These are some of the decorations that were hung for the Tanabata Festival. I believe that these are fashioned after the banners that the old feudal lords used to mark their processions when they were traveling about old Japan.

 This old house is only one block away from the previous picture. In Sendai most of the main streets are lined with tall reinforced concrete buildings, but behind them on the side streets there are still many old one and two story houses.

 This store has a large collection of potted flowers in front of it, but the inside is completely empty. Apparently the company that was here has gone out of business, a common event these days.

 At around noon the people were already lining up to claim space from which to watch the parade that was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

 Most of the stores along Josenji Dori were selling from booths on the sidewalk. From what I could see while walking along, these shops were doing a pretty good business. Since the disaster, I have seen a lot of people downtown but those people were not buying anything, just walking around. Here it seemed to be different, a lot of money, goods and food were changing hands.

This restaurant was selling food and drinks, including beer which is always available at any festival.