Sendai is home to a gigantic buddhist statue of the boddhisatva Kannon, 100 meters high, almost 300 feet, head to toe. It was constructed at considerable cost in the late 1980's by a Sendai businessman, reputedly for tax purposes, and to that extent, the towering statue does have a slightly malevolent cast about it. Erected next to a 12 story hotel, which it dwarfs, the Kannon-sama, or as I formerly called it the Sendai Daima-jin, looks like a snowy female cousin of Godzilla, about to wreak havoc on the denizens foolish enough to venture out to these hills of Sendai.

And yes, for just 500 yen ($5!) you can ascend the interior of the statue via elevator. If you're feeling randy enough, you may walk down the winding staircase and visit the innumberable (84,000...?) buddha statues that adorn the walkway - but that's a long way down! These panorama were taken from the windows at the 68 meter level inside the statue.