Returning from Parktown

 This hillside next to the main road from Parktown to Izumi Chuo looks like a jungle, but when we lived in Parktown a little more than 10 years ago, it was very different. The complex of apartment buildings of the other side of the road was quite new and the this hillside was nicely landscaped. There was a large area of grass with carefully planted bushes that blossomed at different times and that had leaves that were different colors. However, as with almost all landscaping like this, no one has done anything to it in years and it is rapidly going back to nature, although nature with some plants that were not originally there.

 This is on the same hillside but a little nearer Izumi Chuo. In reality it is a flight of stairs that lead to a path at the top. The path then goes over the hill and enters the back of a graveyard. I was tempted to walk up and see how the gravestones had fared in the quakes, but it was too overgrown to use. When we used to live here I occasionally walked up to the top because there is a good view down the length of the Nanakita River valley.

 Beside the road I found something that I had not noticed before - a working telephone. In this age of cell phones, phone booths have become few and far between. The buildings in the background are a bit unusual and I have something to say about them below.

 The long one-story building in the front is a clinic specializing in internal and children's medicine. The multistory building in the back, though, is unusual. It is a condo for retired people. In addition to the doctor in the clinic, there is 24/7 nursing services and everything else that you might need can be obtained for a price. They staff will do your cooking and cleaning, there is a restaurant, the staff will go shopping for you, and they will do anything else that you want or need. My understanding is that there are fixed prices for everything and if you have enough money it is a great place to live. I do not have that sort of income so I will never live there.

 On the other side of the building, which is now on the right of the picture, I saw something that is sadly very common this year. A construction crew is cutting down large old trees that were weakened during one of the quakes and could fall down. It is very sad to see these majestic old trees being killed.

As I got nearer to Izumi Chuo, I passed an area that used to be rice paddies, but it looks like they are not going to plant this year. The older farmers plant each year but when they reach an age where they can not do it anymore, no one takes over from them. Their children have moved away, often to Tokyo, and are working at a regular job that is less strenuous and financially more rewarding than rice farming. Once this happens the fields remain empty until they are sold and someone puts up houses or stores.

The local newspaper today had a sobering article. In Miyagi Prefecture, due to the earthquakes and tsunami, 186 hospitals and clinics were damaged or completely destroyed. That certain helps to explain the apparent increase in patients at my doctor's.