A walk around the neighborhood

The owner of this house, which is very close to Yaotome Station, owns a landscape business according to a sign, and he apparently keeps a lot of the trees and bushes on his own property until they are needed for a project. It makes a very pleasant break from all the concrete in the area.

Walking toward the east and away from the station, the large apartment buildings end within a few hundred meters and the buildings become two story private homes.
One of these structures is not a private home, but actually is a cake shop. The problem is that the cakes are nothing special. The only time we partake of them is when someone brings some as a gift.
I do not know what the architect was smoking when he designed the color scheme for this building, but it sure breaks up the gray concrete.

Nanakita Koen 04

In the middle of Nanakita Koen, there is a play area for children with slides and things to climb on. It almost always has at at least a few kids and is often crowded. Notice the remains of another snowman.
Here is a more detailed view of the structure for kids.
A little further on, there is a 100-meter race track (on the left in front of the building). Some times I have seen people using it but usually it has kids playing on it. The structure in the distance is the Vegalta soccer stadium where I go to games.
This is at the entrance to the park. There is pay parking on both sides of the road (out of the picture). The dome is part of a library/science center. I have never been in it, but I expect that when the grandkids get a little bit older, it will become a popular destination.

Nanakita Koen 03

Three more deceased snow persons. We have not really had any snow since this fell but the forecast is for a storm tomorrow during the night. That figures since I have to start work the next morning and I leave home at 6:45.

This is the bridge that marks the west end of the park. It is almost two kilometers from my apartment. You can just see a mountain through the clouds. It is called Izumigadake and is big enough to have a ski slope on it. Ian and I climbed most of the way up it one time. We planned to go back again and go to the top, but never got around to it. The white structure on the right is the top of a dome in a sports park. It is used for school and amateur sports. The dome can be opened during the summer. Also they have, on occasion, had concerts by famous Japanese pop groups in the dome as well. The sports park is quite big with the dome, a couple of soccer pitches, tennis courts as well as various buildings. Beyond the park, Vegalta, the Sendai pro soccer team, has their headquarters and practice areas.
The high point of Nanakita Koen has a gazebo-like structure. There is a paved path that winds up the hillside and some stone seats. During the spring and summer you frequently can see pairs of high school lovers having some private time on the seats. One day during the summer I walked up that path and was surprised by a very large snake. I gave it the right of way and did not try to follow it.
Most of the walking paths within the park look like this. It is a very pleasant place to go for some exercise, especially now that I can follow the riverside all the way to the entrance. If I walk from home to the east entrance to the park, walk around the inside, and then leave by the north entrance and to go Starbucks for coffee, I walk a little more than five kilometers by the time I get home. It is very nice when the weather is good.

Nanakita Koen 02

Another view of the women setting up the picnic. Look at how many bags they have. It looks like it was going to be a really big group - probably a bonenkai (forget the year party) or a shinnenkai (welcome the new year party) for some people connected through a group of some kind. I did not go back later to see how many people showed up.

Nearby I found this sign. It says that the river is fun but ... It then says to go home when there are really dark clouds and it starts raining or if there there is lot of stuff floating in the river.
A few meters away there is another sign that shows the length of the river, Nanakitagawa. The text in the upper right tells why the river has a second name, Kanmurigawa. Kanmuri means crown and many years ago a prince was crossing the river and lost his crown in the water, so the river was named for the event. The writing across the top of the sign urges people to keep the river clean.
Here is part of what the sign was referring to when it asks people to keep the river clean. This are the remains of an imonikai (potato boiling party), a popular fall and early windter activity. A group of people will come to the riverside and start a fire which they use to boil water to cook potatoes. After the party, the place is usually a mess. This area is completely black with ashes and soot. It looked like some place that Santa might have visited, but without a chimney.