Sendai

Tohoku, Japan · City

Tohoku's capital, founded by the one-eyed warlord Date Masamune and laid out around avenues of zelkova trees: his lacquered mausoleum, the castle terrace above the Hirose river, the charcoal-grilled beef tongue invented here, and August's Tanabata festival. It is also the obvious base for Matsushima, Yamadera and half the north.

The essentials

Getting there

Train — Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo: the Hayabusa takes 1h30 with almost no stops, the Yamabiko about 2h05 via Omiya, Utsunomiya and Fukushima; around ¥11,630 for a reserved seat. Note that the Hayabusa is fully reserved and has no non-reserved cars, so with a non-reserved ticket you must take the Yamabiko. From Matsushima it is 25-40 minutes on the JR Senseki line (Matsushima-Kaigan) or the faster Senseki-Tohoku line (Matsushima); from Hiraizumi, an 8-minute local train to Ichinoseki plus 30 minutes by Yamabiko. Yamadera is just over an hour on the JR Senzan line (¥910). The centre is walkable and has two subway lines; the Loople Sendai loop bus links Zuihoden, the castle and the museums (¥260 a ride, ¥630 a day pass, ¥920 combined with the subway), leaves from bay 16 at the station's west exit every 15-20 minutes, and the last departure is at 16:00, which is worth planning around.

Frequently asked questions about Sendai

What to do in Sendai: 29 activities

• Aoba Castle ruins and the Masamune statue 1.5 h must-see

  Only walls, moats and one rebuilt corner turret survive of the castle Masamune began in 1600, but the Honmaru terrace, on a bluff dropping to the Hirose river, holds the equestrian statue of the lord in his crescent-moon helmet and a view over the whole city to the Pacific. The grounds are free and the night view is worth the climb; take the Loople bus or walk up in about 25 minutes.

• Gyutan, charcoal-grilled beef tongue 1.5 h must-see

  Invented here in 1948 by the cook Keishiro Sano, using the tongues American servicemen threw away, and always eaten the same way: three or four thick slices over charcoal, oxtail soup, barley rice and a spicy pickled nanban pepper. At Aji Tasuke, the original shop in Ichibancho, the set is ¥2,900, it opens 11:30-21:00 and closes on Tuesdays; if you are short of time, the third floor of Sendai Station has a whole gyutan alley.

• Zuihoden, Date Masamune's mausoleum 1.5 h must-see

  The mausoleum Date Masamune had built for himself in 1637, at the top of a stone stairway through cedar trees: black lacquer, vermilion, gold leaf and polychrome carving in full Momoyama style. The original burned in the 1945 air raid and was rebuilt as an exact copy in 1979. ¥570 (¥460 with a Loople day pass); open 9:00-16:50, to 16:20 from December to January, closed 31 December.

• Sendai Tanabata Festival 3 h only 5-8 Aug

  From 6 to 8 August, always those exact dates, the covered arcades of Ichibancho and Chuo-dori disappear under thousands of washi-paper streamers that the shops themselves make by hand every year, some five metres long. It is free, draws around two million people, and on the eve, the night of the 5th, there are fireworks by the Hirose river. Accommodation in the city sells out months ahead: if you are travelling then, book the room before the flight.

• A night in Kokubuncho 3 h

  The largest drinking district north of Tokyo: some three thousand bars packed into four blocks, from izakaya stocking every sake in Miyagi to six-stool counters stacked eight floors high. It gets going around 18:00 and runs until dawn; places with an English menu and a fixed cover charge are the safe way in if you have no Japanese.

• Akiu Onsen 4 h

  A hot-spring resort with over a thousand years of history that is still inside Sendai's city limits, about 50 minutes by bus from the station (¥860 on the Seibu Liner or the Miyagi Kotsu bus). It was the Date clan's official bath and today it is a dozen chloride-spring ryokan along the Natori river; several open their baths to day visitors for ¥700-1,500, the cheap way to try it without staying the night.

• Aoba Matsuri and the sparrow dance 3 h only the third weekend of May

  On the third weekend of May (16-17 in 2026) the city brings out the suzume odori, the fan-waving 'sparrow dance' improvised by the masons who came from Osaka to build the castle, and the next day a period procession with floats and some three thousand participants along Jozenji Avenue. Free, all day, and vastly less crowded than Tanabata.

• Arahama Elementary School tsunami memorial 1.5 h

  On 11 March 2011 the tsunami entered this primary school to 40 centimetres above the second-floor level; the 320 people who climbed to the roof stayed there until the helicopters finished lifting them out, 27 hours after the earthquake. The building is preserved exactly as it was left, with wrecked classrooms and the waterline still on the walls, and upstairs the gymnasium clock is stopped at the moment the wave arrived. Free, 9:30-16:00; closed Mondays and the fourth Thursday of the month. Tozai subway to Arai, then fifteen minutes by bus.

• Jozenji Avenue 1 h

  Four rows of zelkova trees along a planted central promenade, with bronzes by Italian sculptors (Emilio Greco's 'Memory of Summer', Venanzo Crocetti's bather), café terraces and the Mediatheque at the end: this is what earned Sendai its nickname, the City of Trees. Twenty minutes to walk, free, and unrecognisable from one season to the next.

• Jozenji Street Jazz Festival 3 h only the second weekend of September

  On one September weekend hundreds of bands, most of them amateur, play for free on dozens of street stages across the centre: jazz, but also funk, choirs, rock and drumming. It began in 1991 with six bands, reached its 35th edition in 2026, and is now Japan's biggest street music festival; there are no tickets, you just walk and stop where you like.

• Morioka's three great noodles 5 h Morioka, Iwate · 50 min

  38-45 minutes from Sendai on the reservation-only Hayabusa, ¥6,900 since the JR East fare rise of March 2026. Morioka groups three noodles under the label "the three great noodles", which is not tradition but promotion: in use since 2010, with a municipal committee since 2014. Wanko soba is soba in tiny bowls a server refills until you put the lid on yours; fifteen make a portion, and anyone past a hundred gets a certificate board. At Azumaya, the 1907 house, it runs ¥4,500 to ¥7,000; at other houses, ¥2,600 to ¥4,000. That the daimyo Nanbu Toshinao invented it around 1625 is legend: Japanese encyclopaedias hedge it with "it is said", and Yoshio Izumisawa's forty years of research, published in 2022, place it in neighbouring Hanamaki, in the Meiji era. Jajamen is a flat hot noodle with no broth, with meat miso, cucumber and spring onion; when little is left you crack a raw egg into the bowl, hand it back and it returns as soup, the chitantan. ¥550 to ¥900 at 2025 prices, the chitantan ¥50-150 more. That a repatriate brought it from Manchuria in the fifties is the house's own account — Pairon's — undocumented elsewhere. Reimen does have one: Yang Yong-cheol, born in Hamhung, invented it in 1954 at his Shokudoen on Odori, where it still is. A wheat and potato-starch noodle, translucent, in cold beef-bone broth, the kimchi served apart so you set the heat yourself. It did not go down well: one customer walked out shouting they were feeding him rubber. A city official proposed the name in 1986; another house used it first, in 1987. Around ¥1,100.

• Osaki Hachimangu Shrine 1 h

  Completed in 1607 on Date Masamune's orders and designated a National Treasure: the oldest surviving example of gongen-zukuri architecture, with black lacquer, gold leaf and polychrome carving under a cypress-bark roof, and it came through the 1945 air raids intact. Free and open all day; there is a Loople bus stop, or walk 15 minutes from Kunimi station.

• Pageant of Starlight 1.5 h only three weeks in December

  For about three weeks in December the zelkovas along Jozenji Avenue are hung with hundreds of thousands of warm-white bulbs, and several times a night they all go dark at once before snapping back on. It started in 1986 with volunteers and is still free; the exact dates are announced in autumn (in 2025 it ran 5-28 December).

• Sendai City Museum 1.5 h

  On the castle's old Sannomaru at the foot of the hill: Masamune's black armour with its crescent-moon crest, and the papers of the Keicho embassy that Hasekura Tsunenaga carried to Mexico, Spain and Rome between 1613 and 1620, listed in UNESCO's Memory of the World. ¥460 for the permanent display, 9:00-16:45 (last entry 16:15), closed Mondays.

• Yamadera, the mountain temple 4 h Yamadera, Yamagata · 70 min

  Risshaku-ji, founded in 860, is 1,015 stone steps climbing through cedars and rock walls to the Godaido, a wooden lookout hung over the valley; this is where Basho wrote his haiku about silence and cicadas. ¥500 to climb, open 8:00-17:00, an hour and a half round trip, and just over an hour on the JR Senzan line from Sendai (¥910). In winter the steps ice over, so come shod for it.

• Akiu Craft Village 1.5 h

  Nine workshops the city gathered on the edge of Akiu so that trades running out of successors could keep working: Miyagi kokeshi dolls, Sendai tansu chests, tea utensils, dyeing and weaving, wooden toys and Edo spinning tops. Watching the craftspeople work is free and several will let you paint your own kokeshi; each studio keeps its own closing day, so phone or check before you go.

• Akiu Otaki Falls 1.5 h

  A 55-metre drop six metres wide, counted among Japan's three great waterfalls. The upper viewpoint shows the whole fall and costs nothing; climbing down to the plunge pool is about fifteen minutes of stone steps that turn treacherous with ice. The bus from Sendai Station takes a little over an hour and is infrequent, and between mid-December and mid-March some services to the falls do not run, so check the timetable before going in winter.

• Baseball with the Rakuten Eagles 4 h booking only 25 Mar - 15 Oct

  The city's team plays the Japanese league from late March to October in a stadium that feels like a fairground: a Ferris wheel behind the stands, a barbecue deck, a zip line and a crowd that chants through all nine innings. It is ten minutes on foot from Miyaginohara station; the cheapest seats run ¥1,500-2,500 and are bought online in advance.

• Dontosai at Osaki Hachimangu 2.5 h only 14 Jan

  Every 14 January the shrine burns the year's New Year decorations on an enormous bonfire, and the hadaka-mairi arrive: groups of neighbours who cross the city almost naked, a hand bell in one hand and a strip of paper in the mouth so they cannot speak on the way. Free, very crowded, and seriously cold, since you stand outside for hours.

• Grill your own sasa-kamaboko 1.5 h booking

  Sasa-kamaboko is pressed fish paste shaped like a bamboo leaf, Miyagi's edible emblem ever since Ishinomaki fishermen had to find a use for a glut of flounder. At the Kanezaki Sasakama-kan in Wakabayashi you watch the factory through a glass wall; entry is free, and the workshop where you shape and grill your own piece costs ¥1,300, lasts 45 minutes, runs five times a day and must be booked.

• Miyagi Museum of Art 1.5 h

  Reopened on 20 June 2026 after three years closed for the renovation of Kunio Maekawa's building, which now shows part of its storage to the public behind glass. Modern Japanese painting, a good holding of Kandinsky and Klee, and the annexe devoted to sculptor Churyo Sato with its garden of bronzes. ¥350 for the permanent collection, free for students; 9:30-17:00, closed Mondays.

• Nikka Miyagikyo Distillery 3 h booking

  Masataka Taketsuru's second distillery, opened in 1969 between two rivers in the Nikkawa valley at Sakunami: indirect-heated stills and a malt considerably softer than Yoichi's. The guided tour is free, runs about 70 minutes including a tasting, leaves every half hour from 9:00-11:30 and 12:30-14:30, has an English audio guide, and is booked online up to noon the day before. Take the JR Senzan line to Sakunami and walk half an hour, or use the weekend shuttle.

• Rairaikyo Gorge 1 h

  The Natori river has cut a narrow gorge right at the entrance to Akiu Onsen: a flat, free half-hour path between rock walls polished by the water, with the heart-shaped pool everyone photographs. The maples turn in mid-November, and it pairs well with a daytime soak at one of the ryokan next door.

• Rinnoji Temple and garden 1 h

  A Zen temple the Date clan brought with them when they moved to Sendai, with a three-storey pagoda and a strolling garden around a pond: irises in June, maples in mid-November and almost nobody the rest of the year. The garden costs ¥300, opens 8:00-17:00 every day of the year, and is a quarter of an hour on foot from Kita-Sendai station.

• Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito 1 h

  The media library Toyo Ito completed in 2001, which changed the course of Japanese public architecture: a glass box pierced by thirteen twisting steel tubes that serve at once as structure, lift shafts and skylights. Inside are a library, exhibition floors and a café looking onto Jozenji. Entry is free, it opens 9:00-22:00, and it closes on the fourth Thursday of each month.

• Sendai Morning Market 1 h

  About seventy stalls in two narrow lanes five minutes on foot from the station's west exit: fish landed at Shiogama, Miyagi vegetables, cut fruit, hundred-yen croquettes and three or four counters serving seafood rice bowls for around ¥1,500. It is known as Sendai's kitchen, runs through the morning, and closes on Sundays and public holidays.

• Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium 3 h

  Opened in 2015 in the port area flattened by the tsunami, with a huge tank recreating Matsushima bay and its oyster rafts, a touch pool, and open-air dolphin and sea-lion shows with the sea behind them. ¥2,400 for adults and ¥1,200 for primary-school children; take the JR Senseki line to Nakano-Sakae (18 minutes) and walk fifteen or catch the free shuttle.

• Zunda, the green edamame sweet 0.5 h

  Young soybeans crushed with sugar and a pinch of salt, served over mochi or blended with ice cream in the zunda shake that has become the city's edible souvenir. The benchmark is Zunda Saryo: shop and tea room in the 'zunda alley' on the third floor of Sendai Station (9:00-21:00, café 10:00-18:00) and an express counter on the second. The shake costs under ¥600 and is far less cloying than the colour suggests.

• Sendai Daikannon 1 h

  A hundred-metre white Kannon finished in 1991, visible from half the city and baffling to almost everyone. A lift takes you up and you spiral back down through twelve floors past 108 buddhas and thirty-three forms of Kannon. ¥500, 10:00-15:30 on weekdays and to 16:00 at weekends; city bus 19 from the station's west exit to the Sendai Daikannon-mae stop.

What only happens on specific dates

• Dontosai at Osaki Hachimangu 14 Jan
• Baseball with the Rakuten Eagles 25 Mar - 15 Oct
• Aoba Matsuri and the sparrow dance the third weekend of May
• Sendai Tanabata Festival 5-8 Aug
• Jozenji Street Jazz Festival the second weekend of September
• Pageant of Starlight three weeks in December

Ready-made routes through Sendai

Chains well with

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