A trip into town 03

 Have you ever wanted to buy a baby? This is the place, assuming, of course, that Shoop means Shop. It is really heartening to know that, after three years of English in junior high school and then three more years in high school, people still make simple errors like this.My wife points out that it is really a good thing because it means that I will continue to have a job teaching English, or should I say re-teaching English.

 Every block the arcade is interrupted by a large cross street. Here the arcade entrance is on the left under the strange shaped structure. On the left is the structural framework for a new building. It will be interesting to see what will be in it.

 Turning and looking to the left, there are relatively new buildings with all glass fronts. The are actually quite nice looking, if a little bit severe.

Back inside the arcade, after crossing the street, I passed an izakaya, a drinking place that serves mainly beer and also has food. The white sign in the upper right marks the location and the red lantern marks the door. Many, maybe I should say most, office workers go out to an izakaya or a bar after work each night. The socialize with their coworkers, drink, and eat before returning home.  During the year that I worked in the office of the Setup Committee for Miyagi University, my quitting time was 4:15 so I did not wait until the rest of the people went out at about 7:00 p.m. The boss and many of the others thought that this was a very unhappy state of affairs because they wanted to get to know me better and that was the only time that they socialized. I was always invited (and attended) all of the organized parties, but they would have liked me to attend the nightly ad hoc sessions, too.