Finally we are entering the long-awaited season of cherry blossom! Perhaps, there wouldn’t be much time for museums, as everyone in Sendai will be planning hanami trips to the most beautiful, most impressing hanami spots, but still there are some nice events worth visiting.

Have you ever tried hiking in the mountains? In Japan, and especially in Tohoku region, from the ancient times mountains were considered sacred spots and pilgrimage destinations. Mountain ascetic hermits Yamabushi, who are still practising on the famous sacred mountains of Tohoku, Dewa Sanzan, are in a spotlight of Sendai Mediatheque event “Holly Mountains Tour”, that combines video, slideshow and a lecture by Hideki Toyoshima, the curator of the famous exhibition on holly mountains, as well as Daizaburo Sakamoto - a practising Yamabushi.

The event will take place on 15th April, 16:00-18:00

Place: Sendai Mediatheque, 7th floor, studio a

I am pretty sure, that this event will offer an insight into a world that we are too far away from - a sacred world of nature.

Speaking of nature. On 22th April, in Sendai Astronomical Observatory, there is a very important lecture that is definitely worth visiting if you care for our planet.

Global warming is still the most serious problem that the humanity is facing right now (no matter how some of the world leaders would like to deny it). Oceans and seas of the Earth protects us from the devastating effect of global warming, but how does global warming influence oceans and seas? In fact, the effect is so bad, that we can say that the sea is crying.

Tohoku University professor Kimio Hanawa, who is the president of the Oceanographic Society of Japan, is going to give a lecture on this topic, and maybe this is the right time to get to know the problems of our planet better, as we are enjoying it to the full scale during hanami.

The event will take place on 22th April, 14:00-15:30

Place: Sendai Astronomical Observatory, Kato-Kosaka hall

What about exhibitions? In The Tohoku University Museum, you can witness something that can be compared with the beauty of cherry blossom - an exhibition on stones! We all know how important stones are for Japanese culture and religion, we all have seen multiple stone monuments, stone walls and stone statues, but did you know that every prefecture in Japan has its “Prefectural stone”? And there is a national stone of Japan as well. Which one? You can find the answer if you visit the exhibition.

The exhibition is until 28th May

Opening hours: 10:00-16:00 (Closed on Mondays and Holidays)

Place: The Tohoku University Museum

Have a good cherry blossom viewing and don’t forget to be thankful to our planet!