I was awoken by the sound of gateball. Gateball is like croquet, only noisier, especially when played by enthusiastic octogenarians.

We entered Sendai. Not the most attractive city we have visited, but the excitement of watching the police (ineffectually) chase two yankee boys on a moped made up for this.

We figured we deserved some free time, so we pushed on to picturesque Matsushima, one of the "3 famous sights" in Japan. There, as passing cars gawked at (a) the Genkimobile (b) the unreadable kanji of the mobile's numberplate, we discovered that the kettle we had bought at Off House took more than 45 minutes to get the water even lukewarm. Thus ended our plan to subsist entirely on cup noodles.

Matsushima is a gorgeous section of coastline, and a popular place for a date - as we strolled around the area we became acutely aware that  the only other people around were couples. This only served to heighten our sense of datelessness.

There was a huge traffic jam so we stuck around, had dinner, met some JETs from Yamanashi and then took off.

Just north of Kamaishi we found a small country lane off the highway and parked, the ocean only a few hundred meters away. It was freezing cold, but the Genkimobile is well insulated (ie I have a decent sleeping bag).