Exploring Sendai City

I lived in the area called Kimachi Dori for about seven and a half years. I love the trees and interesting shops along Bansui Dori. But my favorite street is Aoba Jinja Dori. When you walk from Kitayobancho station and turn right into Aoba Jinja Dori, you first find a traditional Sendai sweet shop, Kumagaiya, which began in the time of Date Masamune and, across from that, a shop that sells Japanese antiques and other handicrafts. It’s pretty cool and a good place to buy a present for foreigners. As you keep walking, you go past Sendai Forum movie theater which shows more interesting movies than the bigger theaters. There are also some very nice cafes in this area. Further down the street, you can see some old houses and businesses that have been operating for hundreds of years; for example, futon makers and soba mills. The most impressive is the more than 100 year old Yokoyama miso shop, which is located in a beautiful old okura (storehouse). The owner lives behind the store in a huge, traditional house built in the Taisho era. At the end of this street is, of course, Aoba Jinja (shrine) on Kitayama. It’s a peaceful place to visit, but it’s walking there that I enjoy most.

Sendai also has some unique markets. One of them is the antique market at Toshogu shrine on the fourth Sunday of every month. In this beautiful setting, we can buy anything from old stamps and post cards to old wooden furniture and kimonos. I always find something interesting to buy (a wooden medicine box, an old magazine) and it’s a great way to spend a Sunday morning. There is also

 a market at Yakushido in Wakabayashi ward on the 8^th of every month. Here, in the temple grounds, you can buy homemade food, like bread and jam, as well as one-off, useful handmade gifts. It is quite large and fun to explore on a day off.

In my free time, I sometimes like to just go to an area of Sendai that I’ve never been to before and explore it; for example, one time I went to Kawaramachi by subway. Near the station, there is a very old sweet shop that sells a lot of handmade kinako (soya bean powder) sweets and has a small museum at the back. The building itself is really beautiful and it stands next to a small river with a huge cherry-blossom tree, which is picturesque when it blooms in springtime. From here you can walk back downtown through the interesting main street of Aramachi, where I particularly enjoyed the Chinese supermarket.

There are some magnificent historical sites like Zuihoden and Osaki Hachiman shrine, and these are good recommendations for people who are visiting Sendai for a short time. But what I like about Sendai is just exploring different areas and discovering unique shops, cafes and markets.