Audio walking guides in Sendai
Photo: Statue: Tōru Komuro (d. 18 June 1953) Photo: foooomio · Public domain
These are self-guided audio walks around Sendai. You pick a route, put one earbud in, and the guide talks you through it stop by stop — what you are looking at, and why it is there. There is no group to keep up with and no meeting time. 10 walks covering Zuihōden, Matsushima, Tanabata, The Coast, The Samurai Who Sailed to Rome, Akiu, Jōzenji-dōri & the City of Trees and more, 283 minutes of narration in total.
Start your free guideA free account is needed before a guide plays. Hear a minute first if you would rather try it than sign up for it.
Every walk in Sendai
Date Masamune & the Castle With No Keep
You are on a bluff at the edge of the city, beside a bronze statue of a mounted samurai in a crescent-moon helmet, and below you the whole…
Zuihōden: The Mausoleum in the Cedars
The approach is a wide stone staircase running straight up a wooded ridge, worn and slightly uneven, with a stone-flagged path at the top disappearing between enormous cedar…
Matsushima: Islands, Pines and the Wave That Spared Them
Come out of the station, walk two minutes to the water, and there it is: a shallow bay, grey-green, scattered with dozens of small rocky islands, each one…
Ōsaki Hachimangū & the Naked Pilgrimage
Climb the steps through the trees and the building at the top does something unexpected. Most Japanese shrines are either bare cypress left to weather silver, or they…
Tanabata: Three Days of Paper and a Story About Stars
For three days in early August the covered shopping arcades of central Sendai stop being shopping arcades and become something closer to a forest. Thousands of decorations hang…
Beef Tongue, Bean Paste and the Sea
There is a floor in Sendai station given over almost entirely to restaurants serving one thing, and that thing is beef tongue. It is the city's signature dish,…
The Coast: Arahama and the Eleventh of March
A word before we start, because this walk is different from the others. You are going to a place where a great many people died, within the living…
The Samurai Who Sailed to Rome
In this museum are a portrait, a crucifix, a certificate of Roman citizenship and a set of objects that should not exist. They belonged to a man called…
Akiu: Hot Springs, a Gorge and a Waterfall
Forty minutes west of central Sendai the ground rises, the buildings thin out, and you come into a narrow valley with a river running through it and large…
Jōzenji-dōri & the City of Trees
You are standing in the middle of a road, on a paved promenade with benches and sculpture, under a double row of very large trees whose branches meet…
Questions about walking Sendai
What is the best self-guided walking tour in Sendai?
It depends how long you have. Date Masamune & the Castle With No Keep (28 minutes, 5 stops) starts at Aoba Castle site, the equestrian statue and is the one most people begin with. Zuihōden: The Mausoleum in the Cedars covers a different part of the city in about 29 minutes. All 10 walks in Sendai are listed on this page with their length and starting point.
Do I need to book a walking tour in Sendai?
No. Every wanderaudio walk is self-guided, so there is nothing to book and no departure time. You start whenever you arrive, and you can stop halfway and pick it up the next day.
How much do the Sendai audio guides cost?
Your first guide is free. You make a free account before it plays, with an email address or a Google login, and no card. After that a single guide is $4.99, a 30-guide pass, spendable on any guides in any cities, is $29.99, and every guide in Japan is $59.99. It is a one-off payment, not a subscription.
Are these tours in English?
Yes, all 10 Sendai walks are narrated in English. Other languages are not available yet.
Can I do these walks alone?
Yes — that is what they are built for. There is no group and no guide waiting for you, so walking alone works exactly the same as walking with someone. You choose the pace and the order.