My first real walk - still walking

 This is one of the main streets. It leads to an intersection with a main north/south route, an intersection with a lot of stores and banks. Notice how wide the sidewalk is. It could easily be another lane in the road. The roads in this area are interesting, because the newer roads tend to be straight and wide, but the old roads are very narrow, outside of Japan they would be considered to be one lane but here they carry two way traffic.

 This is our local Mr Donuts. Within a kilometer of my apartment, we have all the necessities - Mr Donuts, MacDonalds, Baskin-Robins, 7/11, etc, plus a lot of similar Japanese shops.

 I reached the Nakagawa River and decided to follow the riverbank away from town.

 Japanese construction companies are very good at making temporary roads, a skill that is very useful after earthquakes and floods.

 In Japan, all construction projects must prominently post the information about their permits. The entire wall of workers' shack is covered with such information.

I found this beautiful tree but could not find any place to take a good picture of it. This is the best I could get. Maybe next spring when they are not working on the river, I'll be able to get a better shot of it.