Finally leaving the park

 These flowers were interesting because the stems were covered with something that looked like white moss.

 These flowers were on a small tree, or maybe it is a large bush.

 This is the overall picture of the tree/bush. The top was a little taller than my head.

 I really have to learn to keep my finger away from the lens. The problem is that the best way to hold the camera to keep it steady is to have your finger very near the lens. If I concentrate on framing the picture, I sometimes forget about my finger. When I first worked at Miyagi University I lived on the second floor on the far end of this apartment complex. After two years we bought our 'mansion' and moved out.

 This is between the park and my dentist, a distance that is less than half a kilometer. The round part of the sign states that it is a Miyagi Kotsu bus stop and gives the name, takamori gochome kita. The rectangular section at the bottom gives the arrival times for the buses. There are about three an hour.  The strange looking part in the middle is a light with a battery and solar panels. The panels collect enough light during the day to power the light until after the buses stop at night.

On my way home I walk through a housing area that has very large, by Japanese standards, western looking homes. I particular like this one, although now that I am retired our 'mansion', condo apartment, is more convenient.

More from the park

 Telephone booths are very unusual these day. Everyone has a cell phone so the public phones have rapidly disappeared.

 The slot at the right top allows you to deposit coins. The large horizontal slot in the middle is for a pre-paid card. And the red button at bottom connects directly to emergency services without requiring any money.

 I found some exercise equipment. This is for moving your hips back and forth while holding the rails. The blue sign on the post shows how to use this.

 Here are some of the other pieces of equipment. Then nearer one is for stair climbing and the far one is used by putting your legs on this side and then hanging over backwards on the other.

 This is an example of how to use that last ladder-like thing.

This one was interesting. You are supposed to walk through it. The floor has various built-in patterns that stimulate the bottoms of your feet. I could feel them even through the thick soles of my walking shoes.

More from Takamori Higashi Koen

 Tucked away in one corner of the park there is a children's play area.

 This is something that is almost never seen in Japan, a public basketball court. Kids do not hang around outdoors here. They have school and then school clubs or prep school until nearly dark. Then they have lots of homework. Just looking at the court makes it obvious that people here do not play much basketball. The court is round.

 This is an outside wall of the public restroom. I was surprised by the triple projects and the way the plane of the wall has been broken up.

 Some of the flowers were in full bloom.

 At one corner of the park there are electric meters but the cable goes underground so I could not determine what was using the electricity. I guess that it must be lights in the restroom but I could not see any.

Still in the park

 The new path through the woods is a pleasure to walk on.

 Instead of using concrete to protect the uphill side of the path, they constructed it with old fashion methods, bundles of small branches held in place with sticks driven into the ground. This type of construction gradually becomes part of the landscape and will last many years.

 This is looking toward the point where I entered the park. The building is a school for the handicapped.

 When I saw these trees, all I could think of was Christmas. When I lived in this area, they were not much taller than I am.

 I finally found the name of the park. The bushes are trimmed to become kana and read takamori higashi koen, takamori is the place name meaning tall forest, higashi means east and koen is park.

This sign shows pictures of all the wild birds that make their homes or pass through the park. It also has a nice picture of my finger.