Samurai came to Matsushima for peace, now I get why
It says no photography in here, so I’m just going to subtly film. Hey everyone, this guy’s filming. No, no, no, no, no. After about a week in Saporro, Will and I were about to commence our long journey south. But instead of sending it all the way to Senda like we initially planned, we decided to stop off in Hakadate, right at the bottom of Hkaido to uh break up the journey and visit its renowned mountaintop viewpoint. First impressions, cold and really hard to walk for society. Our goal for today is to get up there. This is what 20 bucks to get to from the top. I mean, the light from the the light on the snow looks better than the actual view. Yeah, look, we probably should have checked the weather forecast first because the view wasn’t exactly well visible. So, we took a bit of an L there. After demolishing burgers from a spot that we were recommended, we called it a night and luckily woke up to a beautiful clear blue sky for the remainder of our journey all the way down to Sai. We treed it over to Shinhakadate station to catch our first Shinkansen of the trip. And I was so hype. Overland travel makes things so much more interesting. And it’s so cool to be in such a marvel of engineering. It’s a shame it’s just so expensive. We golfers. [Music] Sendai. First impressions. It is straight up like boiling. It’s 10°. You said it was going to be like snowing. Yeah, I thought I legit thought it was going to be like SP. Turns out I’m stupid. What’s up, bro? How the [ __ ] is that? The hotel. That does not sound like hotel. It’s called live max. Liv Mac. Yeah, she was laughing at my jokes. Top floor. Holy [ __ ] Top floor penthouse. Let’s freaking go. 11:01 is it? Only time will tell. This is This is the other place. This is gone. It’s exactly like the other place. Yeah, but newer. Wait, the bed’s kind of like not single. Wa. It’s exactly like the other spot. Good view. Wait, is this actually just open? suicide and cut. Also, the ads are so funny. After arriving to our actually pretty fancy hotel, it was nice to finally have a comfy bed and absolutely nothing to do for the next couple hours. Will and I got a couple beers and just watch some actually pretty bonkers Japanese TV before it was time to grab a bite to eat and explore what Sai’s night life had to offer. What’s on the screen right now, bro? Ching. It’s not very light. It’s like 8:00 maybe. 8:00 in there already like that. We got some catching up to do. Hey, bud. Do we? Absolutely not. Okay, for realies. We just pulled up on the street. Where are we? Murray Street Mall. Literally. Where the vape shop? Murray Street Mall. Where? Yeah. [Music] Uh, what’s this called again? Toi marks H for massive beer. Literally. Oh, wait. Just the beer. No, no, for all of it. The whole thing. Can’t be warm beer. Mars Morski. Are these the same or different? Wait, what do we get? We got thigh and Oh, yeah. One’s thigh and one’s breast or wing or leg or drumstick. Very Japanese. Yeah. Straight up. We are in the back rooms of like full like karaoke stand. We picked a random floor. It’s just Japanese. have to speak Japanese. Okay. Yeah, Facts. But also, it’s very very exclusive. Like the guys on the street that are usually trying to rope foreigners in are groping Japanese people. No, because it’s red light district, but it’s red light district for foreigners. Green light. So, yeah, this club was pretty much the only place that we were able to get into. The layout was so strange. We were definitely early because there were like these tables on the dance floor with random dice games that we didn’t know the rules of. So, we made some up until they took the tables away from us. It then became this hilariously stereotypical club playing all types of radio bangers. So, yeah, there isn’t much else you can do other than, you know, get blackout and take the piss. We left the club at like 2:00 3:00 a.m. and I was past the point and didn’t want to let the night end. So, I went up to these boys standing outside a restaurant to see if they’d keep drinking with us and the rest was history. DJ Rick, set You know what? You know what? Whole table. We pay everyone. What the [ __ ] We got massive ones. Yeah. What? We We pay. We pay. We pay. Don’t worry. Don’t worry. Thank you. Come by. Come by. Come by. Come by. [Applause] Apparently, this is 70 bucks, but who cares? Oh, two hours. Two hours. Okay. All right. Okay. Okay. Okay. I have no idea what’s going I’m going to figure it out later. I’m so black out and we’re apparently going to drink more. [Music] I have no idea what’s going on. We don’t have enough seats. All [Music] right. Do you like that? Hello. Are you Are you being for real? Do you like that? We have two tables. Oh, sweet. Okay. I love this guy. He’s a goat. Well, I don’t know. Is Guanaban paying for our table as well? I didn’t even give a f. Oh, sweet. I wasn’t recording the whole time. What? What is this? What is this? [Music] It’s hot. I can tell you that. It’s really hot. Okay. Apparently, it’s four table. This is uh Okay. Okay. This is Japanese. No. But how? We want to pay this. Oh. Oh, yum. Yum. Thank you. Which one? The circle thing. Which one? The circle thing. Yeah, that one. No, the other one. The other one. The other one. Eat it. Actually, I can’t really taste anything. I’ll catch you. I’ll catch you. Hey. Hey. Hey. Thank you. I love you. Peace and love, bro. God, I’m so maggot. I’m so maggot. Get me home. [Music] Morning. [Music] Morning. We are in Shigoama. Yeah, Shig Shigama something. Bro, we’re going to catch a bit of a It’s kind of like a ferry. It’s kind of like a cruise around Matsushima Bay. This bay is supposedly one of Japan’s top three like wonders. Is that how you describe it? I don’t know. But I’m excited to get on the boat and take some pics of the Pineclad Islands around this beautiful area of the world. We pre-booked online on this like archaic web one website with like no confirmation or payment or anything. So, I’m just hoping that they don’t really use that anymore. Who knows? That’s something to wake you up in the morning. E. Is that eagle, bro? Can you see that? Anyway, yeah. So, we’re just going to check out the marina and see if we can uh catch this [ __ ] boat. Yep. [Music] Thank you. Thank you on outside boat. The water’s so still. I’m on a boat. Widow on a boat right now. [Music] Just sat on the corner. [Music] Lens is so strong. Oh no, we’re crashing. [Music] Get driving. [Music] Okay, we’re off. It’s meant to be a sightseeing tour, but there is no way that we’re going to be able to understand the information that is being provided. So, I’m just going to point and look at the pretty pictures. Hope you enjoy. First observation, it smells like cat food. Like, it completely smells like when you walk into a uh like a pet barn or some [ __ ] Fish market. Oh, there isn’t there’s destination. Fish market. That’s why it smells like fish. Fish market. Not them. [Music] We picked up speed. That is actually very cold now. Did you hear what it said? We have to wait till the end of the Japanese information before we can hear the English information. So pretty though. I was anticipating it to be like completely snowing, but the difference in temperature between well Sai and Saporo is actually crazy. It’s legit. I said it was cold before, but it’s much warmer in comparison. portal and entered. The speaker thing said, “Oh, I’m getting wked.” Speaker said that there was a shrine on the left side of the island. I couldn’t see it. [Music] Please look to your right hand side. The island you can see shaped like a semicircular black bean is now kind of gets off Goonies vibes with the keys. How did that happen? Erosion, tidal forces, white water. We Kind of reminds me of Coramander in New Zealand. Walk to the other side. Now we’re turning around again. Look at these sheep. People don’t want you to look this way. On your near right, you can see a strange shaped island which looks like a man in a seated position. This is the famous looks like a man in a seated position. If you look carefully, you can see his eyes, his mouth, and the cigarette he is smoking, as well as the beret he’s wearing on his head. Y’all be of the statue of the very fashionable Neo Ogre. Neo, [Music] I don’t really know what I was expecting from the the lighting and everything. Obviously being on a boat, you’re kind of constricted to being or having to take the same photos as everyone else, being quite tourist. Oh, I saw this one. One sec. [Music] Hello. I guess a lot of this is going to look better in black and white. I’ll be real. The light isn’t really lighting, but the moments like this that you get with like the silhouettes of the island. That’s kind of what I was anticipating. I don’t know. I’ll call you out and take some more photos. Where are we? I don’t really know what else to say. There’s not much to say. Yeah, I know. Picture big picture. And on the near left there is a semicircle we are looking [Music] at. [Music] So, I think we’re in Masushima now. I think we’re going to be disembarking, diving in the local area for a while. According to the most of the things to do in Sandai area in Matushima, so I feel like we’re going to be seeing a lot of temples and a lot of cult. Picture us there soon. That’s us. [Music] All righty. Poo. That’s that then. I’m going to give it 6.3 out of 10. What? A 6.3 out of 10. No, it was pretty cool. It was cool. I think the weather like But I think like that’s a better way to get here than taking the train. 100. Yeah. So if we if we treat it as like a form of public transport, I’m going to bump it up to a eight. That’s much better than just sit pretty. That was a Matsushima Bay cruise. Now it’s time to cruise through Matsushima Bay. Bang. That red bridge. I think that’s the portal. But maybe we hit a bit of [ __ ] Lord cuz your boy staring. Is there like a food here that’s famous? I hear I soup. Oh no, that was just what he said. Food. Yeah, we got a recommendation from someone. We asked like what what what’s good to eat in uh in Sai and he said Sud. We got no further information from that. So s Oh, look. There’s culture and stuff over there. Oh, we’re going to have a great time here. Uh but yeah, food then send. [Music] Oh, wow. What a view. What an accidental gold. I’m still getting notifications saying there’s going to be a severe weather warning. I mean a severe snowstorm. This is a buckwheat tea. Okay. Buckwheat tea. Thank you. It’s okay. Please go. It’s a good view. Cheers. Have you ever had Twiglets? That’s what that tastes like. Bit of a solo date here. Let’s try it out. Chinese ramen. [Music] Oh no. [Music] It’s okay. It’s okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Flames. That shit’s good. $10 without ramen. Chinese ramen, apparently. It was good. The pork was really nice. Yeah, the view. Meal with a view. The view is what made it $9. Oh, $10. Yeah, actual. All right, now we’re going to do a bit of wandering around. There is a temple up here that we’re going to visit. So, temple bridge and then other stuff. Something in between. Stay tuned, bro. Look at this. Um, where did What is it? What is it? What is it? I mean, it’s cool. I want to know how old it is and why. Buddhism. That’s why. I’m going to say 600 years old. There we go. If we make it up for ourselves, none the wiser. This is sick. Is it a quarry of such? Maybe Declan and Vio can figure it out for you. Gotcha, bud. You’re honestly not far off at all. So, these are the Zooi Ganji cave ruins. basically ancient Buddhist memorial sites. The caves you thought were old quaries were actually carved by hand as early as the Kamakura period. So like 1185 AD. Funny enough, the temple you’re walking towards was originally founded way back in 828 AD. But this being Japan, it’s been rebuilt a few times. The version that stands today was rebuilt in6009 under D Masamune. I think that’s what it’s anyway. He was a powerful warlord that turned it into a Zen temple. Basically, it’s actually crazy that you currently debating whether it’s worth seeing for $7. Idiot. The whole reason you even came to Matsushima is because you heard it was like one of the three views of Japan, like officially recognized for being beautiful. That title was given in 1643 by a Confucian scholar named Hayashi Gaho. And honestly, it makes sense. Back in the day, Buddhist pilgrims would travel here not just for the temple, but for the natural scenery, too. It says no photography in here, so I’m just going to subtly film. Hey, everyone. This guy’s filming. No, no, no, no, no. [Music] They’ll never know. So, we just did a bit of a walk through that thing. That building not allowed to film in there, but it reckons that building was built in6009 for emp. Anyway, it’s built for vibes. The actual inside of the place was very cool. You could see like um all those picture like those traditional Japanese rooms with all the [ __ ] like the the carpeted floor. You’ve seen Shogun. You know what I’m talking about. Tatami mat. Tatami mat is like that soft, you know, like a floor that thing. But it was like surrounded by hella gardens, you know, from Shogun. It just looks so peaceful. Dude, that’s such a [ __ ] massive roof. The vibes from this place is so astronomical. You let that one watching this place so I take a photo. See if we can get up top. Yeah, it would be awesome. Hey, but for real, $7 to get in here AUD. That’s actually We were I mean about how like whether that’s a good investment, but this is actually severely interesting. I would almost argue to say it might be the reason you come to Matsushima. But yeah, block off, but you know about lav. Okay, onwards and upwards. I’m thirsty as so I want to get something to drink and then we’re going to go across the big bridge. [Music] Just see me smile. You got to buy a ticket for everything in this crib. Worth it though, I reckon. Two whole dollars. $2 per ticket. Outrageous amount of money. Locking up [ __ ] Bill Gates. All right, this is this is this is going to require some serious photo. Just kidding. Looks like everyone in their mom’s getting this photo. I’m going to whip my camera out. See what I can do. All right. Just quickly, while it’s windy, this bridge is red, which fundamentally means that it’s a spiritual path. Red is often used at shrines and temples to ward off evil. So, crossing a massive red bridge like this means you’re going somewhere legit. Back in the day, this island, Fukurima, spelling is a bit sus. Uh, yeah, it was connected to that temple that we were just at, and people would come here to meditate as it was seen as like an extension of the temple grounds. These days, it’s pretty much just a vibe walk in a botanical garden, but it’s still cool to think about what’s uh been going on here, etc. I read about this classic poem that goes, “Ah, Matsushima, ah, Matsushima, a Matsushima.” Obviously in Japanese, but I find it pretty funny how it’s just about how the poet was lost for words. So, so Japanese. We’ll propose a question. How did these mini islands geologically form? Is it due to earthquake or is it due to water level rise from mountain top? Let me know in the comments. Maybe I want to go higher. So update on the weather is gray. The snow warning on my m on my weather app. It says look snowstorm warning up there. Zero chance of snow. But it the the weather doesn’t show snow. If it does snow, oh buddy, this is going to be a setting. Fingers crossed. But I initially imagined it to be snowy while we’re walking through here. So maybe it’s literally my manifestation coming to fruition. Big words. It’s nice. It’s getting quite vert. I am enjoying this thoroughly. Oh, bro. But it looks like it’s absolutely going to piss down. Oh, no. We are. Oh, no. It’s down there. There. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. The lookout’s the lookout. Sunday session. Literally. It’s Monday. I like how the light is right now. In fact, I’m going to actually take a photo. You saw that, right? The light was good just before. Now it’s rubbish. Epic fail. [Music] Look at that little beach. How peaceful. Just those little pockets of sunlight always look so nice. Like right there. You see? You can’t see. You can turn around one sec. [Music] Beautiful. [Music] It’s raining. I think it’s time to go back. There we go. There. the overlook. Yeah, that’s these just other other temples. While we’re here, I guess well, I guess we have to go that way cuz we need to get back to Yeah, that’s the train. All right, game plan. Go to Outlook and then you vibe on elsewhere. Stairs, dude. Imagine doing this in Vietnam. How sweaty you get. It’s [ __ ] You got to be jing. It’s literally just that. Never go off the beaten path. How many people can say they’ve been here? Too many. Probably not too many. That kind of looks like the shed that I used to get basketballs from in primary school. Okay, we found what we were looking for. Turns out it’s a bloody mission. 200 m more of this bird’s driveway. Oh, there it is. Oh, wait. You can swing golf balls up here. I’m sure that’s what that says. It is pretty cool though. Look out. Bang. Hey, mate. Really? Ready? Would you look at that? That is stunning. It’s a like Halong Bay in Vietnam but cold and clean. That random tall like ancient style. Yeah. Just what is that? [Music] Yeah. Perhaps this is the forewarn snowstorm. Wow, that looks so sick. Okay, the camera is getting clotted. It’s time to eat Valentine’s. I want to say that’s like banana scented. Don’t know. These ones look savory. I think there’s sweet ones over there. The sweet ones still. It does feel quite um cool like the that old me with the creu. Okay, the rain has subsided and we’ve just seen this place on on the side of the road that sells oyster curry bread or melon zunda bunda. Will’s going to get the melon one. I think I’m going to get the oyster curry. Oh, I mean it’s sold out. Beef tongue. Curry bread. I’ll get that. Okay. Two of those. Hey. Uh, beef tongue. Curry. One, please. I’ll get one. Okay. Yeah. [Music] Beef tongue curry bread. That sounds so Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Where should we devour? Okay. I want your verdict first. That’s hot. Wait, I got no beef tread. Looks good though. Bread is helping here. Yeah, I’m glad that we got it. Don’t burn your mouth. I’m still not getting much. Okay. Okay. All right. [Music] Kind of looks like fish. Oh, it’s like like a donut. [Music] Oy. All right, that’s gas. And that’s the ki done. All right, so turns out we couldn’t really find the other temples, so we kind of just magically ended up inside the train station. That has been Matsushima Bay. Good time. Yeah, I rate it actually quite highly. It’s very nice to be out in the fresh air. Mhm. Amongst the sea. Weather held up. Yeah, weather held up pretty well. Considering that my phone is still showing there’s a massive snowstorm. Just a spot of rain. That’s all we got. Not the worst. But now we’re just going to catch a train home. Ve the [ __ ] out. You’ll see what we get up to. Deuces. [Music] It’s snowing and I’ve only got a hoodie on, no t-shirt. Absolutely mental. We had to go so far just to get a dryer because all the ones at our hotel were full and this ended up being such a fat [ __ ] We bought food. We bought food. Oh, that sent to the max. But then we just read the sign and he said can’t [ __ ] eat it. Oh [ __ ] we got to go. This is where we’re at right now. really warm laundry. Actually dried in 20 seconds at 20 minutes which is actually pretty good. But it is snowing and I’ve got no clothes on underneath this hoodie. It’s [ __ ] cold, lad. Okay, we made it. We had a spare day left in Sai. So we decided to go for a bit of a cruise around the sites. First walking to this place called Zui Hoden, which was the tomb of Date Masamune, the guy from earlier. We got to learn about him and how he was a daimo, a leader of the Dart clan. His story is so sick. He only had one eye and some called him the oneeyed dragon or something like that. Definitely aura farming. But yeah, it was cool to be able to see all his armor and stuff in the museum. I definitely recommend. If not for the museum, then just walking around the grounds was cool as the site was so beautiful. Like amongst all the massive trees and the snow was like so picturesque. [Music] Zai actually has these sightseeing buses called Lupal that takes you to all the sites around the city. We hopped off at the Sai Castle ruins up the top of the hill. And yeah, it had this insane panorama of Sendai. You could even see that huge famous Buddhist statue from like way in the distance. Will and I rounded our trip off treating ourselves to some fancy gutan or beef tongue, which is Sendai’s regional dish. And yeah, it easily became one of my favorites for sure. All righty. Beef tongue. Cheers. That is so good. And there’s nothing broken yet. China’s good.
Ah, Matsushima! Ah, Matsushima! Ah, Matsushima!
A place so beautiful they had to say it three times.
After wrapping up our snowy week in Sapporo, Will and I caught a bus across Hokkaido, making an underwhelming overnight pit stop in Hakodate before boarding our first cross-country Shinkansen to the coastal city of Sendai.
With only a couple of nights to spare, we kicked things off the only way we know how… by hitting the strip, and eventually meeting a group of local legends who helped us keep the night going into the early hours, using mostly translate to converse.
The next day we mellowed out and recovered, as it was soon time to head out to what brought us here in the first place.
Matsushima Bay, one of Japan’s Three Most Scenic Views.
We hopped aboard a local ferry for an hour long cruise through the bay’s tiny pine-covered islands, took photos, and soaked in the vibes. Once docked in Matsushima, we explored Zuiganji Temple, walked the iconic red bridge to Fukuurajima, and completed a few unexpected side quests along the way.
Back in Sendai, we rounded off the trip by exploring the city itself, and tasting of the famous gyūtan curry bread.
It’s a shorter episode this week, but definitely one of the most beautiful places we’ve visited so far. Let me know if you prefer this tighter style.
Btw, if you wanna bring a slice of paradise to your crib, here’s the link to my print store x
www.declanhues.com
Timestamps:
00:00 – our first shinkansen
02:46 – sendai nightlife
08:08 – matsushima bay island hopping
15:29 – lunch with a view
17:32 – zuiganji temple
21:10 – the red bridge to fukurajima
24:27 – finding a vantage point
27:00 – trying gyutan curry bread
29:46 – touring sendai
#matsushima #sendai #japantravel #travelvlog #declanhues #matsushimabay #tohokujapan #japanvlog #zuiganji #shinkansen #gyutan
3 Comments
What did you think of this one? I know it’s still half an hour, but it’s definitely shorter than the last couple. Keen to hear your thoughts!
Gorgeous place. Go there
elite elite elite eliteeeeee ❤