Day 6 (Aug 4) - Earthquake in Sendai

I had plans to visit Yamadera in Yamagata and to explore Iwate prefectures. We ended up cancelling those plans and decided to have an easy day in Sendai. Since we had time, we decided to try out their breakfast buffet.

For 1100 yen, one would have the opportunity to stuff their faces with a wide variety of dishes. I had a "traditional" Japanese breakfast with fish and miso soup as my first plate. I finished breakfast with a plate of curry... which isn't probably a dish most people eat as breakfast.

After breakfast, we walked down Hapina Shopping Arcade. They were setting up for the upcoming Tanabata festival events as we walked through the multitude of stores. 

After wandering for a while, we ended up going back to our hotel to gather our laundry. The nearest laundromat was about 10 minutes away, so I grabbed my Switch to keep me occupied at the laundromat. 

The machine in the above photo does both washing and drying. Fortunately, this laundromat was quite comfy in comparison to the ones I went to in Kyoto and Kanazawa. I spent nearly an hour playing Monster Hunter Generation Ultimate. Once laundry was done, we headed back to the hotel to relax before heading back out to the station to search for dinner.

They had a variety of bento boxes to pick from. As my brother was putting down a bento box he was checking, I swear I felt the ground start to sway a bit. All of a sudden, phones around me started to blare out an Emergency Alert as the ground started to sway back and forth. The multitude of light fixtures on top of us swayed as well, but ironically quite gently. After a few seconds, the ground stopped moving and we stared at one another. It took a few seconds, but we realized that we had our first earthquake. Most individuals around us though carried on with their tasks throughout the earthquake without batting an eye. I guess it shows how often it occurs in Japan.

We ended up getting Gyutan bento boxes. Before heading out of the station, we stopped to purchase cheese tarts and Zunda shakes. Before heading back to the hotel, we went to the nearby 7-11 to grab breakfast and additional snacks.

A normal day that turned out to be extraordinary. I later found out that it was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake. Fortunately, it was off the coast (with no risk of Tsunamis) and didn't do any damage to anyone!