Sendai Part II/ Matsushima

 The next day, Joyce and I went to the harbor town of Matsushima.  The area is famous for having a string of really beautiful islands and awesome seafood.  It was really cold the day we decided to go there, but I had fun nonetheless. The food alone made it worth while.  Below shows my oyster lunch.

Freshly made rice crackers.

Joyce and I ate skewered fish cakes while drinking free tea with some old Japanese women.

The ferry ride brought us past some stellar views of the nearby islands.  Basho, a famous Japanese poet, only had this to say about Matsushima after being blown away by it's beauty:

Matsushima ah!
A-ah, Matsushima, ah!
Matsushima, ah!

At night, Joyce and I walked down a main pedestrian artery of Sendai towards the JR Railway Station.  Going up a tall tower to overlook the city at night, I found out Sendai was a lot more expansive than I thought.

Cheese Kit Kat. Strangely tasty.

Joyciaaaaahhh!!!!!

I really liked Sendai.  It is a sad tragedy of what happened there during the quake, but Joyce is stickin' it out up there for a while.  I'm so honored to be a friend of such a brave young woman.

It was well worth it to go up there and meet my old colleague.  But now she just needs to return the favor and come to see me in China (*ahem* Joyce...meet you in Shanghai or Beijing sometime...).