Albuquerque Hobbs: November 4-5, 2017: Sendai Japan trip--Part I

Another awesome opportunity to visit Japan came when Mike was invited to another Explosives Conference--this time in Sendai! The city seems cleaner and more modern than Tokyo, and there are hundreds of skyscrapers and buildings in every direction that I can see from the 26th floor windows of our hotel room. I see bridges, rivers, hills, trees in various autumn colors, and the ocean in the far distance. Sendai is the second largest city in Japan, north of Tokyo and is really beautiful!

November 3rd-4th: We left Albuquerque at 8am to catch our flight to Denver at 9:40am. Then we flew from Denver to Tokyo for 15 hours; plus there's a 16-hour time difference between home and Japan. The roughest part of our trip was making it from Tokyo to Sendai. After our arrival to the Tokyo Narita Airport, the flight to Sendai was delayed. After a long wait and to our dismay, the plane was cancelled due to mechanical problems. You should have heard the loud gasp from the crowd in the terminal as they whispered "Aaaaaah?" in unison. There were no shouts of anger or cursing whatsoever. I will never forget how peaceful and orderly the Japanese people were during the very disappointing and surprising news that night!

We met a very nice young Japanese couple, newlyweds of a little over a year, who were celebrating their wedding anniversary in Tokyo. We tagged along with them everywhere until we made it into Sendai. Everyone who was supposed to be on that plane to Sendai had to take the Tokyo Express train to the Tokyo Train Station, where we hopped on the bullet train to Sendai. Compared to the plane rides from Albuquerque and Denver to Tokyo, the seats on the trains were extremely uncomfortable; instead of sleeping, I wiggled in my seat miserably during the long commute to Sendai. I think the seats were old and internally worn and slanted, and that's why I kept slipping off of them. Anyway, we were so grateful to the airport strangers who became our friends!

Food and shops inside the Tokyo Narita Airport

Gotta love the Japanese and their funny signs and cool Totos!

See why we needed help finding the right train to catch?

Mike buying tickets with our new friends, Chikako and Riu

Inside the Express Train--pretty, but uncomfortable

We finally made it to our hotel around midnight the second day!

The Westin Hotel dining area on the 26th floor

Hotel check-in

Looking down onto the 25th floor

Our room, #2919

View of Sendai from our 26th floor window

Sunday, October 5th: Day 2 in Sendai made up for our late night arrival, but Mike and I were pretty tired all day. We stopped at a local diner and had a nice Japanese breakfast. It was really cold outside, and neither of us had packed sufficiently for the weather. We bundled up as best we could and walked to an LDS church to experience sacrament meeting and Sunday school with the Japanese saints. It was fast Sunday, so we got to enjoy listening to the beautiful members bear their testimonies in their native tongue. I think we both got choked up.

A beautiful cold morning in Sendai

At the diner for breakfast before heading to church

Cool Bonsai trees grace these apartment buildings

We found the LDS church!

Cute elders/missionaries serving in the ward

Two sisters in Sunday School who spoke English with us

Sweet Relief Society sisters

After we left the church and said our goodbyes, we strolled around a long length of shops and restaurants in Chris Road Mall. There were hundreds of people there.

A fun little place where we had crepes with fruit and ice cream

Chris Road Mall is connected by covered arched windows that bring in natural light

A sushi restaurant

Even the Japanese put out Christmas decorations

A tea cafe

Sweets and bakery goods are so colorful

This Chris Road Mall is spelled, "Clis Road"
by the Japanese, who spell English words phonetically

Interesting bread items for sale outside a store front, as well as filled Christmas stockings and other fun delights for children. They sure know how to wrap and package things!