Key Business Sectors: Sendai City is also known as the 'academic city' and has over 100 higher education institutions and some 80,000 students in its urban area. Due to this concentrated talent pool, many companies have established themselves here in order to source high-calibre employees, including international companies such as Amazon Japan G.K., Ericsson Japan Co., Ltd., and Philips Japan Co., Ltd.  Sendai's Tohoku University has a global reputation and with the launch of a next-generation synchrotron radiation facility, R&D facilities are continuing to grow here. Sendai's most active sectors are retail, services and education.
What to Visit: Its numerous and renowned local festivals; multiple hot springs in Sakunami and Akiu which also boasts great hiking and scenery, particularly around its waterfall; the beautiful gardens at Rinnoji Temple, Nikka Whisky Miyagikyo Distillery; and fine dining and drinks in Kokubuncho, Sendai's nightlife district packed with over 2,500 bars and restaurants.
What to Eat: The local specialty 'gyutan' which is grilled beef tongue; 'serinabe', a Sendai duck and parsley soup; 'zunda' a sweet green soybean paste used to top everything from mochi rice to ice cream parfaits; and local KIRIN Beer.

It is possible to inspect companies that have launched advanced initiatives in Sendai's Miyagi Prefecture.

90 minutes by car from Sendai city centre is AMITA CO., LTD whose biogas facility "Minamisanriku BIO" plays a central role in Minamisanriku Town's resource recycling efforts. At this facility, food waste collected from the town and surplus sludge produces electricity and liquid fertiliser, the former to run the facility itself in case of emergency as well as the latter for use in local fields and home gardens. These rare food waste separation activities at a resident level are attracting attention worldwide.

You can tour the state-of-the-art factory at IRIS OHYAMA's core plant in Japan "Kakuda I.T.P. (Industria Le Techno Park)", an hour from Sendai city centre. Here, visit next-generation, advanced labour-saving production lines in which robots play an active role from production through to shipment. IRIS OHYAMA's products number around 23,000 with roughly 1,000 new products developed every year. This remarkable development pace is supported by their staff who maintain a complete consumer perspective with product development meetings that are held every Monday, take a considerable portion of the day, and where more than 20 ideas for product development are proposed in each meeting.

TAIKO FISHERIES CO., LTD. is working on new energy-saving initiatives for the seafood industry such as the introduction of vacuum insulation sheets in energy management systems and large-scale freezing and refrigeration facilities. It has also commercialised an automatic fresh fish processing system line with high quality control to handle a capacity of about 200 tonnes per day. In addition, the company played a role in the first tsunami temporary evacuation site agreement in Ishinomaki City and you can also learn about its reconstruction efforts following the earthquake disaster.
 

Sendai has gained global attention as the host city of the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015 and the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting in 2016. The city has ideal venues for a variety of events, from the Sendai International Centre for large-scale conventions to city hotels for urban conventions and the Akiu and Sakunami hot spring districts for resort-style conventions.

Sendai International Centre

Sendai International Centre is a base for conventions and academic cultural promotion in Sendai. It has a conference building with a large hall with a capacity of 1,000 people, and conference rooms of various sizes. It also has an exhibition building with an exhibition room of 3,000m2 and moving partitions for flexibility. In addition, there are four meeting rooms of 200m2 and numerous smaller meeting rooms available as well.  If both buildings are used together, events for about 6,000 people can be held. (The exhibition building is connected directly to the Sendai International Centre Conference building by a connecting passage allowing both areas to be used as one.) The Sendai International Centre is also conveniently accessible by train and is a 5-minute journey from Sendai train station followed by a 1-minute walk.

Sendai Akiu Hot Spring Hotel Sakan
Akiu is the nearest hot spring resort just 30 minutes by car from Sendai centre, and is historically renowned as one of the three oldest hot springs in Japan. In addition to a variety of hot spring baths overlooking the Natori River, Sendai Akiu Hot Spring Hotel Sakan doubles as a conference centre with approximately 5 meeting rooms (small, medium and large), and has a capacity of around 900 people. This special, resort-style venue is perfect for international conferences, academic conferences, symposiums and seminars as well as various events including parties and exhibitions.

Sendai boasts some of the most popular festivals in Japan.

A spectacular event on the 3rd Sunday of May that recaptures the past is Sendai's Aoba Festival, representing 350 years of tradition since the death of feudal lord Date Masamune. The eve of the festival is called "Yoi Matsuri," and many citizen groups dance the "Sendai Suzume Odori" (sparrow dance), an energetic performance using fans in both hands. The name comes from the dance resembling sparrows picking food. They say that the origin of this is the dance by the stonemasons at the celebration of the newly-built Sendai Castle. On the day of this festival, tall "Yamaboko" (decorated festival floats) parade the streets with a procession of samurai who wear armour, reminiscent of historic days.

Tanabata (or star festival) is held for three days from August 6th-8th each year to celebrate the occasion of the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar. This auspicious date comes from the story of two star-crossed lovers from a Chinese legend who are separated by the Milky Way and can only meet one night a year. During this period, Sendai's shopping arcades are decorated with brightly colored hand-made decorations consisting of a large paper ball and streamers, while people wear vivid yukata (summer kimono).

Since 1987, Jōzenji Street Jazz Festival has been one of the biggest events in Sendai, drawing thousands of visitors to hundreds of performances of not only Jazz but a mix of musical genres. Taking place over two days in September each year, 750 bands share 90 stages spread throughout the city, some amateurs, and others, professionals, from all over the world.

Every year, the second half of December sees the Pageant of Starlight brighten the cold, dark nights with wintertime illuminations on Jozenji-dori street, one of Japan's most spectacular light scenes. Stroll down the Tunnel of Illumination with hundreds of thousands of lights strung across four rows of towering zelkova trees with falling snowflakes adding to the atmosphere.