Life, Travel, GRACE

After spending five days in Sendai, my visit here has finally come to an end. On my last day, I took a tour of the Kirin Beer Factory. I must say that the tour was quite informative—slightly better than the one I had at a beer factory in Malaysia. Visitors were able to touch, smell, and taste during the tour. We were served at least three different types of Kirin beer for tasting. Although the tour was short, it was uplifting. I had lunch at their restaurant, which was probably my most expensive meal during this trip to Sendai. In the afternoon, I took an Uber to Arahama Elementary School, which has now been turned into a museum. It is located on the eastern side of Sendai, an area that was hit by the tsunami following the earthquake on March 11, 2011. On that day, after the quake, the schoolchildren were evacuated to the rooftop of the building. About 27 hours later, they were all rescued. The school now exhibits the impact of the tsunami, the conditions on that day, and the aftermath...

Again, based on a recommendation from an AI tool, I took a day trip to the Akiu Onsen area using public transport. Visiting an onsen wasn’t really my main agenda—it was the waterfall, Akiu Otaki Waterfall, that I wanted to see. Getting to the Akiu area requires careful planning around the public bus schedule. I took a bus from the Nagamachiminami area. Honestly, I didn’t even know where that was—I just followed Google’s directions. I arrived in Akiu Onsen town at 9 a.m. Just a short walk from the stop, you can enjoy a view of Rairaikyo Gorge. You can basically walk around the whole town in about 30 minutes. Since I couldn’t locate the public bathhouse, I decided to head to the waterfall. Unfortunately, the bus to the waterfall had already left, and the next one wouldn’t arrive until after lunch. Walking there would’ve taken too long—about 4 km, I think—so I had lunch first. After lunch, I waited for the bus to the waterfall. It was truly a great sight. If I’d had more time, I would hav...

 Based on recommendations from travel websites and AI tools (ChatGPT and Mindtrip), I took a day trip to Matsushima, also known as Matsushima Bay. I took a local train to Matsushima Kaigan Station, which was about an hour's ride if I remember correctly. The train wasn’t too crowded since I traveled during off-peak hours. My first stop in town was Entsuin Temple and Zuiganji Temple, both just a short walk from the station. Each had a pretty decent Zen garden, though temples aren’t really my thing. From there, I wandered into the town and stumbled upon a seafood market. Since I was traveling solo, I usually avoid expensive individual meals, so I skipped the seafood. Next, I visited Godaido Temple, a small and simple temple compound. From there, I took a tourist boat tour around the bay (the jetty is just a short walk from Godaido). Initially, I had planned to depart from Matsushima and arrive further down at Shiogama, as suggested in travel forums and websites, but it seemed that rou...

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

On the second day of my trip, I decided to visit some of the public toilets under The Tokyo Toilet project. The idea was inspired by the film  Perfect Days . Since the public toilets under this project are scattered around western side of Tokyo, I visited a few in Shibuya area, which are quite close to each other. One notable location is Yoyogi Park.  One of the highlights of these designer toilets is the transparent toilet. Its transparent glass walls will turn opaque when the door is locked. This feature is based on the electrochromic effect. However, this feature is unavailable during late autumn and winter, which coincided my visit. The key takeaway from this visit: an eye opening experience about toilet culture and social inclusivity. Yoyogi Park The transparent toilet Another transparent toilet in community park The park in Yoyogi Hachimangu Shrine Another view of the park Mushroom design public toilet

Just returned from a solo trip to Japan end of last month. The trip coincided with a conference in Sendai. It was an 8-day trip, including 2 days of travel. Took a direct flight from KL to Tokyo on the afternoon of October 23rd (Wednesday), arriving that night. By the time I cleared immigration, it was almost midnight. Then took a train to downtown Shimbashi. Without detailed research on the location of my booked capsule hotel, I ended up walking in the wrong direction and almost being harassed by roadside pimps (lol). After getting free Wi-Fi at a convenience store, finally able to find the hotel. Once checked in, took a hot bath (it was an open bath). That was the end of the day.  In-flight meal of ANA airline Male-only capsule hotel with open hot spring You can browse manga for free after soaking