#86 - Matsushima: A Wet Experience!

Matsushima is a group of islands and bay in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan and is a short trip from Sendai. The name 'Matsushima' explains it quite clearly - matsu (松) means pine tree, and shima (島) means island. So, 松島 means islands covered in pine trees.

This area is known as one of the Three Views of Japan, so a lot of visitors are drawn here. There are also plenty of temples to occupy your time and several mausoleums.

The sand and rock garden
in Entsuin temple.

Some parts built into the rock face.

Shoes off!

Unfortunately, I didn't have a good chance to see a lot of the sites, because it started to rain. Actually, it was a bit more than just rain. A typhoon was coming that weekend, so the streets became flooded pretty quickly! To try and lessen any damage, I took my shoes off to walk towards the train station. As it turned out, water had flooded some of the train tracks coupled with some strong wind further down the line meant that the trains were stopped and weren't about to go any time soon!

After it stopped raining, the water across the roads disappeared extremely quickly! Look at the comparison in these photos!

With rain...

...and the same place without rain!

Because it had gotten a little sunnier (and also because I needed another way back to Sendai...) I boarded on one of the ferries. Usually, ferries make round trips so that you can get a little closer to the islands. As I found out, children (and some adults) spend the journey throwing prawn flavoured snacks off the back of the boat to attract armies of seagulls! It was a little scary!

A view of Godaido, a small temple hall.

A different seagull-swamped ferry.

A wet me on the ferry.

Another small island.

An island.

Regardless of the typhoon and not being able to see much, I still really enjoyed visiting Matsushima! The typhoon was interesting to experience and it was kind of like an adventure - I will never forget it for sure! I would like to go again in the future to see everything I can.