taking the same photo 500 times
today i took an early train over to matsushima, a beautiful bay about a half hour away from sendai. it is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful views in all of japan.
i took 650 photos today. combing through them took so long, and it made me realize that like, 400 of the photos i took are essentially the same thing. the above picture is a little island. nearly every picture i took today is also a little island.
also, for fun, here’s another song.
ferry skip
matsushima, like many of the japanese cities i’ve been to over the years, really really knows what draws people in, and leans really heavily into it. within 2 seconds of walking out of the train station, there were people selling sightseeing ferry tours walking up to people trying to convince them to get on one. the sightseeing ferries are like, the popular thing here, because there are 264 really beautiful tiny islands dotted all around matsushima bay, and they are really pretty.
i planned to get on one today, but i didn’t want to do it immediately when i arrived. so i walked around matsushima bay for a while.
ferry time
it was time to catch a ferry. they have like 8 competing ferries all at this one dock, and they are different routes you can take too. i didn’t want to think about it, so i just took the first one i saw. and it seems like i picked well, because it was the tallest boat of all of them. its a 50 minute ride.
something very funny and very japanese is that the city of matsushima has an anime girl mascot, because of course they do.
turns out there is a japan-wide collab thing happening where 136 different onsens have created anime girl characters to promote tourism, or something. they have a whole website with a story arc and everything. apparently they all go to the same school together or something. its the most japanese thing i’ve ever seen. anyways, the above one is the mascot for matsushima onsen, named matsushima nazuki.
i got my ferry ticket and hopped on. in 50 minutes i took like 400 pictures. getting through all these took soooooo long. but i got some real bangers.
my desktop wallpaper collection is definitely very thankful for today.
exploring more of matsushima
after i got off the ferry, i hit the tried and true classic “pick a direction and just start walking”.
i saw a huge red bridge in the distance, and chose that as my direction.
on the way, i saw a few cool buildings, and finally got out the tripod i brought all the way across the world for a time lapse video.
i also saw a cool friend
crossing the bridge
finally made it to the bridge, and it costs 300 yen to cross. thats like $2. while i was on my way to buy the ticket, a guy with a sick camera came up to me and said he didnt have any cash and asked me if i could give him 300 yen and he would venmo me.
i just gave him 300 yen and told him he has to take good pictures. did my good deed today.
this bridge is well worth the 300 yen to cross. its a beautiful island that is immaculately maintained. it has a beautiful wide open “multipurpose park”, a small beach, and several viewing areas for some of the islands in the bay. i would live on this island if i could.
i also saw a hilarious sign. theres kind of a meme that if you do something wrong in japan, they won’t come up and tell you to arent allowed to do it. they will instead erect a sign saying not to do it for future visitors. anyway, look what someone obviously tried to do on this island:
i also got another time lapse video while i was here:
unfortunately, it looks like the video quality is pretty bad when posted on the website. i dont want to bother uploading a 13 second video and a 10 second video to youtube, so this is just where we’re at i guess.
i highly recommend matsushima. its a really beautiful city and its really easy to get to.
