Pictures from the neighborhood 02

Still on the way back from the doctor's, I passed a stand in the parking lot of a large store that sells hardware, household goods, yard goods, and do-it-yourself goods. The stand is a self-service kerosene dispenser. In Japan most homes are heat with portable kerosene heaters. The new ones are very efficient and have vents that let the smells go outside. We have not used one in more than 20 years, because we did not like the smell. Once the odorless ones were on the market, we decided not to use them because they involve carrying large containers of kerosene around the inside of your house when you refill the fuel tanks. We also thought that as we get older we are more likely to spill during the refilling. We use small electric heaters and air conditioners to keep our apartment warm.A little further down the road, we reached a bread shop. It has pretty good bread and, best of all, it has free coffee if you buy even a single piece of bread. In the picture Masayo is walking passed a large inflated Santa to enter the shop.

A day later I was at Sendai Station and four this large Christmas tree outside a department store, named S-PAL II (I do not know what it means, either), that connects to the station.
The reason I was at the station was to meet some friends and then to meet the speaker for the afternoon JALT (Japan Association for Language Teaching) meeting. We took the speaker to lunch. In the picture you can see a tall stained glass window. This is the traditional meeting place for anyone meeting in the station area. There is always a crowd in front of the window. It is not as good as it used to be. A few years ago there was a large statue of a former feudal era ruler of the area on a horse. However, for some reason that I was never able to determine it was removed, so all that is left is the stained glass. The area to the left of the picture is a large open space and it is frequently used for special sales and exhibits. On this day there were booths (you can see one in the foreground) sell cakes and other sweets. I was tempted but manage to not buy anything.