Matsushima Bay

"Matsushima is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. There are some 260 tiny islands (shima) covered in pines (matsu) – hence the name – and is ranked as one of the Three Views of Japan.", Wikipedia.

This place was quite beautiful, we got there via train as usual and headed into the bay where we caught a ferry around the bay. They took you on a path weaving through many of the islands which ranged in sized from a few meters in diameter to a few hundred meters which is inhabited by 300 people.

Each island had its own characteristics, some with tunnels or caves underneath them, some tall, some covered in pines and some with nothing on them at all. One of the main islands near the coast is a place where Buddhist's still pray upon today and you are able to access this island via a bridge.

Next we headed to the Zuiganji temple which is one of the most famous in the region. It was originally built in 828 by Jikaku Daishi but was later rebuilt in 1609 by Date Masamune and is classified as a National Treasure. Inside the template where many screen doors with art dating way back, unfortunately we were unable to take photo's in the temple as people often leave their flashes on which can damage the art.

One of the rooms was where the bodies apparently laid from a battle between samurai's, this room was very weird and was extremely cold. ergh.

After looking at the Museum and caves we headed back to Sendai for some dinner. Near our hotel was a Domino's and I had to try it to see what it was like in Japan. They had some weird gourmet pizza's and all the different sized pizza's came in their cute appropriately sized octagonal box's. They even had these small pizza wrap things. It was quite nice and a bit of a change from the other japanese food.

ohhh, and there was a quake before, read below. :)

I've uploaded tons more photos.

Shaun