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Yes, I know, October 22nd does not come directly after October 10th. But we did so many things it is going to take a while to get all our photos shared and posts written so in the meantime, here is our move to Sendai, which we did on the same day our friends left Japan.
Jesse found this next place. Sendai was one of the cities we had discussed living in before coming here, since it is much smaller than Tokyo with just over 1 million people. The question was how to get here with all our things.
Our things
While we have tried not to buy too many things since arriving here, it is hard to buy nothing. Everything from laundry detergent, to an extra hand towel, and some basic food all adds up, so between the two of us we each had 1 backpack, 1 suitcase, and 1 duffle bag. Oh, and 1 bike.
I had seen someone mention that suitcases can be shipped from convenience stores, and the idea of only having a backpack and duffle bag for the trip and no suitcase was very appealing for the sake of both our backs.
The bikes were going to be trickier since they needed special boxes if we were going to ship them, and we weren't sure we could take mine apart since it has accessories like fenders and a basket se we decided to go back to the shop where we bought them and sell them.
Now let me set the stage. We have a 1:20 PM train on Sunday, we are mostly packed, it is Saturday afternoon, and we go to sell our bikes at the shop across town. And they offer us 40$ for mine and 30$ for Jesse's. For bikes we bought used, at 10x that price just 2 months ago. We both refuse and leave, but now we still have 2 bikes and we're moving 350+ km away in less than 24 hours.
However, upon re-examining my bike, Jesse realized the frame is a bit simpler than he thought, and he is pretty sure he can take it apart. And it is possible to take a bike on the Shinkansen, it just has to be packed into a special bag first (you don't even need an oversized bag ticket). So I head home to continue packing, and Jesse tries to get my bike disassembled and into the bag. And he SUCCEEDS!
So, Sunday morning we need to (1) send off our suitcases, (2) get 2 backpacks, 2 duffle bags and 1 already packed bike from our apartment to Tokyo station, and (3) disassemble, pack and transport the second bike from near the bike shop to Tokyo station, all before our train at 1:20.
We were able to send our suitcases from the convenience store less than a block away with thankfully little trouble. The clerk spoke English and we could write the addresses on the slips using the English alphabet rather than Kanji. We could send them directly to our new place, and even choose a 2 hour window when they would be delivered.
Then, we grabbed our things from the apartment and took the subway to Tokyo station. Once there we found the fare gates for our train, but didn't want to go through since Jesse might have trouble leaving the fare area to get the second bike. So I grabbed a snack and sat in a corner with all our things for the roughly hour and a half it took Jesse to return with the second bike all packed up.
At 1:00, we each took 1 of each thing (backpack, bike and duffle bag) and headed up to the train platform. We got a couple looks from passengers that's for sure, but no attendant said anything. With zero fuss we got on the train, stashed the bikes in the extra space behind the last row of seats, and away we went! It felt pretty crazy in the moment!
The main concourse in Sendai Station with Haikyuu! posters
Arriving in Sendai
What felt like an incredibly short time later (we both napped and the Shinkansen provides a smooth, quiet, and comfortable way to transform a 4.5 hour car ride into 1.5 hours of free time), we arrived in Sendai. And look what greeted us! For those who don't know (which I think is nearly everyone), the giant posters are the characters from my favourite manga/anime. If you visited our apartment in Ottawa, this is the series that took up an entire shelf in the living room.
Jesse once again left me with our things to pick up our new keys, and upon his return, he reassembled his bike and I went on ahead to find the new place and drop off my backpack. It took me a while to figure out how to get in the front door of the building (the key is finicky) but by the time I returned he had my bike assembled and ready to go. So off we went to our new place, with all our things except our suitcases.
The suitcases arrived 8 minutes into the 2 hour window the following day and the delivery man even brought them all the way up to our apartment for me! We will absolutely be doing that again for all future moves. I came across a blog post by a traveler who ships his suitcase between hotels and just keeps a day bag with him when travelling here. I can see why!
The new apartment
Overall the new place is much older and more rundown than our previous place. We face a busy road, and unfortunately the patio doors to the balcony are thin. There is also a bus depot across the road, and although the busses themselves are no louder than the general traffic, there is an attendant with a whistle that helps guide the buses safely in and out.
Most places with trucks or large vehicles coming and going have an attendant, and some hotels, shopping malls, and even busy intersections have them to manage pedestrians and merging traffic. They are great, I love them! But this particular attendant has a whistle that they blow before each bus leaves the depot. So a sharp whistle blast sounds between every 5 and 15 minutes all day long.
However! Jesse and I are both liking Sendai. Our last neighborhood felt very formal. Everyone was dressed very nicely, there was no place to keep our bikes at the apartment or nearby, and so many steep hills with narrow sidewalks unsuitable for more casual cycling. But Sendai is much flatter and with wide sidewalks including bike lanes. Plus, while the Japanese dress nicer than North Americans on average, this neighbourhood feels full of regular people going about their day. There is bike parking everywhere, including plenty at our apartment. And we face west with small buildings around us so we get lots of afternoon sun. Overall Sendai is more relaxed.
We are trying to do as much as we can outside before the cold really arrives. It's still warm enough to be in a t-shirt during the day provided you are in the sun and moving around, but add in the breeze or shade, and you definitely want a sweater and probably a coat after the sun goes down. (Which is so early! No daylight savings and we moved further north.)
I think that's it for now! Sorry about the missing content for October, there is just so much and we need to share pictures amongst our friends first but we hope to get those adventures up in parts in the coming weeks. All the best and happy Hallowe'en!
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