Walking home from Sendai

 I decided to walk home and to take one of the side roads rather than the main road. One of the first things I was this old store. In front of it is an old woman pulling a two wheel cart. At one time such carts were very common. There are fewer of them now, but you still see them occasionally. I was not sure what the other two women are doing. One of them was taking a straw hat off the top of the cart. There is also a man looking at the displayed goods. Finally there is a woman in the traditional clothing with a cloth tied around her head. She seems to be from the store, probably the owner or the wife of the owner.

Architecturally the area is quite mixed. There are many tall apartment buildings but there are also many one an two story one-family homes.

Bicycles are a common sight, particularly on the side roads. In Sendai people thing that it is rude to ring the handlebar bell when they come up behind you, as they did when I lived in Nagoya. This means that you frequently do not know that they are there and they try to squeeze by you, often dangerously. I have been hit by the handlebars a number of times. Also a number of bikes have missed me, but hit a wall or a fence. Recently the police have been stopping cyclists and giving tickets for things like no lights at night, driving while intoxicated, not obey the traffic laws, and driving dangerously

This building was constructed in the old style and looks like it might be fairly old, but well kept up.

I found a Shinto shrine. The torii is on the right and the shrine building is on the left. When I looked at the signs in the middle of the picture, I realize that there was also a Buddhist temple here and the driveway on the left was the entrance. Turning slightly to my left, I could see the temple's hall and the two statues protecting the entrance.