Riverbank construction

 Here is a closeup of the the metal wires that hold the concrete blocks in place. Each of the wires is about a quarter of an inch in diameter.

 This is the way the riverbank looks now. It is not very picturesque but it will certain decrease the damage during future floodings. The really long range weather forecasts, years, not months, suggest that we will have increasing amounts of sudden heavy rain that will completely overwhelm the drainage systems.

Moving away from the river and into a housing area, I noticed some definitely non-Japanese looking apartments on the far side of a park containing a bright blue slide.