As for Miyagi, the choice was between Sendai and Matsushima. Sendai will always be a necessary stop anyway as it lies between Tokyo and Morioka which will serve as my home base for this Tohoku trip. Tokyo to Sendai on either the Tohoku or Akita bullet train will take an hour and 40 minutes, plus another 40 minutes onward to Morioka. Once in Sendai, you transfer to a local JR Senseki train to Matsushima-kaigan. There is another station named Matsushima but this is farther from the attractions you will be visiting. The local train takes 40 minutes and is totally included in the rail pass. Why did I opt for Matsushima instead of Sendai then?
Well, we are just trying to veer away from our habit of just visiting the main city. Sendai seems to have a lot to offer as the prefecture’s largest city but I got curious about Matsushima Bay. If you search on Google, the main attractions that will come up are Zuiganji, which is a temple complex by the bay, and Fukuura island, one of the many dotting Japan’s Pacific coast. What you will always see on Google Images is the bright red lacquer bridge that connects Fukuura to the mainland. Legend has it that you can find the love of your life while crossing this bridge. What found me instead was a lot of rainfall. Wet and wild day, eh?
Rain has been in the forecast, and Miyagi took the brunt of the precipitation. It’s always a good idea to bring an umbrella. From Matsushima-kaigan station, I walked to Zuiganji, at least the part of the complex inland, which is along the route toward the viewing deck where you can see one of Japan’s Three Views, that of Matsushima Bay and its pine-clad islands. I managed to see that view after around 15 minutes of hiking, but the rain just wouldn’t stop, and so all I got on camera were gray clouds and an even grayer sea. The good thing about this viewing deck is the roofed gazebo next to it, which served as a temporary shelter for me.
I can imagine how this made it to that list of threes, if you see it on a sunny day at least. Even then, it seems to me as though the other two on the list, namely: Amanohashidate’s sandbar in Kyoto and the torii of Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima, are the more unique and impressive of the three. This Matsushima Bay view could be replicated by any other coastal view and chain of islands back in the Philippines, IMO. Once done with the viewing deck, it takes around half an hour to reach the bay itself and to have your turn in crossing the bright red bridge that will take you to Fukuura.
The original plan was to explore the island. Guides online claim that you need just around an hour to explore the whole place. I decided not to do it anymore because the rain didn’t show any signs of stopping. There is a JPY200 (~PHP80) bridge “toll fee” to pay at the cafe right next to the bridge entrance, which is fenced off from the street, so make sure to have two one-hundred coins with you. Once paid, you can head over to the bridge and take your selfies there, albeit with some competition that never seems to end, even on a rainy day. The bridge is quite long but steady and not elevated which lessens the thrill somehow.
Aside from the viewing deck after Zuiganji temple, another option is the elevated park on the other direction AWAY from Zuiganji. I no longer visited that viewing deck because it was raining anyway. As such, I have no idea whether it was crowded. The viewing deck I went to, called Shin-Tomiyama Overlook, was practically empty when I was there. I don’t know whether this is also the case during the early months of summer. Even if I might seem to have a bias for this one, I’d recommend it anyway just like the online guides do, since the vantage point really does provide a good overlook of the bay.
The only other side trip before I hopped on a train back to Sendai and then to Morioka was the Godaido temple of Zuiganji which is detached from the main complex and jutting out to the Pacific. It has two or three bright red mini bridges which are necessary because the wooden temple itself was constructed on huge rocks along the bay. The entrance is right next to the main road, which means people usually just go up and do one lap around the temple before heading back to town. The temple itself looks nice and its brown color really complements the blue shades of the sea and the sky.
[MIYAGI] Cloudy Day at Matsushima Bay
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