Last Day In Sendai!

Well it’s my last day in Sendai and honestly I’m still not one hundred percent sure on what I’m doing.

It’s not secret to a few people that I had been struggling for the better part of a week, since leaving Sapporo and while I’m still not ecstatic about constantly being on my own, I’m a lot happier since I moved out of that Capsule Hotel.

Sure the Capsule Hotels are great for saving money, or a last minute option if you miss the last train home (that’s never me, I am always back at my accommodation at a reasonable hour like a good little tourist..) But Capsule Hotels should, in my experience at least, only be used for a night, maybe two at max. Otherwise you’ll go crazy, there’s no doubt.

And I for one rather enjoy my sanity. Such as it is.

So I’ve been in a hotel for the last few nights and things have felt much better. To actually have your own space and a bathroom is a privilege that no person should take for granted.

The hotel its self is still located close to the main shopping streets and sightseeing so it’s good, and cheap. Though a little farther from the train station and my home base of Starbucks, but I’m managing that.

They do a really good breakfast here, which I decided to pay extra for, because it is rather hard to find breakfast places here that, one, open before 11am, two, don’t have a line reaching across the street to get in (I really want those pancakes, but I don’t have the patience to wait..) and three, serves anything but Japanese breakfast foods, which for me is a big no way. My breakfast palate is too pure for the things they eat, ew.

So to stop myself from going down to the 7-Eleven on the corner every morning for a bread roll and a coffee or something (been there, done that) I thought yes, I will pay that little bit more for the buffet breakfast. And I’m glad I did.

They have a really good selection of ‘Western’ breakfast options as opposed to the breakfast my Hakodate hotel put on which was 98% Japanese and 2% Western, though that might even be pushing it. Is a mini croissant and terribly runny scrambles eggs 2%? I’m not sure. But the fact is that this place while obviously catering to the local Japanese (Which I do understand that we don’t cater for in our hotels back home) have bacon, a selection of breads..

(Though this morning I saw a Japanese guy eating a bread roll with his chopsticks.. they really don’t like to get their hands dirty.)

Fruit, (though someone needs to tell them that lemon is not a fruit that one enjoys next to their pineapple and orange. No wonder the lemon bowl is always full at the end of breakfast.) And they have yogurt, with a range of toppings, cornflakes, sultanas, granola, banana chips. It’s all quite lovely.

But I miss cereal. Just a good old bowl of cereal with some skim milk, that’s not too much to ask right? Well… apparently it is, and I won’t be getting it any time soon. They don’t do that here. Though it’s interesting…

The amount of sweets that they have here, including that horrible moment I experienced in Sapporo as I watched helplessly as sugar syrup was being poured into my freshly squeezed pineapple juice. You’d expect them to pick the sweet version of things every time. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that the yogurt I eat for breakfast is something that tastes like Greek yogurt, as opposed to the sweet yogurt I got from a 7-eleven store.

It’s all very confusing!

And the hotel has its own public bath. You know those places where you all get naked and bath together? Yep. Good stuff. It’s open all the time except for about a five hour window from 10am-3pm.

So I spent my day yesterday, just wandering around the city and taking pictures where I wanted. I passed by a memorial hall that now stands where a literature hall once stood until the 2011 earthquake where it was torn down due to structure instability and it was quite interesting.

I made my way to the Sendai Station and finally racked up the courage to try one of Sendai’s specialities, and no it was not the grilled beef tongue (I refuse to try that!), it was the Zunda Shake. Sendai does Edamame a little different than the rest of the country, or world… You know those little green beans that you can order at any good Japanese restaurant as an entrée that come out boiled and sprinkled in salt? Well in Sendai they crush those poor little delicious green beans into a paste and create mochi (Pronounced Mo-Chi). A glutinous, dumpling sweet that is famous in Japan and quite delicious. But that’s not what I had. No what I had was that same paste mixed into vanilla ice cream and sucked through a straw..

It was… Delicious! And I curse myself for waiting so long to try it. Though it is a little gritty that doesn’t take away from the fact that it was good. And even had me sitting out in the 6 degree warmth and drinking a thick shake. What?

Anyway I will most definitely be getting the biggest size I can tomorrow for the train, I think it comes with whipped cream and some of the paste on top, instead of that tiny size I got yesterday.

Anyway.. I’m off to Tokyo tomorrow on the 12pm Shinkansen, which will get me into Tokyo at about 2pm. And I can find my way to my hostel and then explore a little bit. As I said earlier, I was confused as to what to do in the month before the best friend comes to join me in Tokyo.. But after being in talks with people, should I go here? Should I go there? Should I come home for the month? I think for now I’ve decided to spend my time in Tokyo. It’s a huge city, I’m sure I can find things to do for a month, and then the weeks after with my travelling companion.

My father also mentioned a trip to Okinawa, which is a group of islands south of Japan that is known for always being summer (might have to buy some different clothes for that…) with beautiful beaches and a large US Military settlement. So maybe I’ll spend a week on one or a few of the islands there as well. Flights are very cheap from Tokyo, so it’s certainly an option.

While in Tokyo for the first few nights I’ll be staying in Asakusabashi which is a district in Taito, Tokyo. It is one station from Akihabara, which is an entertainment district known for being quite, quirky… Which is perfect!

After Asakusabashi I’m not sure where I’ll be staying, but I’m on holidays. I’ll figure it out as I go…

Oh and my most expensive meal since I've been here.. my apple pie french toast. which was worth the money and the cafe was so pretty!

Oh and also I’ve run out of my ‘free’ shout outs for when I post a blog for the month, so I don’t get any more until March. That might be why you aren’t getting any updates.

I am working it out..

Until next time,

ごきげんよう!