Oktoberfest...in Sendai?!?

I caught the early train out of Sapporo on the 20th so that I could have as much time as possible to see Sendai, my next stop (northeast of Tokyo, the capital of the Tohoku prefecture). It was still a long train ride - 8 hours in total. It was kind of bittersweet leaving Hokkaido. I loved my time up there, and really liked Sapporo, but I knew there was so much more of Japan to see and I was probably getting too comfortable staying in Sapporo anyway.

On the way to Sendai.

When I got into Sendai, it was already almost 4PM, meaning I missed the majority of tourist attractions, and I was planning to stay in Sendai only for a night as a stopover point before continuing to the Kansai prefecture (since the train ride would have been brutally long if I went straight there from Sapporo). I wasn't able to find a hostel to stay at in Sendai, but luckily I managed to find a guy (who lived in Sendai) I met on the site www.couchsurfing.org who was kind enough to let me crash at his place for the night. For those that don't know of the site, Couch Surfing is an awesome networking site for travellers, like me, who like to meet people (especially locals), with an added bonus of saving some money on living expenses. I actually didn't know about the site before I began my trip, but one of the guys I met in Sapporo let me know about it and I'm glad he did.

Anyway, I met up with Rafael, originally from Mexico, who had been living in Sendai for the last few years while pursuing a PhD in robotics. He was a really cool guy, very friendly, and definitely tried to make me feel at home.

Rafael's place.

After meeting up with him and dropping off my bags at his place, he told me about an Oktoberfest-like beer festival that happened to be going on in Sendai that week. With most tourist places closed by this time, and not too many things to look at anyway (according to Rafael and a couple other people I met later that night...Sendai is really more of a large university town with all the schools in the area), I was more than happy to tag along. It was totally unexpected...an "Oktoberfest"...in Japan! And if Rafael had never told me about it, I would have had no clue it even existed!

At the gate entrance.

Shortly after arriving, we met some of Rafael's friends (mostly other English teachers and a couple of Japanese locals). We grabbed some beers from the nearby convenies, because it was pricey to drink at the festival, and then headed in. Again, I was totally surprised - not only by the dedication to the German theme (only German brews were served along with German foods like sausages and the like, and German music later on...), but also by the sheer number of Japanese people there (well how often is a beer festival not crowded haha)!

Some initial photos.

So we managed to grab an empty table, then grabbed some beers (and yes they were expensive, $13 CDN for a glass) and chatted for a while. A few other people Rafael knew joined us, and then a German band went on stage and started performing...that's when the real party started. I've never been to the real Oktoberfest (though I will have to some day), but the band tried it's hardest to replicate the atmosphere (despite all the Japanese), and the Japanese crowd really got into it - singing and clapping along, raising glasses according to the drinking instructions song (I don't know how to really describe it, and since I've never been to a real Oktoberfest, I don't know the real name for it, but for those that have been to an Oktoberfest-like festival, you'll probably know what I'm talking about), and even dancing! But I'm not going to try to describe it in words when pictures do a much better job.

Me and Rafael.


My beer.


The German band (with full costumes!).


The crazy atmosphere!


Some of the people I met that night (sorry I forgot all their names!). The guy on the right in the 2nd photo was actually from Toronto too (teaching English in Japan)!

The festival ended at 10PM every night, so the group of us headed out to continue the party, and after some wandering they decided on karaoke. Unfortunately, because I had to wake up so early in the morning to catch the train (and I was working with only 2 hours of sleep because it just so happened I had met the loudest snorer ever at the hostel on my final night in Sapporo - man those Japanese snore loud - he woke up everyone in the room in the middle of the night!), I was dead tired by the time they settled on a place to go, so I went back to Rafael's place to catch some much needed sleep. It was a great night even though it ended early for me, and I was quite tipsy by the end of the night (from barely eating anything for dinner and from all the the beers - we snuck beers from the convenies into the festival after buying the one beer to save money). Bonus: a couple of us, including myself, even got some free much-needed burgers from McD's (some random Japanese guy we met on the street - not a McD's employee - gave us a bunch of free burger coupons when he heard some of us talking about getting some food)! Plus, I was planning to wake up early again the next morning so that I could go to nearby Matsushima - the site of one of the 3 most scenic places in Japan - before heading on to my next stop, Osaka.

The arcade alley where we got our free burgers and where the rest of the group eventually went for karaoke.

The next morning, I awoke to an empty room. Rafael is a hardcore partyer - he told me he'd probably stay out all night, and he really did. Luckily, I managed to run into him around 7:30AM outside the subway station near his place as he was returning home so I could say goodbye in person. After stashing my bags in the Sendai train station, I was off to Matsushima, about 45 minutes away by train.


The next morning, on the way to the subway station. The spiders are huge in Honshu (the main island of Japan).


Outside Sendai station.


At the Matsushima train station.

Matsushima is a really small town known as one of the 3 most scenic spots in Japan because of the arrangement of the group of many tiny islands that form Matsushima. Everything is accessible by foot, and I pretty much got to see what I wanted to see in the few hours I was there (except for a sightseeing cruise of the islands, which I couldn't afford).

Making my way from the train station, overlooking Matsushima Bay.


Some of the nearby islands. You'll be noticing some pale blotches in the same spots in the next few pictures - I didn't realize my lens had gotten smudged.

I first wandered over to Godaido, a small temple that is situated on a tiny island on the shores of Matushima.

Some shots from Godaido. I haven't included a photo of the temple because it wasn't anything special.


Godaido from afar.

Then I headed over to Fukuurajima (Fukuura Island), one of the larger islets near the shore, accessible by a 252m long walking toll bridge. It's popular for both the bridge and the islet itself, as it provides a good chance to explore how the islets of the area look - completely covered in pine trees. It took me about 30 minutes to walk around the entire island - mainly because I stopped to take pictures, tried to enjoy the view (despite having to rush), and even explored a closed off path.

Along the bridge.


Some fisherman working nearby the bridge.


Fukuurajima and the surrounding islets. I didn't get to fully appreciate the beauty of the area because I was sort of rushing (so I could catch my train to Osaka), but looking back now, it was quite scenic.


The bridge from Fukuurajima.

I got back to Sendai train station around noon to catch the train to my next stop: the bustling city of Osaka.

Leaving Sendai.