Romance In The Bay At Matsushima

Matsushima (松島), Miyagi (宮城)

Tohoku, Honshu, Japan

Autumn 2009

For hundreds of years Matsushima Bay (松島) has been celebrated as one of Japan's three most scenic views. It is  is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The bay is dotted by over 260 small islands (shima) covered by pine trees (matsu) - hence the name. The view of Matsushima changes from place-to-place and from-season-to-season, which earns it its well-deserved status.
  

 
  

A good way to enjoy the bay is to get on a cruise boat. There are round trips starting and ending at Matsushima which run on an hourly basis. The cruise will allows an up-close view of fascinating-shaped islands like Niōjima (with its Donald Duck façade), Senganjima (Masamune Date's favorite island), Misagojima (two lion-headed islands linked by a bridge), and Meganejima (two people holding hands).
  

 

  
The windows on the boat are cleaned before every cruise - Helps ensure all passengers get a good view of the bay - We were very impressed by the efficiency and attention to details!
 

Feed for birds at 100 yen per pack - Calbee crisps!

The sight was awesome! Hundreds and hundreds of them...

  

The gulls are experts at catching the crisps!

  

Seagull in action : Target in sight - It swoops down - and gets it!

 

Silhouettes in the sunset...

Sunset at 1630 hours... A magnificent sight!

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The full album is available at:
Romance In The Bay At Matsushima

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Sendai - The City Of Trees

Sendai (仙台), Miyagi (宮城)
Tohoku, Honshu, Japan
Autumn 2009

Sendai (仙台市 Sendai-shi) is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, and the largest city in the Tōhoku Region. Since its founding by the daimyo Date Masamune in 1600, it has prospered as the capital of the Dates' fief. With Date Masamune's reign over this district, he built Aoba Castle at the beginning of the 17th century.

Sendai is well-known by its nickname, the City of Trees (杜の都 Mori no Miyako) - There are about 60 zelkova trees on Jōzenji Street (定禅寺通 Jōzenji dōri) and Aoba Street (青葉通 Aoba dōri).

Interesting European-styled architecture...

Queues and queues of taxis outside the train station... 

 

Autumn time is also the time for the bright orange pumpkins of Halloween!

TV crews can be seen filming here at several locations...

The city tour bus is a quaint white-and-green mini-bus...

Scenes from the city tour - 
When we first saw the smoke from afar, we thought that the fields were on fire!

The bronze statues fronting the tree-lined avenues...

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The full album is available at:
Sendai - The City Of Trees

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Yamadera's Thousand Step Panorama

Yamadera (山寺), Yamagata (山形)
Kanto, Honshu, Japan
Autumn 2009

Yamadera is a scenic temple located in the mountains northeast of Yamagata City. The temple grounds extend high up a steep mountainside, from where there are great views down onto the valley. The temple was founded over a thousand years ago in 860 as a temple of the Tendai sect under the official name Risshakuji. Its popular name, Yamadera, literally means "mountain temple" in Japanese. It is where the well-known haiku poet Matsuo Bashō wrote his famous haiku on the silence "sinking into the rocks" and the "voice of cicada" in 1689.

The base of the mountain is located about a few minutes' walk from the Yamadera train station, and there are dozens of shops and restaurants that cater to the temple's many visitors. There is also a small visitor center just across the bridge along the way from the station to the temple.

The present Konpon-chūdō (Main Hall) is a Muromachi period (1333–1568) construction of beech, which is rare as a building material. The temples clinging to the steep rocky hillsides are picturesque and unusual. The thousand-step climb through the dense cedar trees is worth making to the temple at the top and for the view from there. 

Crossing a scenic bridge in the mist to get to the destination...

A look in the train driver's cabin to show the extent of the mist...

When the sun came out, the array of autumn colours was simply dazzling!
 

Everything is just so scenic and picturesque...

As we climbed the 1,000 steps, we took in the hustle and bustle of activity on the temple grounds...

  

But the view on top was exhilarating enough to be worth it!

 

 
We saw the sunset on the way down...
 

Back on level ground, we sampled many of the local delicacies to make up for the calories lost!

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The full album is available at:
Yamadera's Thousand Step Panorama

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