At Sendai Station and then home

 My wife went to Tokyo to babysit our grandson, so I went to Sendai Station with her. She had to buy a ticket for the Shinkansen, the Bullet Train. There are two ways to get a ticket. If you don't want a reserved seat, you can get your ticket at one of these machines.

 If you want a reserved seat or a special train, you go to a counter and get waited on by a human.

 This is the main set of wickets for entering the Shinkansen area. It is completely automated and it is just like getting on the subway. However, there is the added advantage that you can get your ticket through your cell phone and then just wave the phone over a plate on the top of the wicket.

There used to be a large statue that people used as a meeting place, but for some reason it was removed. Now people use this stained glass window.

 I left the station and did some shopping in the basement and then returned home. The construction project to replace the levee banks was in full swing.

Near the bridge most of the work has been completed and they are now landscaping.

The market near Sendai Station

 The father of an Australian friend, Gareth, visited Sendai and we took him around town on a day trip. The first place we went to is a large market near Sendai Station. The market consist of a number of individual stores all selling foodstuffs of various kinds. The about picture shows the store next to the entrance which is on the left. This place sells mainly fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

 We entered the market which actually has a street running down the middle.

 As you can see, the market extends into the first floors of the buildings that line the stree.

 Here is a fish store. Boy, did it smell.

 These are matsutake mushrooms. They are extremely expensive. Here they are discounted to about US$75 for 100 grams, about 3.5 ounces. I love them. The have a fantastic aroma, but sadly I can not afford to eat them.

This is a fruit store. The boxes in front contain strawberries, which are extremely popular for Christmas.

Festival dance groups

 I was at Sendai Station and, as I passed along the front of it, I saw a large crowd and heard loud music with a strong beat. I maneuvered my way to the front and found that some festival dance groups were performing. The group in the picture were preparing to perform.

 This is the group who were on stage.

 They were quite good, but I needed to get home so I had to leave.

 As I crossed the overpass on my way to the subway entrance, I had a good view of the current state of the construction for the new subway line.

 Arriving back beside my apartment complex, I saw that work was progressing on the repairs of the river bank.

The next day my wife and I and some friends went to a restaurant near Miyagi U, where I used to work. The weather was still nice so we were able to sit outside and view the roses.

Home again and another walk

I had already walked more than 16 kilometers and was getting very tired. My plan was to go to a bus stop that was indicated on my map and take a bus home. However, I discovered that all of the bus routes had been discontinued, presumably because there were no longer any people in the area. So I had to walk an additional three or four kilometers to a train station. After waiting 30 minutes for a train, I was able to go to Sendai station, rather than toward home. Changing to the subway, I took my usual route home, including the 1 1/2 kilometer walk from Yaotome to my apartment.

 This picture was taken in the lobby of the station. The decorations are for the summer festival.

 Two days later I went to Nanakita Park, where I found that the pool had been drained. The large gray area normally has a foot or so of water and a lot of ducks and pigeons.

 I took a long cut home, which gave me a chance to check out how the rice was doing. The quality of the rice this year is supposed to be just a little above average.

 I was very surprised to find this vending machine. It was selling fresh vegetables of all kinds.

Later in the day, my wife and I went to Sendai Station to meet Naomi and Tomone, my daughter and granddaughter. While waiting on the platform, a shinkansen (bullet train) stopped at another platform. It was decorated with a popular cartoon character, a penguin.

Christmas decorations at Sendai Station

 As I walked along the levee on my way downtown, I saw this bird resting on a rock in the middle of the river.

 At Sendai Station, I saw this large walk-through Christmas tree in front of S-Pal, one of the stores on the area.

 As I got close enough to read the sign and to see inside, I found that it was a computer setup that predicted the future relationship of couples. I did not stop to see what kind of predictions it was making, since I was with a male friend.

 In front of the station entrance was this large display, placed there by a commercial company but with minimal advertising.

These two Christmas trees were also commercial ads, but decorations at the same time.

Returning home along the river, I saw a pair of birds of a different species relaxing on the same rock. I wonder where the white bird went.

On from Izumi Chuo to a meeting with Tony

 From Izumi Chuo I took a bus about 5 kilometers to my dentist's. Rather than going to a dentist near my apartment, I go to one who is near my doctor's, and I go to that doctor because I started going there when I lived in his neighborhood for two years more than 10 years ago, plus we like him. Also the dentist is very good, too. This picture is the waiting room. The torture chambers are off to the left. The staff here consists of a husband and wife, who are both dentists, and a couple of young female assistants.

 After the dentist, I took the bus and then the subway to Sendai Station. This picture shows the main floor where there are omiyage shops, places to buy presents for people when  you return from a trip. These are usual food of some kinds. Sendai specializes in beef tongue products as well as many kinds of cookies and other sweets. They also sell something called hoya, which is a bulbous kind of thing that grows in the ocean. I am not sure whether it is animal, vegetable or mineral, but I do know that, even though many people consider it a delicacy, it tastes terrible.

 I was here to meet my friend Tony and this is the Starbucks at which we planned to meet.

 This is Tony buying a coffee. He is the one in the middle, the only foreigner in the picture. In the station area there are three Starbucks within a hundred meters, two are actually in the station and one is in a next door department store. This one is on the bridge that goes over the tracks of the local railroad lines.

 In front of the station there is a strange stone sculpture in the center of a roundabout.

At the foot of this escalator, the store sells imported food and specialty foods from Japan. Actually it started as a coffee bean store but expanded and now sells many other things. There is another store in this chain which we frequently utilize in Izumi Chuo.