#85 - Jozenji Street Jazz Festival

With its origins in 1987, the Jozenji Street Jazz Festival is an outdoor music event in Sendai. It is run by volunteers every year, and is completely free to watch. The idea behind the festival is to give people a chance to hear different music for free, and an opportunity for musicians to perform to big crowds.

The main stage, between Jozenji Street
and Kotodai Park.

The main stage usually lies just off of Jozenji Street, which is a long street lined with zelkova trees, which are well-known in Sendai. During the festival, there are a few different stages in a few different areas. The downtown area is very compact, so it's easy to get around on foot.

On Jozenji Street.

Of course, you can find a lot of fast food and street food stands which are common for any big Japanese festival. You can find stands selling beer and drinks, pulled pork, takoyaki, grilled beef tongue (gyuu-tan, a speciality for Sendai), pancakes and so much more!

A Taiko (drum) performance.

Although it is called a jazz festival, there are many genres of music and a variety of musicians who play. For example, when I was watching we saw some pop-inspired bands, a shamisen performance, and gospel choirs. A lot of groups from the local prefectures came to play, and there were also a lot of school groups performing.

The festival is held each year around September, and it usually is not cancelled even if it rains! I attended September 8th, 2013.

#80 - Sightseeing in Sendai: Loople and Zuihoden

Sendai is the largest city in the Tohoku Region in Japan with around one million inhabitants. There are several good tourist and cultural spots in Sendai, but they are sometimes a little too far apart to travel to if you have limited time in the city. What could you do?

Loople Sendai Bus

The Loople is a bus service in Sendai. As the name suggests, it travels in a one-way loop across the city, and stops at several useful locations for sightseeing. Stops include Sendai City Museum, Aoba (Sendai) Castle, Osaki Hachimangu Shrine, and the Miyagi Museum of Art, as well as other.

It leaves from Sendai Station, which is a convenient hub for the bullet train, local trains, subway and other bus routes. You can identify a Loople bus easily. It has a wonderfully nostalgic design which incorporates a lot of wood in the design, and it looks very different to other services. The service starts at 9:00 and the last is 16:00, which seems early, but as this is intended as a city touring bus, you should bear in mind that most attractions or tourist spots will be closed around the same time. Buses leave every 20-30 minutes, depending on the season. 

Perhaps the best way to use the Loople is to buy the 1-day pass. This will let you get on and off the Loople any time you want during the day. It costs 620yen for the 1-day pass (single fare is 260yen) so if you stop to visit 2 places, you have already saved money! Even better, the 1-day pass allows a discount at some tourist attractions! 

Zuihoden

One of Sendai's most visited attractions is the Zuihoden Mausoleum (瑞鳳殿). This mausoleum was built in 1637 for Date Masamune, one of the most powerful feudal lords from the Edo Period, who died the previous year. Zuihoden was designed in the style of the Momoyama Period, which features intricate woodwork with bright and vivid colours.  

Zuihoden - the mausoleum of Date Masamune.

Steps up to Zuihoden.

During the Second World War, the mausoleum was destroyed by bombing, but it was reconstructed in 1979 to be an exact replica.

Kansenden and Zennoden.

 On the grounds, you can also find the mausoleums of other members of the Date clan: Kansenden (感仙殿), built for Date Tadamune, and Zennoden (善応殿), built for Date Tsunamune. There are also the graves and tombs of other descendants. There is a small museum exhibiting items which were excavated from the site.

#73 - Mountains and molehills

Added to the World Heritage List on June 22nd, 2013, Mt Fuji is perhaps one of the first images people think of when they think about Japan. Not surprisingly, Mt Fuji is a mountain. But it's not the only one in Japan.

Did you know that about 72% of Japan is mountainous? There is a mountain chain on each of the main islands. This was surprising for me to hear at first!

Sendai, or rather in Miyagi Prefecture, is bordered to the east and the west by the Ou mountains (奥羽山脈 Ou-sanmyaku). This is the longest mountain range in Japan which stretch for 500km. In fact, from most areas in Sendai, I could easily see the mountains in the distance. Whenever I would travel by Shinkansen to Toyko, I would always see the mountains in the distance. It got a little comforting knowing they were there (which later shocked me when I moved to Okayama, as it is terribly flat, thus no mountains). The Ou mountain range includes several well-known mountains, so for this entry, let's talk about Mt Zao.

Mount Zao

Mount Zao (蔵王山 Zao-san) lies on the border of Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture. It is the most active volcano in the north on the main island of Honshu and is 1841 metres high. It is a complex volcano - a volcano with more than one feature.

My photograph of the crater and view.

One of these features is the Okama crater (御釜 Okama). This crater was formed by an eruption in the 1720s and it contains a lake. An 'okama' is a traditional cooking pot which this crater is said to resemble. However, the crater and lake are also known as the "Five Colour Pond" (五色沼 goshikinuma) because the lake changes colour depending on the weather.

Me and Okama - it was very windy!

You are not allowed to go down to the crater, so you have to view it from a neighbouring peak called Kattadake (1758 metres). Actually, you can drive up to this part, which has a parking area, but the last part is a toll road so you would have to pay about 540 yen. When I visited at the beginning of June, 2013, a friend kindly offered to drive. It is also possible to get there by bus or by ropeway from Zao Onsen.

The shrine.

At the top of the Kattadake peak, there is a small Shino shrine. I'm not sure of the name of it, though I did buy some small charms. I also can't remember if I had my shrine book (my shuin-cho) with me to get a stamp. I have a feeling I forgot to take it, though. Also, there is a visitor centre here, where you can get some snacks (and of course there are toilets!).

Overall, Mount Zao is a great place to relax. A lot of people enjoying hiking around the area and you can see some great views!

#72 - Sendai Castle and Date Masamune

Castle Ruins

The first time I visited Sendai Castle was in the middle of April 2013. At the time, there were a few cherry blossom trees in bloom still, but it was at the end of the season so they looked rather poorly. I went with a fellow teacher and her student.

Unfortunately, due to time and other events, the castle no longer stands. Actually, it would be more accurate to call it castle ruins, and now only the foundation walls remain. Actually, the real name of this area is called Aoba Castle (青葉城 Aoba-jo) because it was built upon Mount Aoba.

Castle walls

There are a few ways to reach the castle, but whenever I went I always chose the same path. Its fairly easy to get to. You can get a bus in more-or-less a straight line from downtown Sendai and get off at the International Center. From there, cross the road to Sendai City Museum. If you walk behind the building, there is a tiny path which you can walk upwards towards the castle ruins.


It is completely free to visit the castle. In fact, I ended up visiting several times, sometimes during the day and sometimes at night. From the top of the castle walls, there is a great panoramic view of Sendai city. To the left you can see mountains and the large Sendai Daikannon - a great white statue of the Japanese Buddhist Bodhisattva Kannon which is 100 metres tall - which overlooks the city. To the right of the view on a clear day, you can see the ocean near the Sendai port area. On the castle grounds, there is also a Gokoku Shrine (護国神社 Gokoku-jinja) as well as a large statue of Date Masamune on horseback.

View of central Sendai from the castle ruins.
Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a photo of the whole view.

Date Masamune

Speaking of which, who is this? Date Masamune is a well-known historical figure in the Sendai and Tohoku region. You can see his figure on a whole plethora of souvenirs from Sendai. He was a daimyo (大名) - a powerful territorial lord - in the region, and helped to found the modern-day city of Sendai. 

Me and a bust of Date Masamune.

Rear of the statue of Date Masamune
on horseback at the castle.

Date Masamune is also known as the "one-eyed dragon" (独眼竜 dokuganryu). This is because he had an infection of small-pox in his right eye as a child which caused him to lose his eye. How he lost it, though, is unclear. Some sources say that he plucked it out himself.

Another symbol of Date Masamune was his famous crescent-moon shaped helmet. This won him a fearsome reputation. Actually, I have noticed that the figure of Date Masamune, or a similar design, is often used in anime or games (for example, Samurai Warriors). 

I also found out that the design of this helmet was the inspiration for Darth Vader's costume!