Getting to Kyoto

Our exhaustive trip to Kyoto began with a train ride to Sendai.  Sendai is the capital city of the Miyagi Prefecture, about 2.5 hours north of Hirono.

On our train was a very friendly older man, and after observation we realized, very drunk.  The happy man couldn’t speak English, but that didn’t stop him from trying.  Who says imbibing alcohol is detrimental?  Liquid courage to facilitate cultural exchange!  He even shared and bought us chu-hai at a train stop.  (Chu-hai is an alcohol drink originating from Japan.  Traditional chūhai is made with shōchū and carbonated water flavored with lemon。Chu-hai sold in bars have low alcohol contents, but canned chu-hai from conbini’s have alcohol levels as high as 9%, woo hoo!).  With the help of our buzz, we attempted to communicate, but during the entire train ride all I could make out was that he really liked Kirby and John Wayne…

We arrived in Sendai during the afternoon and went window shopping down Clis Road (a covered shopping area several blocks long).  We had fun tasting wine and food at a foreign market (it was familiar to us – taco shells, yogurt covered raisens, Doritos, etc) and found our first Subway!  Let me tell you, Subways in Japan put America’s to shame.  Not only do they have a more unique menu: ebi (that’s shrimp) and avocado, roasted chicken with a creamy cheese sauce, roast beef with wasabi/soy sauce dressing, basil mayo!  But the level of care and detail they put into making your sandwich is unreal.  Carefully placing each piece of chicken breast at a 45 degree angle, perfectly spaced apart down the length of your freshly baked bread.  The ingredients are on a completely different level of freshness.  We were in heaven.

We caught our overnight bus from Sendai to Kyoto in front of the station and departed at 7:30pm.  Only a 12 hour bus ride to go…