It was Wednesday morning and I left home at 5:45  to met Ian at Kita Sendai station for a walk in Shinrin Park. As I followed the riverside path, I noticed that on the western horizon there were menacing clouds that looked as dark and substantial as the mountains themselves.

 The sections of wall that fell during the earthquakes have now been completely replace and the space between the walls and the levee filled with dirt. Both should survive any future earthquake without trouble.

 This is the view looking south from the platform at Yaotome station. The hill in the middle has a small park at the top to commemorate a visit by the Emperor Meiji when he was still only a prince. He was taken here during a visit to Sendai to see the lands to the north in the Nanakita River valley. It is the highest point for many kilometers on the south side of the river. This hill is also the place where there was an execution and torture ground. The bodies were dumped in a branch of the Nanakita River and hopefully were carried by the currents all the way to the ocean, about 16 kilometers to the east.

 This banner was in Shinrin Park. It is announcing hotaru matsuri, or a Firefly Festival.

This orange banner gives the details of when and where for the Firefly Festival and the white sign points the reader toward 'the home of fireflies and medaka' (little fish with bulging eyes [me in Japanese]).

Inside Asahigaoka Station is now quite dark. As a measure to protect against the 15% loss of electrical generating capacity, which was caused by damage from the earthquakes and the tsunamis, and the continuing problems with the nuclear generating plants, most public places either have no artificial lighting or it is reduced to a minimum. Both of the universities where I work have removed many of the light bulbs, two out of three, in the hallways, for example.