More construction and deconstruction

 This is along a branch to our river. They have rebuilt the levee and are now returning the river bed to its normal condition.

 I went up to the second floor of our parking garage so that I could see what they are doing in the old police area. The last of the multistory buildings is almost down.

 Also they have removed the bridge that remained from the time when this area was a driving school. They are also removing all the pavement.

The rich guy's house is completely gone.

Construction in my neighborhood

 Here they are beginning work on the destruction of the building. It is directly in front of our apartment complex and a long time ago was a driving school. Then it became a practice area for the police department. The rumors are that they are going to build a junior high school here, but all I know for sure is that all the buildings are coming down and the roads are coming up.

 This is also the beginning of the destruction of a building. This house is on the riverside and is finally being replaced after being severely damaged in the quakes. On the first floor you can see that they have already removed the siding. It is a huge house by Japanese standards, ten rooms. The owner said that they are replacing it with a much smaller house.

 There is also construction going on along the river. They are replacing the river bank where it was damaged in the quakes or by flooding after one of the summer taiphoons. The are building a coffer dam so that the new concrete siding, like what you can see in the foreground, can extend a meter or more underground. I took the picture from the bridge to Yaotome.

 Here is a view that shows the way they are moving dirt around on the levee. The place where the cars are parked is the flat area where the summer festival takes place.

 This is Futakashira Jinja, Two Pillar Shrine, where we visit on New Years. The man is a priest and he is raking the leaves that have started to fall in volumes.

This shows some really weird plants. I have never seen anything like them before. They are thin, white, and very lace-like. This was the only place I have ever seen them.

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.

Out for another walk

 I went out for another walk. This time I planned to walk west along the northern bank of the Nanakitagawa River and then at the west end of the park turn south and cross the bridge. As I walked along the level, I saw a large number of cars parked on the south bank.

 As I continued walking, I was able to get a better look. It was a gateball tournament. Gateball is  called croquette in the US. It is extremely popular among the older people in Japan. They even have nationwide competitions. I am old enough to join but have no particular interest in doing it.

 After I had turned south and crossed the bridge, I cam to some rice paddies to the southwest.  They had already been flooded and the new crop had been planted.

 If you look carefully, you can see the seedlings in this picture. In a couple of months the plants will be knee high and ladened with grains of rice.

 Just passed the paddies is a construction site. It seems like it has been at least six months since I have been here, but it looks exactly the same. Maybe they stopped work for a while, like they do on the river near my place. I think that they give contracts for different parts of the work to different companies, not just the lowest bidder, so that the money gets spread around.

The trucks that are moving the dirt they remove use this entrance to the area. The two men that are standing there each have a hose with water pumped from the river. As the trucks go out onto the road, they wash down both sides of the truck, paying particular attention to the wheels. The result is that there is no dirt on the road. I should also point out that, in addition to these two men, there is a man from a security company who is directing traffic as the trucks leave. In contrast to what I remember from the US, the civilian cars are given precedence and the company trucks wait for them.