Following on from the Mitsui Outlet Park Sendaiko that opened recently, the Sendai-Izumi Premium Outlets complex has now opened; another excellent place to shop!

While the Sendai-Izumi Premium Outlets complex does not have a Ferris wheel, what it does have is a direct link to the Izumi Park Town Tapio mall with its ever increasing facilities, including a supermarket and drugstore scheduled to open in spring 2009. In fact, I've already seen groups of overseas visitors coming to shop here.

Thinking back, when I first started working, in order to show off, I bought myself a JPY 100,000 suit from Brooks Brothers. With the very modest allowance I now have as a married man, I never thought that I'd be able to wear such a suit again... but! The prices of even branded suits here were extremely reasonable. "I might be able afford one of those suits again," I thought to myself.

Outlet prices really are much lower. I took my wife and daughter along with me when I went, and they are already saying that they want to go back.

The brand stores that have branches here are not that much different than the ones you can find at the Mitsui Outlet Park Sendaiko. I hear that a lot of people drive here from the neighboring prefectures and visit both, usually staying for one night and having two full days to get stuck in to their shopping. If you were to come visit for a shopping trip, it would make most sense to stay at the adjacent Royal Park Hotel, which is a nice, refined hotel with good customer service.

The large stores in the center of Sendai, too, will be seeing a renewal of their premises take place, including the Parco, Mitsukoshi and Fujisaki department stores.

Sendai really is becoming a shopper's paradise!

Click here for our Sendai City Guide

Last night, I took a walk to Tokyo Tower from Hamamatsucho after dinner.
The illuminated tower was very brightly and beautiful, so I took a photo with my cell phone camera.

September and October in Japan bring a string of three-day weekends giving people a break as they ease out of their summer vacations. I recently used one of those opportunities to travel to Mt. Takao, an area of Tokyo famous for giving city dwellers a chance to commune with nature. Mt. Takao is host to several leisurely hiking courses (as well as a cable car) leading towards its summit, and a Buddhist temple featuring several statues of tengu, part-man part-bird spirits that live on mountaintops. I reached the top of the mountain literally minutes before this gorgeous sunset. My hike was too early to see the turning leaves, but if you make the short trek over to Mt. Takao in November, you might see the entire mountain aflame in reds and yellows.

Mt. Takao's Tengu

Sendai Shiro, famous as a "God of Fortune", was actually a real person. He was born in Sendai in 1860, during the Edo Period.


Whenever the smiling Shiro visited a shop, it would always end up full of people and enjoy a great boon. The famous stories tell of families that would constantly call out to him, "Mr. Shiro! Mr. Shiro!" but, try as they might, Shiro would not visit them and fortune thus eluded them. This is perhaps because, it is said, Shiro had a great ability to see through people.

Shiro is still in high demand as a god of prosperity; you will see his image in most shops in Sendai! For those of you who would like to find out more about this legendary figure, the Sendai City Museum of History and Folklore has an excellent exhibit on Shiro.

Click here for our Sendai City Guide

In Japan, we are very aware of the changing of the four seasons, and we have a saying that goes, "Autumn for appetite."

Hence, when autumn reaches us here in Miyagi Prefecture, people start holding outdoor get-togethers called imonikai. During these alfresco parties, friends gather together by the riverside and huddle around a large saucepan in which imoni--the dish the party is named after--is cooked. Imoni literally means "potato stew", and enjoying the dish with a drink under the fresh autumn sky is truly exceptional.

Sendai-style imoni is made with miso and pork, whilst in neighboring Yamagata Prefecture they use beef and soy sauce. The two neighboring prefectures have a friendly competition going on over which of the local imoni taste better, held on the banks of the Natori River in Akiu Onsen. Expect heavy traffic on the way to Akiu during imonikai season!

If the locals love it, you know it must be good!
I often treat myself to the delicious ohagi sweets sold at Saichi, the main ohagi shop in the Akiu area. Ohagi are made from a mixture of glutinous and non-glutinous rice, which is steamed and lightly pounded before being coated in either red bean paste, toasted soybean flour or grated sesame seeds.
Be warned that these ohagi sell out quickly; there are usually none left by the afternoon!
With no additives, the sweetness of the ohagi is just right. A pack of two costs JPY 200, and each ohagi is really big!
The shop is located in Akiu Onsen town, so visitors who come and stay here should definitely come and try some ohagi on their way home.

Tokyo's reputation as an international culinary destination grows every year, but of course Japan's most famous gourmet export is sushi. In Japan, the best sushi is the freshest, and Tokyo's Tsukiji Market has more fresh fish than any other place in the world. Recently I had a chance to join a Sunrise Hands-on Japan tour of Tsukiji Market, with a very special lunch: a full sushi cooking class taught by a professional chef!

Before lunch though, our tour group (a small group of four people, perfect for maneuvering through the crowded market) met at Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal and our guide led us to Tsukiji on the subway. Climbing up to the surface, our noses told us immediately we were in the right place. The outer market of Tsukiji was comprised of a number of streetside stores selling up anything you could possibly want to eat from the ocean, as well as all the tools and accessories to turn it into a gourmet meal.

Array of knives ready to turn fresh fish into sashimi slices - The largest one at the top is for giant maguro tuna!

The real action at Tsukiji, however, occurs at the inner market. The inner market is where every morning wholesalers and dealers participate in auctions to distribute massive amounts of seafood across the country to local stores and markets. The morning auction was already over, but there was still plenty of activity inside the cavernous warehouse.

After working up an appetite imagining the possibilities for sushi lunch, it was time to get to business ourselves at the nearby school. Our instructor for the day, in addition to being a master sushi chef, was hilarious in both Japanese and (limited) English. After hearing the basics of knife handling and some of the history of sushi's development with some help from our guide as an interpreter, all four of us were ushered to our own counters, handed a knife, and a mackerel. Sure, it might not have been the biggest fish, but it was intimidating! Before the tour, pretty much the only experience I had cooking seafood was opening a can of tuna. Luckily, our teacher and his assistants were happy to show me all the scaling, slicing, and serving techniques I needed.

Sorry little guy

We prepared several different types of sushi, including the classic nigiri style (one piece of fish atop a small bit of rice formed in your hand), its predecessor oshizushi (made by layering fish and other ingredients inside a box and then pressing rice atop it) and the ubiquitous California roll. For me, the most difficult was definitely the nigiri sushi, as rice kept sticking to my hands! Try and remember to keep your hands wet if you try yourself! Overall I had a great time on the tour and I will definitely have a lot more respect for the chefs behind the counter the next time I visit my favorite sushi restaurants. Making sushi myself was challenging, but it tasted great!

Fellow JAPANiCAN staffer Chris trying his hand at flipping a Japanese style omelet for the California roll, and our teacher's reaction

Chris and I with our finished products

What better souvenir to take back from a trip to Japan than the ability to make your own delicious sushi at home?

Find out more and reserve a spot on one of our sushi making experiences here!

I recently visited the huge Susuki (silver grass) field in Sengokuhara, Hakone. This area has been selected as one of the 50 best sights in Kanagawa Prefecture, and is the perfect example of Hakone's autumn scenery.

Visitors can climb the hills covered by the Japanese silver grass.

Right now, the leaves are still green. Each year, by the middle of October, the field of Japanese silver grass becomes completely golden.

You should really come and enjoy the Japanese autumn scenery in Hakone!

AccessFrom Hakone Tozan Railway Hakone-Yumoto Station:
Take the Hakone Tozan bus bound for Kojiri/Togendai (about 30 minutes), and get off at the Sengoku-Kogen bus stop.

[Japan Info] Sengoku Kogen no Susuki

[Tour] Free Plan Hakone & Onsen -The Prince Hakone- From JPY 10,990

[Tour] Onsen Experience Hakone Yumoto 2 days -
Ryokan Stay Yumoto Fujiya Hotel- From JPY 31,900

The Mitsui Outlet Park was even better than I expected!

Although it didn't look that big from the outside, once I'd walked in I was lost! Little wonder, as the complex houses 120 shops. The Mitsui Outlet Park Sedaiko (meaning Sendai Port) has, as the word "park" would suggest, wide streets that shoppers can walk down while enjoying shopping for their favorite brands at around 30-70% off the regular price. Also, the park is of course replete with a varied food court, meaning that shoppers can spend a full and relaxing day within the complex. The landmark Ferris wheel inside the park was also pretty popular, attracting a long queue.

With the Kirin Sendai Brewery just nearby, and plans to bring the aquarium here from Matsushima in the near future, it seems as if the Sendai Port area is going to become a tourist area in its own right.
To get here by train, just hop onto the Senseki Line from Sendai and get off at Nakanosakae Station; the Mitsui Outlet Park is just 8 minutes' walk away.