KESENNUMA 気仙沼
Kesennuma city is the hub of the area and with a population of over 60,000, it also ranks as the 5th biggest city in Miyagi. It is surrounded by mountains on one side and the sea (and one of Japan’s busiest fishing ports) on the other and thus retains a natural beauty and small town charm while still having all the amenities (well almost all) that a bigger city has to offer.
Surrounding Towns
Motoyoshi
Utatsu, Minami sanriku, Shizugawa
Karakuwa
Shopping
Aeon: Literally where it’s all at! This shopping center is the beating heart of Kes and comes complete with a well stocked supermarket, several clothes stores, a photo shop, liquor shop, pharmacy, stationery, homewares, and for those of you missing the comforts of home…a McDonalds and a Mr. Donuts. There is also a Baskin Robbins ice-cream store, hidden away on the 2nd floor–a great place to meet other ALTs on hot summer evenings. Maiya: (left-hand side of Route 45 coming from the south.) This grocery store is not as big or as well-stocked as Jusco, but less busy and a bit cheaper, plus I personally think the fruit and veg section is often a lot better than Jusco’s. Plus it has the benefit of a having a great 100-yen shop. A great place to buy bits and bobs for your new apartment, stationery for school and presents for friends back home. A pain to get to if you don't have a car though. Onoya Sports: This sport shop carries most goods. Most students buy their sporting supplies here. Check it out! Geo Video: Has all the latest DVDs, video games and videos for rental. Take your Alien Registration Card to join up and be careful when renting videos – if a video has a red kanji sticker on it’s spine, it has been dubbed into Japanese (nothing worse than getting home and popping in your video only to discover that it’s in Japanese!) Those without stickers are in their original language with Japanese subtitles. Onoya Sports: This sport shop carries most goods. Most students buy their sporting supplies here. Check it out! | Restaurants and Bars
Goku Ramen: A delicious ramen shop down on the ground next to the Plaza Hotel. Tsukasa: This is a good bar/ramen/yakiniku restaurant. The owner is a very nice guy and loves talking about photography. They also serve some rare beers here that you wouldn’t see at most places. Across the Daichi Pachinko parlor on the second floor. Etoile: The best cake in Kesennuma! Brunch: Great place for light lunches. Jyan Jyan and Yamanaka Ya are two popular yaki-niku restaurants worth mentioning. Jyan Jyan is across the street from Geo and Yamanaka ya is across from Kubo and K's Denki on that other main strip. Tourist Attractions Iwate-ken: Kesennuma is also conveniently located right on the border with Iwate, which has some great tourist attractions on offer, including Gebikei Gorge (where you can go punting down a river while the boatmen serenade you – I kid you not!) and Haraizumi (an amazing old temple complex, well worth checking out for its gold covered shrine alone). Iwate is also famous for its Ski resorts – Appi and Getto, being 2 of the better ones. Ichinoseki is about an hour away on the Ofunato train line. This is a good place to take the shinkansen to, and then train over to Kesennuma. There is also ice skating in Senmaya on the Ofunato Line. Oshima Island: Popular for its beaches in the summer. Also has a lift to the top of the mountain that is fun to ride. If you're adveturous you can search for the "Kyu Kyu Beach" with the squeaky sand. Also home of the annual MAJET Leavers Party*. Except this year : ( Bits and Bobs The Little Embassy: Despite its relatively small size, Kesennuma has a surprisingly high number of foreign residents – besides us, there are a number of Chinese ladies who are married to Japanese men, and a large number of Filipino and Indonesian fisherman, who live in the city. In order to cater to the needs of all these foreigners, Kesennuma has its own “Little Embassy” which is based in the 1-10 building. Everyone who works there is extremely friendly and helpful and they hold events throughout the year including sports festivals, karaoke, international food festivals etc. They’re nice people and if you have any problems, they’ll go out of their way to help. They can help with booking tickets, phoning places in Japan for you, train times etc… |
Updated 6/30/11 by Andrew "Do what you gotta do and get it done" Frisa
