At Asahigaoka

 On Thursday mornings I take a 7:35 bus from the Asahigaoka Bus Depot to Miyagi Gakuin U. I get to the depot at about quarter past seven. On this morning the waiting room was completely empty. It did not stay that way long as students for one of the local private k-12 schools have a bus at 7:30. I really do not need to get there this early but I like to take the first bus, because the subway is not yet crowded, nor is the bus. If I go later, the subway cars are completely full and the bus has enough students that I would probably have to stand. Also, getting to school early is not bad since I can sit in the teachers' lounge, drink coffee, and get ready for the day or listen to my iPod or read a book. It is quiet and pleasant.

 This is the Seinen Bunka Center, covered with scaffolding and gray tarps. I wonder if the Center asked for the gray tarps so that it would not be so obvious how much work needed to be done. This is the Center where the Sendai Book Club meets. There are also a couple of concert halls where local groups put on concerts and plays.

 This is one of the outside walls of the Center. One section is completely covered and the remainder is missing many individual tiles, especially at toward the top where the movement during the quakes was the greatest.

 The first time I came here after the quakes, these blue tarps were already in place. Now they have been reinforced with slats of wood to keep the tarps from blowing away. The wall was fairly badly damaged, judging by what I initially saw. The repair work is probably being held up for one of two reasons: [1] the insurance claims have not been settled year, for example, it may not be clear whether the wall is city or private property; [2] the construction companies are all too busy and this project is on a list somewhere to be completed when the resources are available.

This is the part of the Center that faces the bus depot. There is a restaurant inside the first floor windows that I sometimes eat in before the Book Club meetings.