Having finished teaching two conversation classes at the Izumi Campus of Tohoku Gakuin U, I started home to have supper. The road between the campus buildings and the outside has a very spectacular view of the valley that was created by the river that flows by my home.

 The trees along this exit road have been severely trimmed, but the leaves are beginning to appear.

 About 15 minutes of walking brought me to a point more than half way home and a building having earthquake damage repaired. It appeared that there was some damage to the roof tiles and some cracks in the wall behind the green sheets.

 The next morning I left home at 5:45 to meet Ian and walk in Shinrin Park. We meet at the train station at Kita Sendai (North Sendai). A subway exit is nearby and the train station has this waiting room next to the ticket machines. The blue bag with red straps is the backpack that I use to carry things to school. I have a small computer on which I keep attendance, grades, and other records. I almost always have some other stuff, too - books, papers, or things like that.

Notice the rack of pamphlets. It is almost empty. These are for special trips and/or deals at hotels and spas. Because of the costs related to the disaster few people are taking vacations this year. The tourist industry for the whole country has been effected, but there are more problems in this area than else where.

 These racks are full, but they are schedules and ways of reducing the costs of traveling.

Inside the park we found evidence of the quakes. This shelter is leaning strongly to the right and looks like it might collapse at any time. The yellow plastic tape is commonly used to mark off areas that are officially, or semi-official, off limits for some reason. People almost always stay out of areas that are marked this way.