Odds and ends again

 This is the construction at the bridge. They have reached the landscaping phase. In the background you can see the bridge, Izumi Chuo being to the right and Yaotome to the left. Behind the bridge is the soccer stadium and behind that is Izumigadake, the nearest mountain.

 This is a little garden with a Shinto shrine. The walkway on the right is Suisen Dori, Daffodil Road, a pedestrian way that leads to Izumi Chuo

 This shows that not everyone throws their trash and cigarette butts on the ground.

 This is on the first floor of the building in which I have my art lessons. I am very curious as to what they actually do.

 This is on the first floor of a large department store. They are selling cakes and other small sweets.

To get home, I took the subway from this platform. The subway stations are very grey and a bit depressing. I wish they would decorate them like they used to do in the USSR. A few years ago I visited Tashkent and their subway stations are beautiful, each one differently but artistically decorated.

Stores in my neighborhood

 This is the main intersection in Izumi Chuo. I am crossing the street and going to Starbucks which is in the Selva building on the left.

 This pyramid functions a roof over a flight of stairs from the lower level where the bus depot is.

 This is a pachinko parlar. Pachinko is a game where you shoot balls and they bounce of pins until they fall to the bottom or go in a hole. If they enter a hole, you win some additional balls, if they reach the bottom you lose it.

 This is a Japanese style restaurant. I frequently pass it but I have never eaten there so I can say whether it is good or notl

 The store with the yellow sign sells hanko, name stamps. The one next to it on the right, with a white sign, is a beauty parlor. For many years my barber was in this space, but she closed a few years ago.

This is the Macdonalds that is closest to my apartment, less than a 10 minute walk.

More after the snowstorm

 This little building in on the road at the front of our complex and between the admin building and the parking building. This is the collection point for our trash.

 

 This was the day for plastics and there was a large pile inside. I added a bag from my apartment. Trash, plastics and burnables have to be placed in bags that you can purchase at almost any store. Plastics go in red bags, burnables in green. We get two sizes, there may be one more larger size but I am not sure. The small size is about 20 yen a bag and the large size about twice that, I think. In addition glass and metals are collected as well as paper. More and more recycling is being done.

 I walked around the parking building and took a shortcut out to the path along the top of the levee. When we first moved here the area to the right was a large truck garden, but the owner filled it in and now it is a pay by the month parking lot.

 

 In spite of the snow, work is progressing rapidly on the repairs to the levee bank. Sorry about the blob in the top left corner. I think that is part of my glove. When the sun is shining I can to see the screen on the camera so framing and keeping extraneous things out of the picture are a problem.

 This is the open area between the buildings at Izumi Chuo. I was on my way to Starbucks which is straight ahead on the first floor. It opens at 7 a.m. but the rest of the building does not open until 10. After coffee I walked over to the Bunka Center and taught my once a week class.

Another walk

 This is the current state of the rich man's new house. Everywhere in the area there is a problem in getting both workmen and supplies. Most building projects are being delayed.

 This is the view from the Izumi Chuo Starbucks window seats.

 I love that name, "Jumble Store". According to the rest of the sign they sell old clothing. I guess that would mean used clothing.

 This is the taxi stand at Izumi Chuo. For along time after I moved here, it was difficult to get a taxi and, if you did not go a long way, result in a large fee, the drivers gave you a hard time. However, a few years ago the city made a large increase in the number of taxi licenses that they gave out. Now there are taxis everywhere and they are glad to get any customer, no matter how short the ride. You can see how many taxis are waiting here and at this time of day there are very few customers.

 This is the entrance to an izakaiya, a Japanese style drinking and eating place. Groups will got to a place like this and drink beer and eat lots of small dishes that are ordered independently. I typical two to three hour stay will cost anywhere from 2000 to 4000 yen.

This is an apartment building with a dermatologists office (the light brown area) on the first floor. Next to the office is a pharmacy where you take the subscription given you by the doctor and buy your medicine. Traditionally your doctor gives you the medicine directly. My family doctor does this. You see the doctor and then when you pay your bill you receive whatever medicine he or she prescribes. However, a small but growing number of doctors have two organizations set up, one where you see the doctor and one where purchase you medicine. Theoretically you could go to a different place, but it is not done. I am not even sure that other pharmacies would be able to process the prescription or stock that specific medicine.

Almost home

 Approach Izumi Chuo from the west, my apartment is on the east side, I found the remains of a hedge that separates a garden from the road. It obviously was very old and had been trimmed many times. All the leaves had fallen for the winter but it was definitely still alive. I have walked by during the summer and not noticed how weird looking the branches are.

 This is an area of rice paddies that separates the real countryside from the built up area around the Izumi Chuo subway station. When I stopped to look carefully, I noticed some sort of stone structure under the trees that or just to the right of the center of the picture and at the end of the unpaved path between the paddies.

 I walked over to the trees and discovered a small group of stelae. The larger one on the right has broken but the split-off piece has been replaced. There is a small triangular rock between the two large stelae.

 Close up I could see the kanji that indicate that it is a piece of a stelae that at some time broke into pieces.

 Crossing a main intersection, I noticed this cute sign outside a dentist's office.

 Next this truck load of motorcycles passed me.

Rather than staying on the main road, I took the back roads and noticed that I could still see the roof top signs in Izumi Chuo (the blue object in the center of the picture). I was also intrigued by the pink paint on the apartment building.

Izumi Chuo Marche

 I have no idea of from where or how the word Marche entered Japanese, but it means an outdoor market with lots of little booths. There is often entertainment and the above picture shows a Jazz band performing.

 On of the favorite things at a Marche is food. Here they are grilling meat that will be sold to the people waiting in line.

 Clothing and accessories are also quite popular.

 I thought that these masks were very interesting and briefly considered buying one, but could not think of a place to put it.

 This Marche took place in the pedestrian area between the Izumi Chuo Station Building and the stores, which you can see on the right here. Scattered around the area there were many tables and chairs so that you could sit down while you ate or you could just rest. I should point out that many of the food stalls also sold beer.

This is a perennial favorite in Japan - grilled squid.

More odds and ends

 One this day I was going to a soccer game with Keith and we planned to meet in the roofed space in front of the Izumi Chuo Starbucks. As I sat down, I noticed a pile of cardboard. Then I noticed that it was covered with bird droppings.

 Looking up I could see, directly above the cardboard, a nest with baby swallows and soon an adult swallow came sweeping in with food for them. As I watched them, I realized that the top of the lamp was covered with spikes, obviously to keep the birds off. However, the swallows had used these spikes to anchor the nest that they made. Does that mean the swallows are smarter than the people who made the lamp?

 At the soccer stadium, we were greeted by this sign, "LOUD SHOUT SAVE SENDAI". The Japanese study English from junior high school through high school, six years of classes, and recently they have added English to the elementary school curriculum. It is interesting that after all those classes they still produce something like "loud shout".

 The next day I was walking along the river and saw members of our local fire station practicing in the river. This group practices all the time and are at the top or near it in the annual nationwide skills competitions.

 This little kiosk is inside the Izumi Chuo Station Building. It sells a really strange assortment of things, fresh vegetables, rice, electronic gadgets,  baskets, and some clothing.

Day and night

 This is Suisen Dori, Daffodil Road, the pedestrian walkway that I often take when going to Izumi Chuo. Notice the business man. It is so hot that he is carrying his suit coat on a hanger. A few years ago the government tried to popularize something called "Cool Biz", but it did not work and men are back to summer suits. Cool Biz was a strange looking style that included short sleeves, both shirt and coat, and no necktie. Air conditioners were supposed to be put at 28 degrees Celsius, which is actually quite warm.

 This is the store at the corner where the road from my condo meets the main east/west road. This place has had a very hard time. When we first moved here, it was garage. After a few years the garage closed. Since then, various stores have been here but none  has lasted more than a year. After the Japanese doll store that was here closed, it was empty for a long time, maybe a year, I am not sure. Now according to the signs, it has become a piano store. I would bet that this does not last long either.

 At Izumi Chuo, I found another band playing. They were quite good and the show was apparently being broadcast live on a local FM radio station.

 I went down the stairs from the second floor balcony and move in closer. I stood and listen for a while before going about my business.

 I went out for an evening walk, which is unusual for me. Actually I was returning from a soccer match and took a 'long' cut home. The gardens in front of people's homes are quite interesting at night.

 On source of light at night is the advertising in front of the many bars. Most many, and many women, stop at a bar after work to socialize with their fellow workers. They eat and drink before going home to bed. Many wives barely see their husbands, who get up and leave early in the morning and return late at night. On weekends the husbands often spend Saturdays and Sundays playing golf or doing other things that keep them away from  home.

 This is a barber shop, or as the signs often say in Japan, a Bar Ber Shop. Haircuts are 1600 yen, about US$20 at today's exchange rate. This will be a minimal cut and probably a quick shampoo. A full haircut, shampoo, head and shoulder massage, face and neck shaved, etc, will be about double this. I go to a barber shop that only cuts your hair, using a vacuum to remove the cuttings. It charges 1000 yen.

 This is the bell tower on the grounds of Jomanji, a local Buddhist temple.

Almost home. The lights in the upper left corner are my apartment complex and the river flows from the right edge to the center. When I first moved here there were almost no houses between the bridge and my building and there were far fewer lights on the other side. This area has been expanding rapidly so walking along here at night no longer elicits the feeling of being alone in the world.