Miyagi is the centre of the Tohoku region, and Sendai is its city — wide tree-lined avenues, ninety minutes from Tokyo by shinkansen, and the easiest base for the whole north.
Start with the first of these. Each is worth half a day.
Matsushima is the sight: a bay scattered with around 260 small pine-covered islands, seen from a boat that loops among them, or from four hillside viewpoints on the shore. It has been counted among the three finest views in Japan for four hundred years.
Getting in: Sendai Airport (25 min to the city by train) · Sendai Station (shinkansen, 1h 30m from Tokyo)
Pick the season first and the days will arrange themselves.
Cherry blossom in mid-April. Sendai is mild for the region, and the bay is calm.
Cool summers. The Tanabata festival fills the city with paper decorations in early August.
Autumn colour at Naruko Gorge in late October is the best in the prefecture.
Cold and snowy inland, milder on the coast. Oysters are in season, and the foxes are at their thickest.
