Photos

A bay in Matsushima (literal meaning 'island of red pine-trees). This bay in northern Honshu (300km north of Tokio) is well known for red pines and ca. 200 small islands spread out in the shallow sea. It is
one of the places that are traditionally praised for natural beauty in Japan, for instance by the famous Haiku poet Basho.

The bay you see on the picture is on an island that is called Fukuurajima and one of the biggest islands of Matsushima bay. It is connected with a 200m long bridge with the mainland. It has hiking trails that lead to this bay and also a natural botanical garden (a trail with many annotated trees and flowers).