3 recommended artistic experience-based facilities in Sendai to meet rare things

Masamune Date, the founder of the Sendai domain, had a strong interest in art and created the new “Date Culture” in Sendai city. It’s still alive in Sendai’s temples and shrines, traditional crafts, festivals and so on. Perhaps due to the influence of the culture, Sendai has loads of spots where you can feel free to experience art. This time, we selected 3 artistic facilities from among them by focusing on the largest in Japan, the first in the world and the high reputation in the world.

You can visit all of them by bus from Sendai Station without any transfers.

The transparent building “sendai mediatheque” with various media contents

“sendai mediatheque” is the public facility playing a role as a base for spreading art and culture. Any visitors can use ‘Sendai City Library’ with over 500,000 books and space holding 280 kinds of magazines and newspapers collected from in and out of Japan, Video Center and so on for free. Its structure is also highly evaluated worldwide and has received many architectural awards including the Good Design Award.
The building with a design using seaweed wavering in the sea as a motif has no beam and post. Instead of them, 13 randomly twisted tubes support it and creates openness space. In addition, the walls along the Jozenji-dori Street, one of Sendai’s symbols, are made of glass. Why not sit on a chair looking like playground equipment and enjoy the view leisurely?

Opening Hours	9:00AM – 10:00PM／Closed on the third Thursday from January to November and New Years Holidays (from 29th December to 3rd January) ※Please check the official website because opening hours and closed days vary depending on each tenant.
Address	2-1 Kasuga-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture
Access	Close to sendai mediatheque mae bus stop where it takes about 10 minutes from Sendaieki-mae by bus
URL	https://www.smt.jp/en/

Japan’s largest astronomical museum “Sendai Astronomical Observatory”

Reopened in 2008, “Sendai Astronomical Observatory” is the largest museum in Japan’s astronomical ones. There are ‘Hitomi Telescope’ which is the third largest in Japan, planetarium installing the latest system and so on, and they make you feel close to the genuine universe. Besides, the exhibition room with booths in various fields such as Earth, Solar System and Galaxy is filled with contents pulling at a children’s and adults’ heart. Let’s learn the scale and mechanism of the universe! You’re sure to have butterflies in your stomach just by seeing elaborate planet models that are hung from the ceiling. Don’t forget to buy ‘Cosmic Candy’ sold at the museum shop. Pictures of beautiful planets by NASA are printed on it, and you can take a photo looking as if a small planet floats when holding it over the sky.

Opening Hours	Monday – Friday, Sunday, Holidays 9:00AM – 5:00PM／Saturday 9:00AM – 9:30PM Closed on Wednesday, the third Tuesday and New Years Holidays (from 29th December to 3rd January) ※If Wednesday or the third Tuesday is holiday, it’s closed on weekday.
Address	9-29-32 Nishikigaoka, Aoba-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture
Access	A 5-minite walk from Nishikigaoka 7-chome Kita, Observatory Entramce bus stop where it takes about 30 minutes from Sendaieki-mae by bus
URL	http://www.sendai-astro.jp/pdf/sao_guide_english.pdf

The world’s first kaleidoscope museum “Sendai Kaleidoscope Museum”

“Sendai Kaleidoscope Museum” was opened as the world’s first museum specializing in kaleidoscope in 1999. At 5 exhibition rooms with different themes, you can come across valuable kaleidoscopes collected from all over the world. The first exhibition room allows you to see and touch about 20 unique works such as the large one reflecting your own appearance and doll-shaped kaleidoscope. The second has works telling over 200 years of kaleidoscope’s history from antique ones made by the inventor of the kaleidoscope (David Brewster) to new ones made by contemporary artists. There are the world’s only work and ones that replace seasonally at the third and various ones made by Teruko Tsuji, a potter, such as pottery kaleidoscope at the fourth and fifth. It might be a good idea to try to make your hand-made kaleidoscope.

Opening Hours	9:30AM – 5:00PM　Open all year round
Address	1-2 Matsuba, Moniwa, Taihaku-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture
Access	Close to Matsuba bus stop where it takes about 50 minutes from Sendaieki-mae by bus
URL	https://sendai-travel.jp/places/sendai-kaleidoscope-museum/