I took the fifth day rather smoothly; after waking up from a wonderful night, bathing in the onsen one last time and enjoying my first traditional Japanese breakfast I set out for Sendai where my hotel was located. I didn't have a significant interest for Sendai, but staying in Matsushima, where I wanted to spend my day, was rather expensive, so I opted for a reasonably priced business hotel in Sendai, which is 25 min away by train. One again, I got a lift from the ryokan to the bus station and as I told the staff guy that I was going to Sendai, he started talking to me about his parents that were apparently living there.
The ride on the local track from Yamagata to Sendai was rather dull after experiencing the cream of Japanese public transportation; the Shinkansen; noisy, slow and not that comfortable, but I didn't care that much. Once in Sendai, I wanted to drop my bags at the hotel instead of paying 300 yen in a coin locker; apparently the hotel was 4 min by foot from the station, so I decided to head there first. But in the end, that 4 minutes extended to 20 min... not that I got lost, but I just couldn’t find the not so clearly indicated hotel. After finding a map in the street and compared it with the one I had, I realized I was one parallel street too far from the hotel street... hotel which was in the end, pretty well indicated and really 4 min by foot from the station.
Soon after I departed for Matsushima, but instead of getting off the train at Matsushima-Kaigan where most of the tourists debark, I got off at Hon-Shiogama and headed for the pier where I took a pleasant 50 min ferry ride up to Matsushima. The ride was great and we could purchase 2 packs of shrimp fries for 100 yen and feed the seagulls that were following the boat ! They were matching their speed to the boat's, so we were able to see them rather well from close; they even came to your hand if you got their attention, although the idea of getting my fingers snapped wasn't exciting I give it a try and those seagull have surprisingly a good aim. Now the seagulls weren't the real show here; it was the multiple islands populated by pine trees around the bay. This sight is said to be one of the tree great views of Japan.
Matsushima itself wasn't that impressive; tasted the local speciality : kaki-yaki (fried oyster) and hanged around the place, which is obviously a huge tourist trap with all the souvenir shops around the place. Didn't bough anything; my rule of thumb is “the more English there is, the less I'll buy”. The Date Clan house was rather a nice sight though; the path leading to the domain was covered wit hpine trees and old statues in front of dark cave made the atmosphere quite eerie, just as I like it.
As the sun was setting down I returned to my hotel, bought a bento at the nearby Family Mart and relaxed in my room.
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