Sendai Essentials

       I've started training and it's progressing well. I'm comfortable in front of the fake students(other trainees) and applied for a job last year teaching English, so I've had practice speaking slowly and using lots of gestures and simple language. The writing today however, is about the walk I went on during my last free day before training started. I had looked up a "Stuff to do in Sendai" and seen these two options already, but had dismissed them based on their distance. Maybe I'm lazy, my defense is that I didn't measure but guessed it would be too far to walk. It was in fact 6 miles total. I went to a burial place of several early clan leaders who lived in the 1500's and 1600's and 1700's. Members of the Date (Dah-tey) clan who became the founders of the Sendai clan( who founded the city I'm in currently. After visiting Zuihoden I walked up to the Castle remains another mile or so away. Here's my day.

       Started walking in the general direction I needed to go. Had pictures of the rough areas of the city I wanted to go to on my phone for reference. Looked something like this (picture).

The little blue dot on the right is the hotel. Zuihoden Temple in the center botton. Sendai Castle on the lower left. I mistakenly passed the Zuihoden entrance the first time because it was fairly far back from the road... and.... you know... I can't read Japanese signs. Instead I walked up a big hill and stood on the threshold of some other mildly sacred looking place with a sign and then decided not to wander into what may have been someones house? Back down the hill, found a sign. Started up this little path.

Comes out into this area.

May not be able to see it but there's a very large bell in this structure.

Then this bigger structure with all the well tended garden. I went up to the entrance and it was wide open but still looked like it wasn't ready for visitors? No lights or anything. Tatami mats for the floor. I learned today (several days later) socks and bare feet only on tatami mats, no shoes or slippers. I had taken my shoes off as a precaution. The interior.

       I thought to myself "well this is neat" and wandered toward the gate straight out of the building. At the gate I noticed the road continued and seemed like there was a little more. I had come into the area through a graveyard on the downhill side. I tried to take a cool picture of some bamboo but the camera wouldn't focus with the different light levels so you all get this mediocre depiction. 

The city was a neat backdrop but the light levels were too different. Anyhow outside the gate I saw a sign showing that I had barely breached the actual temple.

I was actually in the little part just underneath the red "You are here" writing. The two sets of stairs shown are pretty cool. I started up the left side and paid 5 bucks to get into the museum (sorry it said no pictures) and stuff on the left side of the map. It had a sword and bits and pieces of things buried in the tomb and a replica skull with facial reconstruction for two of the old clan leaders from the 1600's. 

       Up the stairs and pay your 5 bucks and then they let ya into that area. Museum on the left and then the actual building made for the burial of one of the important dudes. Sadly all the buildings were replicas because they had been destroyed in WWII bombing raids. The detail was really extraordinary on them. Oh and I absolutely loved the trees. They are large and old and excellent. I continued around the loop and walked a woods trail, then had to loop back to the stuff on the right side. Then I headed down the other steps and tried to find the castle. 

  (The other steps)

       Walked over to the Castle remains and up the hill to get a few of these shots. 

(How the castle looked in the back when)

(Stones marking out where it was)

(You see the castle embankment wall and the city of Sendai)

       I had lunch up at the gift shop area and looked around for about an hour. Slow walk back to the hotel with a little snapshot of some fun English.

(My lunch. Beef tongue called gyutan, is a regional specialty. Rice underneath. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to dip the meat in the broth to the side or drink it. So I did both. I also tried to find a Zunda milkshake. It's a milkshake with soybeans in it. Couldn't find it at the castle but was able to root one out in the big(read giant) shopping area underneath Sendai Train station. Was pretty tasty, not sure if it was good enough to make me want another though? I did the Sendai Essentials today though. Sendai Castle, eat gyutan, and have a zunda shake.)

       Not very easy to convey but I think this day will be one of my favorites in the country. Things are still new and enchanting and it was the first time I saw more than buildings and shops. It was big trees and OLD things. I enjoyed reading the information plagues at each place learning about when things happened. Another few days of training and then off to my city. A few days to get situated and then starting into the work. Should be nice getting into the swing of things. 

Capybara and a Bakery; A review of the first few days in Japan.

       It's... unusual. Some aspects of Japan are unusual, but I'm talking about how I feel here. I expected to feel isolated and out of place, like I didn't have access to things. Maybe I expected that because much of my time in Peace Corps felt like that. Here in Japan, however, I feel like myself in a space where I can't read and I can't really communicate outside of very basic concepts. It's a weird feeling to be... comfortable here. Perhaps I'm jaded and at the point where I don't care about things too much anymore. Messing up while attempting to use Japanese or walking into stores that were all women's clothing today I easily continued on to the next thing.  I'm weirded out by not feeling awkward here. Though there are things which are odd to me. Large multi-level department stores where one level is all manga books and another level is an arcade. A bike shop, next to a rock shop, next to a sushi place, next to a man selling different kinds of packaged seaweed out front. I'll give a brief rundown of what each day looked like and extrapolate on some of the bunch of pictures I took.

Day 1

       After waking up from my overdue sleep I had some breakfast the hotel provides, and then headed out to explore. I don't yet have the phone I'm renting so walking outside is a vast emptiness of electronic communication. I can't research anything after leaving the hotel room. So I tried to look for a park and chose to wander around to the east of my hotel. I also had it in my head to buy my first meal of the expedition and it was to be ramen. I walked around and kept finding places which are apparently graveyards with little parks/clumps of trees in them? I thought the first 2 were the park I was looking for but was incorrect. I found several ramen shops but they wouldn't open until 11am. So more walking around. Walking down one street I saw a large rabbit in a cage and went to take a look, beside it was an alpaca, and next to those was adventure # 1. A capybara. If you didn't know a capybara is like a giant bever/rat. I've seen them on TV but never in person so obviously I hung out and examined it. Much entertaining. After, I went to a little sit down place called Niboshi Ramen. I looked it up after and apparently they make their soup with lots of dried fish. Keep in mind I haven't yet interacted with but like 3 Japanese people. Just inside the door is a kiosk I was directed to, so I clicked on a picture of one that looked alright. Then it brought up a bunch of options. Not having the slightest idea what any of them were, I hit a green button in the corner until it asked for money. After getting a ticket I was invited to choose a seat and a lady came over and asked me a bunch of questions to which I replied "wakarimasen" わかりません (I don't understand). The piece of paper she pointed at had several English words on it. Soup taste; strong, medium, weak. And then Oil, none, light, medium, heavy. So I pointed and said "kore" (that) to the medium and then the light oil. Waited several minutes and was brought a bowl of ramen and given another 3 or 4 sentences of instructions which I didn't understand at all.  Milestone number 1! there's food in front of me. First step to tasting a soup dish is to sample the broth before diving into the other ingredients so I bring a spoonful to my mouth. Soup is... very spicy. I would usually order Thai food at 3 out of 5 spicy. This soup was a 3.5, maybe 4. Each time it hits my throat I want to cough, which you know.... covid-19 and all... probably shouldn't do that. The soup is very fishy, I'm ok with that, I probably wouldn't have gotten it if I had known, but for what it is, it's alright. Except... my face is going numb. Not like 'neat' or something but I literally can feel around my mouth going numb. I've had lots of spicy food and none of it has ever done this to me. So I'm thinking it must be something else in the soup, and then I think "oh crap what if I'm allergic to something in here?!" I've never had any allergic reactions before but in a ramen shop on my first day would not be the best time to find out. Anyhow I plowed through it and sweated and walked out offering a thanks to the staff. Then I figured it was time to head back to the hotel. I stopped at a 7-11 to get snacks. Pictured below. Ate them in the lobby while chatting with a few of the other trainees and then up to my room once it was cleaned. I looked up the park I had tried to visit and it was one more street to the East further than I ended up going. I turned in pretty early since my internal clock was telling me 4 pm was 4am. Wasn't my intention but I ended up sleeping and then waking up and sleeping again until the next morning.

(These two pictures were in one of the graveyards)

(This is someones front yard. There weren't a lot like this but about one in 10 houses had some sort of garden. I like plants and would probably have my house look like this too)

(First thing I saw was the rabbit)

(Then this crazy capybara. Thing is like 2 feet tall and 3 feet long)

(The surprise ramen. In both spiciness and face numbing qualities)

(That's all good quality fresh made food.... in a 7/11 convenience store.)

(Some green tea that was unexpectedly good. Two onigiri. Two mochi and some dango? It's the same rice flower dough as the mochi but in balls on a stick with some sort of topping. I think these ones had a sweet soy sauce on em? Not a real big fan but they're ok.)

Day 2

       On this day my goal is to visit a little "morning market" on a side street to the West of the hotel called Asaichi Market. I also found that a district beyond Asaichi called Ichibancho was a shopping district so figured I'd check it out. My throat is a bit sore which is concerning, likely due to chatting the previous day and dry air. Out I go and I even took pictures of maps to the 3 places I want to go today so as to actually make it to them. The market is pretty cool. A fish market in half of it and fruits and vegetables on the other half. Supposedly one could buy sushi there but I didn't see anything that looked like they were going to let me eat it. I then wandered around further northwest and found the shopping district. It's a T of two sections each a half mile long with tons of different kinds of shops along it. There was a cool section of tons of shops packed in tight, they looked like bars and stuff where people would spend evenings getting food and drink. I ventured into a tea shop to see if they sold tea by the cup. It looked like they did but I didn't want to figure it out so continued. On my way back I did see an eating place that had Teishoku in it's name. Teishoku is a fixed price meal usually under 1000 yen(~ $10). Being a frugal devil I stepped in for my second purchased meal. This one was far easier to order. I clicked on one that looked like pork and even adventurously clicked on a colorful bowl of rice for an extra 30 yen. A plate was brought to me. I snapped a picture for you fine folks and then ate it. I didn't see a spoon for the miso soup so I just drank it from the bowl. The pork was good. Salted and grilled with some onion and broccoli. The rice bowl had some extra grain in it which was fine. I probably would have kept the white rice for the difference in flavor was pretty mild. After food I wanted to go see that park I almost made it to from the day before so headed East. I went under the big Sendai train station. Tons of little shops and stuff in there. I almost grabbed some grilled meat on a stick but I'd just had lunch. My throat was starting to hurt more too. Also... I'm in decent physical condition but apparently they wanted us to stay out of the hotel for cleaning from 10am to 4pm... and its rough walking around for 6 hours. En route to the park I stopped at a little bakery I'd debated going into the day before. Once inside I saw people pick up a tray and use tongs to make their selections. The ladies behind the counter were looking at me and saying something. I assumed they were talking about if I knew Japanese because when I got to the register they switched. The money reception machine was a small hole with a little conveyor on it. I also noted people taking their food to go and assumed I would be asked. So I went through what little Japanese I knew to say "koko desu" (here is) after a slew of Japanese words came at me. It was apparently good enough, as they transfered my food over to a different tray and showed me a drink menu. I pointed to some water set nearby and paid. I probably should have said "koko ni tabemasu" (here eating). But I'd gotten food for a third time and sat down with it. Then toward the park. Was really nice. We are about a week away from the cherry blossoms coming out. A tree here and there have them but most are just tinted pink as the flowers start to emerge. After the park I sat for a spell people watching. Then headed back toward the hotel and stopped to grab a snack. My throat was hurting quite badly so I went to sleep as soon as I returned around 3pm to try and head off anything that might be making me sick. When I woke it still hurt a lot so I kept trying to go back to sleep until about 3 am. That gave me a headache from oversleeping. No fever though. Pictures from day 2 and then Day 3 BAY-BE!

(I forgot to take a picture of the Asaichi market but this was one of two hallways filled with little shops. They appear to be little evening bars and food stalls since none were open at 10am.)

(Walking down the same alley with the closed shops I saw this on one side. I like that this view was 10 feet away from a shop that had you order food with a kiosk.)

(There are these drink machines, and sometimes food. On EVERY OTHER STREET CORNER! I stood in place and counted and could see 4 of them within about 1000 feet from where I stood.)

(Can't wait to start buying some tea. These bags are about twice as big and half as much money, as what I could get in the U.S.)

(It's a Cat cafe. You know... a normal cafe where you go and get stuff... and pet cats that live there. There had been a few grey cats in the 2nd floor window which was how I stopped to read the sign.)

(Fun names people come up with because they are English)

(This was my Teishoku lunch. I liked it a lot!)

(I was hoping the thing in the top right had a fruity/pineappley filling. My first bite revealed the top was mayonnaise.  Underneath that was a small slice of ham? and then most of the interior.... was a potatoe. Not what I expected. I looked at the receipt and read いちご (i-chi-go) and knew that meant strawberry. So I figured the pink thing was strawberry. It was and I felt good to extract understanding from some of the TONS of Japanese writing I'd seen today.)

Day 3

       Day three starts playing games and chatting with friends online. It's nice to continue things I'd done habitually. Still not feeling too great but no word about if I should stay in the room because I don't feel well. Out the door it is. Head over to the shopping district again and venture into some of the stores today. I'm aiming to get an idea how much things cost. First store I see is the Pokemon store. It isn't very big but kinda neat. Then over to the shopping T from the previous day. My throat hurts and I see there is an ice cream shop next to the tea shop I'd stopped at yesterday. Would probably feel good on my throat. A couple was ordering so I kept walking with the intention of returning. Saw the cat cafe again. Walked to the end of the  North-South part of the T and hang out in a park. Throat bothering me so now back to the ice cream. Taste is pretty good. I got the matcha tea flavor. It isn't excessively sweet as a lot of U.S. stuff tends to be. Today is the day to get SUSHI! and I've walked past a conveyor place several times so I'm headed there. Stop at a department store first. Department stores are a big thing here. Kinda like Walmart or Target in the U.S. First two floors of this one are womens clothing, then mens on 3rd floor and part of 4. Some furniture. Next floor is kids clothes. 5 is housewares and 6 is crafts and specialty items. Lots of things made of wood. Quite neat. I looked for a business card holder in the menswear. Business cards are a big thing in Japan. You're socially obligated to treat them well because they are perceived as an extension of the individual whose name is on them. I visited a 4 story bike shop to see how much bikes cost in case I wanted to get one. Then sushi! Sushi was awesome. I ordered 4 plates and it costs 1000 yen(10 bucks). Sushi in Bangor would have been 20 bucks. They also had hot water on tap and matcha tea powder to mix it with. Place was awesome.  Even had an English option on the Tablet ordering menu. I then went into another 8 story department store that had a 100yen($1) dollar store in the bottom. Couple floors of arcades and then anime and manga floors. So many people in them too. The same things in the U.S. tend to have a feeling of an under-culture or like they are slightly taboo, but lots of people in this big store. I saw a lot of figurines for different characters as well. I walked around more slowly today since a muscle in my leg hurt from all the walking I'd done yesterday. Meandered back to the hotel through the Asaichi market again, but walked around the fish part more. I think there was a place you could have little pieces of meat cooked for you so I may try that in the next few days. Training starts on Saturday. Back at the hotel I met up with our Interac corespondent and showed documents and received a thermometer and sheets of paper to record my physical condition each day. Was also informed should condition deteriorate for 3 days then a specialist would be consulted. After the meeting I set to writing all this out for ya's and debated supper since it was about 745pm. Looked for food places near the hotel and found a little rice bowl with meat shop and walked over. Now I'm finishing this writing and then study a little Japanese and head to bed. Not sure what my plans are for tomorrow but Saturday is training and then it sounded like the 2nd of April would be relocating to our cities or towns and starting the moving in process.

(Hotel breakfast. Pretty good)

(Looking out the window of the floor the Pokemon store was on)

(Pokemon store! not the best picture. Gomenosai)

(Green tea ice cream!)

(Helped my sore throat a bunch)

(Sushi lunch! A fatty tuna, pictured center. Fatty salmon, top. Salmon, left and grilled pork ribs right. Was great! and with the tea was delectable!)

(Hard to see but there is the conveyor you can see just behind the tablet... and then there is another one at head level which I didn't see from sitting. I ordered specific ones rather than taking them from the belt. The tablet was telling me they had arrived but I didn't see them until I looked up to the higher one. They charge by the color of the plate. So you can take as many plates as you like and then they just add up the total and charge for whatever you've eaten. I could probably do these a lot.)

(Arcades are like half full of these claw machines. They did have the games and regular arcade games too but sooooo many claw machines.)

(Dinner of some grilled beef and onion with miso soup and I ordered an egg to throw into the beef and onion. There was a fire under that metal pan. I figured it out when reaching for the fermented cabbage with my chopsticks to the left. This was 7 bucks! Very filling.)

       Not sure what the next few days will look like but I'll probably be spacing out the writing a bit more now. Feel free to make requests over anything you'd like to know more about. I'm still weirded out that I don't feel weirded out....

       Oh and I found out I'll be a high school teacher in Kesennuma for the year. Supposed to have great sushi!