Sendai Shopping Tour

Sendai- is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, and it's the largest city in Tohoku (Northeast) Region, Japan.


Sendai JR Station



Our tour bus


Our rest stop after 2 hours


Louis Vuitton and Gap Stores at Sun mall Ichibancho



Sendai Downtown, look at those cute cars


Walking along Higashi-Nibancho Dori



Gucci and Bottega Veneta Stores


Harajuku girls...they're here!!!


Japanese people really love louis vuitton bags :-)


Along Covered Clis Road Mall



Shrine inside the mall


Disney Store

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Sendai Shopping Tour


Last Saturday, March 28 I went to Sendai with my daughter and friends. It's a 4 1/2 hour drive from Misawa Air Base by bus. We took the tour package from Misawa ITT (Information Tickets and Travel) on base, I paid $100, $50 per person. The nicest thing about the tour there was even a seating arrangement, you can pick your seat number if you're early to reserve your tickets. Unfortunately, I was the last person to buy the tickets for that tour and got the last seats available (my seat was way apart from my daughter). Fortunately 2 people did not show up that day and got their 2 seats, behind my friends' seats. We're still lucky!


Misawa to Sendai: (one rest stop)
Meeting Place: Behind the Library's parking lot
Boarding Time: 6:30am
Departure time: 7:00am
Actual Arrival Time: 11:20am
Actual Travel Time: 4 hours and 20 minutes

Shopping Time including lunch: from 11:20am to 4:20pm ( 5 hours)

Sendai to Misawa: (one rest stop)
Meeting Place: In front of Sendai Station
Boarding Time: 4:30pm
Departure Time: 4:45pm
Actual Arrival Time: 8:25pm
Actual travel time: 3 hours and 40 minutes

Was it worth to shop for 5 hours or less with total travel time of 8 hours or more???
Well it depends....on your budget :-) and if you really enjoy shopping.
For me it's not worth it to shop, I rather shop online but at least I got to see Sendai for the first time and share my photos here in my blog. But it's probably the first and last one :-)

Tips:

1. It's better to rent a van from outdoor rec on base for ~$75/day with your friends and share the expenses and has a friend who loves to drive that far. Toll fee tickets are free.
2. If driving your own van- you need to pay the toll road fee of around ~$100+ (round trip) plus your gas.
3. Better stay overnight (get the overnight tour package) to have plenty of time to stroll around Sendai downtown and not to feel exhausted driving back home with another 4 hours, but you need to consider your budget :-)

Overall, I guess it's up to you!! :-)