Get in Line!

I had never seen anything like this until I came to Sendai. Roughly sixty taxi cabs all lined up in a neat grid at Sendai station. How many taxis could people getting off of the train need. I have personally never seen less than this amount anytime  I’ve walked pass. You’ll notice that most of them have their lights on, meaning that their engines are probably running. So if you want to stop global warming or such, this should be you first target. The upside is you definitely know where to go to get a taxi.

Cute Sign

I took this photo in front of an ice cream shop in Yamadera. It looks like a normal sign advertising the shop’s products.

What makes it cute is the little picture of obviously someones child or grandchild. Her name being Karen, is supposed to be the stores mascot.

She’s saying “Oichi ne”, which is like a cute childlike way of pronouncing “oishi ne”. “Oishi” means delicious, and “ne” is like when we Canadians say “eh”. Very cute!

Ironman

I picked up “Ironman” on Bluray recently. I really liked the movie. It was simple and fun. These big blockbuster type movies really shine on Bluray.  This one especially is fantastic. It’s filled with bright colors which really pop out in High Def. What’s crazy is the making of feature is almost as long as the movie itself. I had thought that most of the suit stuff was CG, but it turns out quite a bit of it was actually a real suit! It was very interesting.

Panorama

Here’s a really nice panoramic shot I took of Zao mountain. It was especially clear that day, so it’s quite spectacular. When I was taking the picture I thought I was in Switzerland or Austria for a second. Of course click on the picture to get a much larger size view.

Pink Ginger ale

I picked this up last week. It’s a seasonal product from Canada Dry. It’s called “Sakura Mist”. Sakura being cherry blossoms, the symbol of spring for Japan.

The flavor is like a combination of ginger ale and cherry. It’s quite delicious and very refreshing. I’m gong to try and buy a few bottles before it disappears forever.

Cute Kokeshi

While we were in Yamagata I spotted this really adorable kokeshi (traditional Tohoku are doll) at one of the stores. I couldn’t resist buying it due to it’s high level of cuteness.

It has cherries on it because Yamagata is famous for growing cherries.

The Best!

I bought these packages of powder mix for making fried chicken. It’s so unbelievably delicious! The flavor is spicy as in taste, not as in heat. Kind of like Kentucky Fried Chicken or other similar fried chicken flavors.

As an added bonus the package proclaims it goes well with drinking beer.

How good is that! If you’re in Miyagi area and want to try it, the only stores that seem to carry it is the “Max Value” chain of grocery stores.

Edamame Pretz

Here’s a little something I got while we were in Yamagata. It’s Edamame flavored Pretz. It turns out that the Tohoku (northern) area of Japan, especially Yamagata and Miyagi, are famous for edamame.

That’s why we get our own special version of pretz. We’re lucky because it was really delicious!

Zombie VS Kids

Here’s a clip from a Japanese TV show. In it they convince the kids that a zombie is coming to eat them, so they must defend their house against the zombie.

One thing I learned from this video is that plastic wrap is an effective weapon against zombies. I especially like their one tactic of putting hot sauce on the floor so the zombie will think it’s blood and try and eat it. I’m sure these children are now scarred for life.

Yamadera Part 2

Here’s part two of my trip to Yamadera yesterday. The walk goes really high up the mountain so the view is quite spectacular. Here you can see  the roofs of some of the various temples.

Some were built in the most unlikely and probably most difficult places. Like that tiny one sprouting from the cliffs.

Or small shrines perched a top precarious rocks.

There’s also a kind of look out temple where you can see a great view of the whole area.

Here’s the stiched together photo that I took from there.

Of course click on the photo to get a much bigger and better look. This concludes my small photo tour of Yamadera.