Sister Cities: Sendai, Japan
Sendai, Japan, also known as “The City of Trees,” is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, and is the largest city in the Tohuku region. Home to just over one million, Sendai is as geographically diverse as it is culturally. Western regions are mostly mountainous and have many dormant volcanoes, while the central and eastern divisions are hilly or plains areas. Sendai’s abundant natural sights, inner-city attractions and nationally recognized festivals sets it apart as one of Japan’s most holistic cities.
Sendai’s Tanabata Festival is the largest of the star festivals in Japan. Tanabata, meaning “evening of the seventh,” is based on a legend wherein two love-stricken deities are separated by the Milky Way. They are allowed to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar, hence the beginning of the festivities. The date of the festival depends on the region of the city, so Sendai’s celebrations occur between the sixth and eighth of August. Mostly celebrated throughout the downtown area, the festival’s main feature involves thousands of hanging decorative streamers and various traditional paper ornaments.
Another major inner-city attraction is the autumn Sendai Street Jazz Festival. Volunteers first organized the event in 1991 and today it features over 700 domestic and international acts. The festival is staged on Jozenji-dori Street, in the center of Sendai, and it is famously lined with Japanese Zelkova trees. Joazenji-dori Street has become a symbol of Sendai, as it is the Zelkova trees that gave Sendai its nickname “City of Trees.” Even if someone is not in the town for the festival, which takes place during the second weekend of September, one traveler recommended Jozen-dori as a “must-visit street in Sendai, as it is perpendicular to the famous Kokubuncho Avenue that has about 1,000 bars in 500 meters of streets and alleys.”
A local student of Sendai says that “Akiu Onsen is the most famous trademark attraction in Sendai.” Located on the outskirts of Sendai, towards the northern part of Honshu, Akiu Onsen is said to be one of the three most famous hot springs in Japan and home to one of the country’s most beautiful waterfalls. From the Aukiu Bus Stop, you can also find shrines, temples and the Tenshukaku-Shizen-koen Natural Park, where a number of mountain streams are accessible to the public.
Aside from sights to see, Sendai is also famous for a number of culinary dishes, including beef tongues, fish cakes and mashed green soybeans. A local also recommends a famous snack called Haginotsuki, a sponge cake with custard filling which is sought after by a lot of visitors to Sendai. He added that if one happens to be at the right place at the right time, one can even get a free meal.
“Compared to general Japanese people, Sendai people are not too shy to strangers/foreigners, and they tend to be more sociable,” this same local explained. “For people coming from other regions, Sendai people like to treat them to ox tongue.”
In 1992, discussion for Gwangju and Sendai’s sister-city agreement began. Over the next decade various agreements and treaties were signed, leading to a final agreement out of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Since then, Sendai has started operating a city bus named Gwangju Bus. Gwangju has returned the favor with Sendai Street, a 1.8 km street passing the south-west gate ofthe Gwangju World Cup Stadium.
Sendai and Gwangju’s relationship may be a testament to the reconciliation and notion of peace, especially when considering the tension that has existed between the two nations since the Japanese rule of Korea in the mid 20th century. It is also noteworthy that Sendai has an official agreement with Tainan, Taiwan, which happens to be the same city with which Gwangju first instituted a sister-city relationship. It is a nice full-circle effect of global bonding, of which we will hopefully see more.