They were surveying the side of our river. Supposedly they are going to repair the riverbanks that were damaged by the earthquake.

 This house looks fine on the outside but it was severely damaged on the inside. The owner told us that he is going to have to tear it down and completely replace it. The concrete foundation shifted during the quake. This is the house where the wall between the levee and the house collapsed. The owner has already spent around US$100,000 to rebuild the wall. Now he has to spend even more to rebuild the house.

Both the work along the river bank and the work on this house will continue for a long time, so I will periodically be posting pictures so you can see how these things are done in Japan.

 This is my good friend David, an Australian poet, who taught here in Japan for a while. Twice he was here for a year of teaching. Now he comes back for a visit once a year or so. While he was here, a group of friends got together at the Ha'penny Bridge, an Irish bar, and had a small party for him.

 Once the surveying was finished, they brought in a power shovel and started clearing the vegetation from the area they are going to work on.

 I was out walking an went passed a Suzuki dealer that had a lot full of new motorbikes.

This is the main road into Sendai. The trees are ginko and the leaves and nuts are starting to fall.