue water. Lots of pine tree-covered islands dot the coastline, making it one of the three most scenic views in Japan according to the Japanese people. I had to show this beautiful scenery to Fletch. We left the hotel with the intent of finding Manhattan Bakery again. We didn’t make it quite as far this
Japan Day 4 - Sendai Pouring rain was forecast for the entire day, so we decided to do the local sightseeing first, even though it was Monday and that meant that the museums were closed. We could always duck inside some shop in the city if the rain got to be too much. A sudden cold front seemed to have settled over Japan, one that was not on the forecast when I was deciding what to pack. I remembered Japan being hot this time of year. Everything I read said Japan was going to be hot this time of year. So
Japan Day 3 - Tokyo to Sendai We woke up to a rainy day. We did come to Japan during rainy season. Most of my trips here have been during rainy season and it has never been a bother before. It was quite early so I spent some time scouring the internet for breakfast places. Japanese breakfast usually consists of rice and fish, and while I do love fish and Japanese food, my palate isn’t quite ready for such adventures yet first thing in the morning. I’m a big fan of fruit and/or eggs. My early morning search brought us around