Sendai

Well I arrived in Sendai!

I’d say that it’s closer to Sapporo in feel than Hakodate and Aomori. It is the capital of the Tohoku Region so I guess in that sense it has to be big. It’s more city like, a place that you could set up a life, and a job and a family, where as I felt that the other two places were more stop overs of sorts. A place you’d go for a weekend when you want to leave your city. Not that I thought about setting up shop here, but it’s a nice city.

I found my hotel with only a tiny bit of trouble. It was a bit further from the station than the other two were, but that means it’s pretty much in the heart of all things happening. Right down the street from the entertainment district in fact. With a Starbucks on the corner to top things off, which is always a nice touch.

The hotel it’s self is…weird… but seeing as it’s a capsule hotel, I had already expected as much. They’re actually a good concept if you think about it, and I give kudos to the developer. Because what more do you need from a hotel that you’ll only be in for a few nights, than a bed, and a toilet and shower facilities? Because that’s exactly what you get. For about $30 a night.

It’s located in a building surrounded by offices and cafes, and you have to take an elevator up to the second floor to check in. The hotel is divided by gender. Reception and Women on the 2nd floor, and Men on the third floor.

When you check in you’re given your locker key, where you are to put ALL of your belongings. In the locker (which is big enough for a medium sized suitcase, such as mine, some hanging space and a small shelf (ideal for a backpack or laptop bag). Inside the locker you will find a towel, toothbrush set, slippers and pyjamas, which you are expected to wear during our time in the hotel. Lucky because I spilt toothpaste down the front of my pyjama top in Aomori, and this hotel doesn’t have any laundry services. Shoes are not to be worn around the hotel and are expected to be swapped out with the slippers that are in your locker. These slippers are then used in the bathroom area as well as the sleeping area. (you leave them outside your capsule, when you are inside).

Around from the lockers there is a long corridor which has a number of toilets and showers and a space for getting ready, fully equipped with hair dryers, that still refuse to dry my hair with Japan’s 100W power. The hair dryers at home don’t even do a good job, so really I have no luck.

On the other side of the room, opposite the lockers on all sides are doors that read ‘quiet please’ these are the doors that lead into the capsules. This room is just a long corridor of darkness dotted by the lights of the capsules, which are two levels high. There are a few steps up if you happen to be on one of the higher capsules, and you just leave your slippers on the floor.

The capsules themselves are actually quite large and come with a pillow, a blanket, dimmer light and one power point. No TV, which I thought was pretty standard among capsule hotels, but I now stand corrected. Not that I’m complaining about it, I can’t understand any of the shows anyway, but they can be amusing to look at. I have my laptop anyway, with all my downloaded shows, so I’m set.

My one problem with this type of hotel is the fact that you have to check out every day. So I’m staying for a total of four nights and every day I have to be out by 10am. I suppose it’s not the worst thing that could happen, but it is a bit annoying. They hold your luggage at the front desk for you until you check in again, which is surprisingly at 1pm instead of 3pm. Though when they only have to clean a capsule, you’d imagine it would be able to be earlier. I think I’ll be over it by night for, but for now I’m saving quite a bit of money. Sendai it seems doesn’t seem to be on the hostel bandwagon.

So, my first night sleep in the capsule wasn’t fantastic, though I got a lot of it…

I fell asleep about 7:30pm and got up about 8am. But this was due more to the fact that I had dinner at 4pm and the train rides between towns makes me sleepy. But I tossed and turned all night, not because I was uncomfortable, but I think it was more to do with my stupid wisdom tooth. Which I did get some good old Japanese drugs for, and they seem to be working like any painkillers. But the pain is still there…

I ended up walking a lot today. They’re really good with their signage of tourist attractions here, so I just walked and followed the signs.

I first ended up at the library, a seven story glass structure that sticks out in the street like a sore thumb. I made my way up the floors, wandering through the books that I pretended I could read. Good thing, no one looks at you like you don’t belong there… even if you really don’t… And then I made my way to the 6th and 7th floors which are the gallery floors, and wondered around there. It was quite interesting, even though once again I couldn’t understand a thing. One lady working at the front came up to me and asked where I was from, and we chatted a little bit, which was refreshing.

I then made up way to the edge of the main city streets to Nishi Park, and then down over a bridge and then 2km later after a trek up an icy hill I found myself at the Shrine of a castle that used to be the residence of Date Masamune back in the day – the guy kind of founded Sendai. The hill gave you a great view of the city and through the map pointed out where the landmarks such as Sendai station were… they all looked like buildings. I made my way to the actual shrine and brought a little luck charm and tied it onto the tree.

After that I got water out of a vending machine, because what’s a shrine without WI-FI and vending machines? And then looked through all the little food stalls set up, until I stumbled across, Goldfish shaped bread! My first time seeing it since I’ve been here. And so for 150Yen I brought myself a red bean filled goldfish bread (you can choose, red bean, green bean, or cream) and I was on my way back down the hill.

I was a little disappointed that the Sendai Museum wasn’t open on the way there, but I guess it was just closing day.

I ended up walking around the city more, making my way to the station and walking through the shopping malls as I searched for a place to have lunch. I stopped by a Starbucks for a coffee, and the girl at the counter asked where I was from and said I had really beautiful blue eyes, which was very nice.

Best thing I’ve found about Sendai is the fact that the sun shines, something I hadn’t seen since my first few days in Sapporo and there is next to no snow on any of the streets. The only places being in the shadows of trees where the sun hasn’t reached it yet. Which is fantastic for walking normally, and for dragging a suitcase through. Speaking of suitcases, I think the wheels of mine are ruined anyway; they don’t really go straight anymore…

Anyway, I know it’s only been just over two weeks but I’m feeling unbearably home sick… And it’s not because of the lack of conversation or people, it’s just that… That I miss the familiarity of places and I miss cereal and I miss my own bed, though I’m not sure where that is anymore… I’ve been trying to figure out where I’m going next, but honestly I’m not sure. There’s nothing really North of Tokyo that I want to see (I’m about two hours north of Tokyo now), so I was thinking about bringing everything forward and maybe heading down to Osaka and Kyoto. I’m not sure I’ll go to Tokyo until I meet up with Bobbi, but that is still so far away. I’m not sure what I’m going to go until then.

But at this stage, I might be on my way home sooner than I had anticipated. Though when I get home… what am I going to do?

I think this is the first Maccas I’ve seen that doesn’t have any wifi, and they put wayyyy to much salt on their chips. It hurts my lips.

Until Next Time,

ごきげんよう!