Day 2: Saturday, 21st of April

This morning is an early start as a busy day awaits. After breakfast we will board a bullet train from Shinagawa Station to Tokyo Station. (10 min) We will then board the 08:30 Komachi bullet train from Tokyo Station to arrive at Sendai at 10:15am. Sendai is the largest city in the Tohoku region and will be our home for the next three nights. Our accommodation at the Hotel Metropolitan Sendai East is brilliantly located next door to the station.

Our rooms won't be ready straight away, so we will return to Sendai Station and take a short bullet train ride to Fukushima. (20 min)

Those who don't feel like a day at the races will visit Hanamiyama Park which in English is called Flower Watching Park. Every year thousands of visitors flock to one of Japan's most popular cherry blossom locations where one can look over Fukushima and the snow capped Azuma Mountains.

Racing enthusiasts can enjoy magnificent springtime racing at arguably Japan's most beautiful racetrack. Today's feature race at Fukushima Racecourse is the Group 3 Himba Stakes over 1600 metres. From the comfort of our reserved seats, we can also watch on their racetrack monitors the races held in both Kyoto and Tokyo.

A Welcome To Japan Dinner has been arranged for tonight at a local Japanese Izakaya called Hana No Mai. An Izakaya is a traditional Japanese style pub with plenty of character and charm serving small bite size dishes. *Drinks are also included! Cheers, or as they say in Japan, "kampai".