In the morning we took the Senseki line to Matsushima Kaigan Station. We walked straight to the dock to buy tour boat tickets, ignoring the vendors at the station. We chose to ride the biggest boat with the longest tour for 1000 yen, since this was our first time. There were other smaller boats that I’m sure went closer to the islands, but I think that those would be better for return visits. Once on board, we paid an extra 600 yen for upper deck seats. The tour was both in Japanese and English, but as per usual, the explanations in Japanese were more detailed. The cruise was pleasant and scenic, giving us views of hundreds of pine islands. Various characteristics of each island were pointed out, such as “This island is said to be the most feminine of the islands”. Tradition says that there are 808 islands, but in reality there are about 260. Matsushima is supposed to be one of the three great views. There is a “classic” location, but I’m not sure where it is. Also there is a high-point somewhere from which you can view all the islands. Upon arrival back at the dock, we saw that there was a long boarding line for the boat. Good thing we did the boat ride first. We might not have been guaranteed a seat at the window.
 |
| 205-3100 series EMUs, taking us to Matsushima Kaigan Station. |
 |
| Passengers viewing Kanjima (Bell Island) from the top deck of the tour boat. |
 |
| Tour boats heading out into Matsushima Bay. |
Next, a walk to a short wooden bridge that connected to the island where Godaido Shrine is located. That was pretty crowded so we moved on to Fukurabashi - a long red bridge that costs a couple hundred yen to cross, and connects to Fukurajima. First stop was the teahouse where we had dango and sofuto kurimu. I thought the dango roasting on a charcoal fire was fake at first! We then walked through the flower garden to the observation deck at Miharashidia. The flower garden had an interesting display of one-sheet origami, but since it was displayed outdoors, the weather had somewhat melted it. We enjoyed the view from the observation deck for a while, then walked back past the modest Benzaiten temple and back to the mainland.
 |
| Fukurabashi |
 |
| One of the small islands around Fukurajima - possibly the guardian island, Niojima. |
 |
| Small Benzaiten Temple |
We walked to the Rinzai sect Zen temple, Zuiganji - a temple closely associated with the Date samurai clan. But first, we had kaki-furai at a restaurant just outside the temple precincts. Next month was to be the start of oyster season, so there were no raw oysters season, so raw oysters to be had. We did see quite a few oyster farms on our boat tour. They claim that the Matsushima oysters are as good as Hiroshima oysters.
 |
| Fried oysters for lunch. |
Entering the temple grounds we were approached by a man who told us there was a free bonsai exhibit going on. But first we got our goshuincho stamped. The bonsai exhibit was set up on the temple grounds. There were about ten examples, some hundreds of years old. A woman who spoke excellent English, told us about how this was a very good pastime for samurai because if they could teach themselves to focus while doing bonsai, they would more easily be able to focus during battle. We also learned that because these trees live longer than the artists, they are passed from master to student. She also introduced us to one of the bonsai artists. We talked for quite a while with her.
 |
| The bonsai looks like floating clouds. |
 |
| This one looks like an entire forest. |
The temple had a raked gravel garden, and magnificent sliding doors inside. I was surprised that there was no large Buddha image easily visible at the main altar. Photos were not allowed inside the temple, but next door was a museum at which we were able to buy a book with interior photos. The temple has some really expressive calligraphic scrolls. Some ancient and some modern. The modern scrolls had really bold strokes. There were also some artifacts there related to the Date clan.
 |
| Zuiganji Temple |
We headed back for more omiyage shopping at Sendai station. We got more Zunda - sweetened green soybean treats. These were for our friends in Tokyo, but we got some for us, too.
On our way back to the hotel,we were looking for a place to eat. There was a restaurant complex with menus of all the different places. Suddenly a woman with a clipboard approaches us and starts telling us about the restaurants. How this one has really good beef tongue (a local specialty) and how the other had yakitori. I don’t usually talk to touts (客引き) but she wasn’t pushy so we went along with it. I told her that we only eat fish, and she said, “how about raw fish?”. We said “sure” and she said there was a place with sushi. It sounded good so we said “OK” and she called the restaurant and confirmed they had room. So she took us up to an izakaya that had private rooms. It was one of those places where you take your shoes off and leave them in a little locker. The food was good and not too expensive. We had one dish that they brought in a little torch to grill right in front of us. Had more Asahi Super Dry Zero. After we ate, we saw the tout on the street, still holding her clipboard and looking for customers. I told her the restaurant was good, and she smiled and said she was happy that we enjoyed it. She seemed a little surprised. It’s probably a hard job to round up customers.
I think we’re getting more comfortable going to izakayas. We went to four on this trip.
