Life, Travel, GRACE

I stayed at APA Hotel near the train station. The next morning, I explored the southern part of the town by jogging. Across the Hirose River, there is a park (Dainejiyama Park) that offers a city view from the hilltop. My run back and forth was peaceful. After breakfast, I headed to the Sendai Castle Honmaru Ruins, which I assume is the city's iconic landmark. Since I chose to walk, I passed by the city museum along the way. To my disappointment, the ruins were merely a platform. After the visit, I proceeded to Tohoku University for lunch and met my collaborator, and also to register for the conference. River view One of the walkway to the hill top at  Dainejiyama Park   Forest view of the park Sendai city view Sculpture in front of the city museum The castle ruins The castle ruins area also offer a city view The iconic statue at the castle ruins Tohoku University  

After spending the morning in Tokyo, I took a long-distance bus to Sendai. The journey took about 5–6 hours, with two stops along the way. I had never taken a long-distance bus in Japan before—on my previous trip, I traveled by high-speed train. Though it's faster, it's also more expensive. Taking the bus gave me time to catch up on my reading. I finally arrived in Sendai around 7:30 PM, checked into the hotel, then went out for a nice bowl of ramen, which I found based on Google reviews. Here's my bus to Sendai, departing from Tokyo main station First stop of the journey, somewhere in Saitama Scenery along the way Second stop of the journey, Motomiya, Fukushima Finally arrived in Sendai Ramen for dinner