Labor Thanksgiving Day

Sunday was officially a holiday, Labor Thanksgiving Day, but when holidays come on Sunday, Monday becomes a national holiday, too. Ian and I decided that for training purposes we should walk both days.

The above picture shows what I consider to be one of the good features of the housing projects that surround Sendai proper. Between the rows of houses, usually similar but each a little different because the land developer and the house builders are often different, they leave open space which is landscaped and becomes pedestrian paths. The roads are frequently laid out in the form of a maze, which prevents through traffic on most of the streets. This particular path is very close to Ian's house.
When we walk between Ian's house and my condo, we pass this property as we go up a small hill near a public park. The house has alwasy intrigued me. You can not see it in the picture but beside this gate there is a small hand written sign that advertises massages in a variety of styles. The property is huge by Japanese standards and seems to run up the hill and off to the left.
This is the Japanese style gate, called a mon, which you can see at the right end of the wall in the previous picture. It is very traditional and you seldom see a gate like this on new houses. It must have cost a small fortune to build, but I would bet that it is almost never opened. I know I have passed it at least a hundred times and I have never seen it open. In fact I have never seen anyone inside the grounds, although it is obviously lived in.
This is the part of the house. It is very large and the grounds are well cared for, so the owners must be wealthy but I know nothing about them. I should add that the view from those windows is down a river valley and must be very beautiful, especially at this time of year when the leaves are in color.