The Fourth Day

My fourth day in Japan was spent mostly travelling. We had our last breakfast in Tokyo and I was able to chat with a couple more ALTs before we would all finally separate to all different areas of Japan. I then met up with the rest of the group who was headed towards Sendai and we travelled together, along with a couple officials from the Sendai Board of Education to the Shinkansen. The Shinkansen is a famous Japanese bullet train which runs from the North to the South of Japan (although I believe there is a newer one which also runs East to West). It can travel up to speeds reaching 400 km/h and was definitely one of the things I had been looking forward to. Oddly enough the most impressive thing I witnessed about the train was the fact that the seats all automatically rotate depending on which direction the Shinkansen is travelling. So cool!
I picked up a bento box at the train station (another Japanese tradition I had read about) and took it with me to enjoy on the train. 

Bento boxed lunch. This dish is called tonkatsu- fried pork with a sweet and savoury sauce. 

The train ride was beautiful. I was able to see much of the Japanese countryside and many of the mountains. I also installed an app on my phone which clocked my current speed at nearly 300km/h. Again, so cool!

The Shinkansen ride lasted about an hour and a half and we were directed to our hotel in Sendai once we arrived. Before heading out to explore Sendai city, I used a precious hour to write out a speech in Japanese that I would have to make the following morning in front of my new bosses. I practiced it a few times before leaving the hotel with a small group to explore Sendai station. One of our party was able to find some shoes, having forgotten to pack hers, and we were all given small samples of gyutan, or “beef tongue”, a Sendai specialty. We also happened to find a beautiful shrine with a pagoda and graveyard right in the center of the city. 

One part of the surprisingly large shrine. 

Graveyard photo taken specifically to send Dad!

After we returned form our adventure we all quickly showered and got ready for a welcome party being hosted for us by current ALTs already living in Sendai. We ate loads of pizza and fries and talked with them about what there is to do in the city, and what to expect when we met our bosses the next morning. After leaving the party we went back to our hotels to get ready for bed (and shower again- Japan has notoriously muggy weather with temperatures usually staying at about 30 degrees accompanied by 80-90% humidity). The next day was a big one, so I did my best to get some sleep!