Walking home from Miyagi Gakuin University

It was now getting quite dark and the glow of the neon lights made the sky look black in comparison. This building had been a series of restaurants, each lasting a year or so. However, after the last on gave up, it was replaced by a funeral parlor. It seems like there must be a lesson of some sort in that but it escapes me.

 This building looks like a regular two story home, but actually it is a kindergarten, one that focuses on English.

 This is a discount men's clothing store. They have a constant sale. Prices are cheap anyway but you can get a second suit for 1,000 yen. Many business men, especially the young who have low salaries, buy their suits in this chain.

 This is a shopping center. The main stores in it are a large sporting goods store and DYI supply store, what the Japanese call a 'home center'.

 This is a shot from a bit closer. The home center is on the left and the sporting goods store on the right. There is a small group of other stores in the middle, a fast food restaurant, a beauty parlor, and some other stuff.

 Big House is a supermaket and it is opposite the shopping center. This complex contains a large used and new bookstore specializing in comics and a ramen shop (noodle shop).

 This is a clock store

I am now entering the area around the Yaotome Subway Station. This is Gusto, a chain fast food store, that actually has pretty good food.

Walking home from Miyagi Gakuin University

 I was on my way home, following the kanjosen, the western Sendai bypass road. The building on the right is a Nichiren Buddhist temple. Nichiren Buddhism has made efforts to expand to other countries so some of you may have had some experience with them.

 This is the temple from the other, up hill, side. Actually it does not look like a temple, except for the sign and the large parking lot. I think that they converted a regular home into a temple.

 At the far end of the parking lot, I found that a car had smashed into the fence. The traffic on the kanjosen sometimes goes quite fast. It looked like a car had lost control and turned into the parking lot but missed the gate and hit the fence.

 At the top of the hill, there is a little bread store. I have been tempted to stop in and see what they have, but from the outside it looks like they only sell sweet stuff and I like real bread.

 At the very highest point, on the left, there is a group of apartment buildings. From this point on the road goes down hill.

 It was getting dark. The time was about 6 p.m. Lotteria is a Japanese chain that sells hamburgers and that sort of fast food. The sign on the left phonetically says 'drive thru' in Japanese.

 This restaurant mostly sells bowls of rice with meat toppings, called domburi.

A few years ago this chain store, Yamaya, was one of my favorites. It is a discount liquor store. I seldom came to this one because there was one near my home, behind the bookstore. However, I stopped drinking and the nearest Yamaya closed. I wonder if there was a connection.

Walking home from Miyagi Gakuin University

 I was still walking down the hill away from Miyagi Gakuin U and toward the west. Yesterday I showed the park on the other side of the road. This is the rice paddies on this side.

 At the bottom of the hill there is a major intersection. On the on the southeast side there is a large used book (mostly comic books) and CD store.

 Next to the bookstore and right on the corner is a Big Boy restaurant, very cheap with large servings but not very tasty.

 I turned north at the corner, headed for Yaotome. There are rice paddies on that side of the road, too. This is a wall-less shed where they store some of the things needed in the fields.

 This is another shed.

 And yet another shed. This is in the old style with a thatched roof. I drew a picture of this a few years ago.

 The rice paddies on the east side of the road with the tops of some of the Miyagi Gakuin U buildings in the center at the top of the hill. The splash of color in front of these buildings is a gas station.

The woods that are next to the rice paddies are very thick. There is an ill defined path through the woods but I have never tried to take it. A couple of years ago, however, I was an old lady going up the path, so it must go somewhere.

My neighborhood and walking home from Miyaigi Gakuin U

 The morning sun on the buildings across the river.

 The remaining colors at Asahigaoka. Most of the reds have already gone but the yellows are lasting well this year.

 Some of the trees are more brown than red this year, but this goes well with all the yellow.

 I have no idea what plant this is, but it certainly makes it feel like Christmas.

 It's snowing in the mountains as seen from the teachers' lounge at Miyagi Gakuin U.

 Inside the Miyagi Gakuin U campus, looking toward the main gate.

 The main gate. The traffic guard is standing in the middle of the road in front of the guard building.

Leaving the campus and turning right, I walked down the hill and passed a park on the other side of the road.