Construction in my neighborhood

 Here they are beginning work on the destruction of the building. It is directly in front of our apartment complex and a long time ago was a driving school. Then it became a practice area for the police department. The rumors are that they are going to build a junior high school here, but all I know for sure is that all the buildings are coming down and the roads are coming up.

 This is also the beginning of the destruction of a building. This house is on the riverside and is finally being replaced after being severely damaged in the quakes. On the first floor you can see that they have already removed the siding. It is a huge house by Japanese standards, ten rooms. The owner said that they are replacing it with a much smaller house.

 There is also construction going on along the river. They are replacing the river bank where it was damaged in the quakes or by flooding after one of the summer taiphoons. The are building a coffer dam so that the new concrete siding, like what you can see in the foreground, can extend a meter or more underground. I took the picture from the bridge to Yaotome.

 Here is a view that shows the way they are moving dirt around on the levee. The place where the cars are parked is the flat area where the summer festival takes place.

 This is Futakashira Jinja, Two Pillar Shrine, where we visit on New Years. The man is a priest and he is raking the leaves that have started to fall in volumes.

This shows some really weird plants. I have never seen anything like them before. They are thin, white, and very lace-like. This was the only place I have ever seen them.