Sorry for jumping from one topic to another, but I would like to describe the memory of my early summer trip to Sendai City a little bit more.
After enjoying the guided tour of the whisky distillery, I returned to the city center and visited an observation deck in front of Sendai station. It was my second visit following last year. What jumped into my eyes at the eastern observation deck was the gently curved tracks of the Tohoku Shinkansen. Five minutes later, a very streamlined train, the EMU JR East E5 series, passed through the curve and headed northeast. The E5 series, also known as "Hayabusa (falcon)", is the fastest train in Japan. Its maximum speed is 320 kilometers per hour. The roof of the train was shining in green... very beautiful.
Speaking of "green", Sendai is known as the Green City. Do you believe it? If you look at the top photo, only buildings are densely packed around the observation deck. "The green city, Sendai... am I serious?" Well, greenery is especially abundant in the western side of the city, which has tree-lined streets, green parks, and forests. Please look at the photo below. It's a view of the Tozai line of Sendai Municipal Subway. It's located in the central part of the city, but you can see a green forest along Hirose River. If you look carefully, a large white heron stands in the middle of the river. Sendai is a large city filled with greenery and nature.
