18 May 2009

Since today was move out day again, I woke-up at 6am. We had to be completely moved out and turn in our sheets by 7:15am. We then waited in front of the luggage check-in and drop-off location until it opened at 7:30am. Don paid for each of us to leave one piece of luggage for 300 yen a day, which totaled 2,100 yen for the week of travel we will be doing during the next seven days. After everyone had dropped off their luggage, we departed on foot to the Yoyogi JR Station. I was carrying my new backpack and my messenger bag, and it already made a huge difference in the ease of my travels. Usually I carry my regular backpack, messenger bag, and other shoulder bag. Using just the backpack and my messenger bag, my hands were both free to carry food on-the-go and to easily take my JR Rail Pass in and out of my bag every time we went in and out of a station. Even Norio was raving about how great his new backpack was, so I’m glad he was satisfied with his purchase too. After making the 30 minute walk to the station, we were all completely tired and sweaty. It was only around 8am, but it was already hot and humid. When we got on the train at Yoyogi Station, it was additionally rush hour, so we had to push our way onto the trains with all of our luggage. It was not a pretty sight, but we were able to make it. We had to go to Tokyo Station in order to catch the correct Shinkansen, and this meant riding the Yamanote Subway line for over 30 minutes in heavy traffic. I’m just glad I didn’t get motion sick for the long ride. Once arriving to Tokyo Station, we caught the Max Yamabiko Shinkansen at 9am. We took the Shinkansen to the city of Utsunomiya and got off to visit the Sumika Project before going all the way to Sendai. The Sumika Project is a series of four different projects by four different Japanese architects. It is sponsored by Tokyo Gas, and representatives from the company gave us a tour of all four structures. We saw the Sumika Pavilion by Toyo Ito, House by Terunobu Fujimori, House Before House by Sou Fujimoto, and Coal House by Taira Nishizawa. They were all really intriguing in different ways, and the explorations taken in each of the projects was really astounding. Since each of the structures was scattered throughout Sendai, Tokyo Gas actually provided a bus to drive us around. It was really convenient and interesting in concept.
Once finishing up at the Sumika Project, we were dropped off at Tokyo Station by the Tokyo Gas bus. We gave the two representatives/tour guides a bottle of Cal Poly wine to show our appreciation before they left. The next Shinkansen on our itinerary left at 11:59am, so we had about 20 minutes to grab some food for lunch and make it onto our train. Shae, Norio, and I decided to get McDonald’s since it was quick and convenient. As always, I ordered the filet-o-fish meal to go. We had reserved seats again for the Shinkansen ride to Sendai, and I was all by myself since we all made reservations at different times. I didn’t mind the alone time since it is very rare to have time to ourselves when traveling in such a large group. Even though Sendai was the end terminal for our particular train and it was over an hour away on the Shinkansen, I opted not to sleep since I did not want to chance the possibility of being left behind. Instead, I passed the time by catching up on emails on my Blackberry, watching videos, and listening to music on my iPod.
We arrived safely in Sendai around 1:17pm, and we immediately walked to our Toyoko Inn hotel. Check-in wasn’t until 3pm, so we left our luggage at the front desk, and Don took us to see a Hitoshi Abe building that was recently built in Sendai. It wasn’t very impressive, especially on the inside, so we still had time to kill afterwards. Shae and I decided to go to the Loft since it was right next to the Sendai train station. At 4pm, we returned to the Toyoko Inn to get our rooms and key. We met up again at 4:15pm to go visit the Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito. It was about a 30 minute walk to the building, but I was really excited to see such a famous project. Norio and I photographed the interior and exterior of the building, but unfortunately the third and fourth levels of the mediatheque were closed. All in all, the project was very nice, but it also didn’t quite meet my expectations for such a renowned and well-known building.
For dinner, Norio and I went in search of Toyo Ito’s project, Aoba-Tei Restaurant. Norio asked a woman in the convenience store, and she gave us directions to where she thought it was. Upon arriving there however, it was only a branch of the main building we wanted to see. The workers helped us find the actual location of the building we wanted, but since it was late, we elected to just eat at the informal Aoba-Tei. Since Sendai is known for its beef tongue, I ordered a beef tongue steak that came with a huge salad, rice, and tongue soup for 880 yen. It seemed really reasonable in price. Norio ordered the tongue steak special which cost about 1,550 yen, but I wasn’t willing to spend that much on one meal. The beef tongue was really tasty, and I would definitely order it again. It wasn’t gross at all.
The rest of the night I did laundry and uploaded photos to my Picasa. I was completely exhausted from moving and traveling practically all day, so it felt nice to take a hot shower, relax, and go to bed. Tomorrow we have to checkout at 10am, so I still haven’t decided what I want to do between eating the complimentary breakfast and catching the Shinkansen around 1pm. Tomorrow will probably be another travel intensive day, so we’ll see how that goes.