Fun things to do in Miyagi-ken

Zuiganji was founded in 828 as a temple of the Tendai sect. It is now one of the Tohoku's most famous Zen temples, well known for its beautifully painted sliding doors (fusuma).

The proud entrance fee of 700 Yen includes admission to Seiryuden, the Zuiganji Art Museum found on the temple grounds.

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Matsushima is famous for its bay which is dotted by many pine clad islets and has been ranked one of Japan's three most scenic views. The small town is also known for Zuiganji, one of the most important Zen temples of the Tohoku Region.

Matsushima is located only half an hour by train from the Tohoku's largest city Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture.

Here's the thing, I don't really have an idea what a mochi is before I even ate one! I was in the airplane and I was basically loving it and yet I didn't know what on earth that thing was. All I know back then was that it was delicious and disturbingly scrumptious!

All of a sudden we were at a Technical High School one afternoon and all of a sudden the teacher started to bring out his things out of his car. I obviously didn't know what to do back then! I was wondering what on earth he was bring out. It looked like a giant mortar-and-pestle. And lucky, it was that! But I sure didn't have any idea what that thing was for. Then he started putting this steamed rice into the mortar and he started pounding on the thing. Soon enough we made this really really stick thing called-MOCHI!

The second part of the food galore was the cold noodle river. Well, that's what I call it! What the teacher did was to cut a bamboo in halves (length-wise). Then he cleansed the inner part of the bamboo (the hollow part) and placed it in an upright position so that the water would be flowing on a down stream. I immediately thought that we were going to play something very Japanese or something. But I was definitely worng again! The teacher scooped some noodles then he let the noodles run down the stream while adding this brown tasta sesame flavoring. He then told us to catch the noodle as they stream down. It was so funny! The Japs weren't getting as much noodles as the Pinoys! It wass really funny. It was though we invented the thing! I really nice experience, I can definitely say!