Photos from a Thursday

 This is the nicely manicured lawn at Miyagi Gakuin U. If you look very carefully you may be able to see the may who is trimming the hedges near the pond.

 This is the back of the bus driver's. The object is a strip of inscribed wood, wrapped in white paper and tied with a red string, an good luck charm from some Shinto shrine. From talking with various people, I have found that most people do not really believe in them, but feel bad if they do not  have them. I usually get one at New Years and carry it in my wallet for the rest of the year, burning it at the shrine the next year. I do not believe that it does anything, but being aware of it makes my mind function a bit differently, keeping me safe.

 I found these flowers growing along the levee walkway. I have no idea what they are and do not believe that I have ever seen them before. I suspect that they are escapees from a garden. The rich guy's wife has a in-the-building traditional tea room and she grows all sorts of exotic flowers in her yard to use in the tea ceremonies. These must have been involved in a jail break.

 This is the campus at Tohoku Gakuin U, where the repairs to earthquake damage are still going on. The lounge for part time teachers is on the second floor.

 This is looking to the left from the spot where I took the above picture. I teach at three campuses, Tohoku Gakuin U at Tsuchitoi (here) and at Izumi and the Miyagi Gakuin campus in between. All three are very different. This on is the most crowded and with the least vegetation.

Back home in the compound where I live. This is a small building that is used only for trash collection. We must buy plastic bags from the city to pay for the collection. You can see them piled inside. The bags are actually quite cheap but they do provide some income for the city that is proportional to the amount of trash produced by an individual. Regular trash, including garbage, is collected twice a week. Additionally there are periodically scheduled collections of plastics, paper, and large objects that will not fit in the bags.