Walking around

 This lot near Yaotome had been empty for at least 10 years before they started on this building. I do not know what it is going to be but I looks suspiciously like a fast food restaurant.

 This is very strange. This bridge was rebuilt about 8 years ago. It crosses a little stream and the subway is on a bridge above it, the source of the shadow in the picture. The strangeness comes from the fact that the sidewalk is on a separate bridge. This picture shows the empty space between the road and the sidewalk. Apparently the city contracted one company to build the road bridge and another to build the sidewalk. The reason behind such a decision would be to spread the money around and not concentrate it in one company. Japanese public works designs are submitted to various companies for estimates but the lowest estimate is not always the winner. Consideration will be given to spreading the work around so that all the companies can survive and keep their employees working.

 I passed some very pretty flower growing beside the road.

This was an apartment building that was condemned after the earthquake. It has taken a year but they are finally tearing it down. I assume that it will be replaced. Most buildings like this have occupant owned apartments and a self government that collects money each month for maintenance and a fund for replacing the building if necessary. My complex is currently in the process of using our funds to repair the damage caused by the quakes.

 This is on the main road between Izumi Chuo and downtown Sendai. I doubt if you could see something like this in the US or many other countries. It is a golfing goods store and there is a large supply of clubs and other stuff sitting open on the sidewalk. I looked inside but there was not anyone in the showroom. The clerk must have been in the backroom. If I had wanted to, I could have just walked off with a selection of expensive clubs with almost no chance of being caught. However, I doubt if this place ever had, or will ever have, anything stolen.

The hill on the right shelter a torture and execution ground a couple of hundred years ago. The people who live in the area claim to see ghosts of the dead wandering around at night and there is a shrine just passed the hill.

Almost home again

 This is the drink that I bought at the convenience store, Pocari Sweat, another of those wonderfully named Japanese products. No one seems to know what Pocari means but to me it sounds like some South American mammal, which means, based on the name, I was drinking the sweat from a pocari.

 This is the roof of a house stick up above a tree in its front yard.

 I met up with some grade school girls who, for some reason, were out of school early. Notice that they all have backpacks, called rondoseru. All students in grades 1 through 6 have these to carry their books and other stuff. They are made from leather and are quite heave. My children used light weight cloth backpacks because there is no rule that they must be rondoseru, only the custom. Many of the students in my kids school changed to backpacks but after my kids left the trend did not continue. The power of custom and advertising. Making and sell rondoserus is a big business here.

 Nestled in some trees was an ad for the Komeito, the Komei political party. It started as the political arm of one of the new religions, but eventually became independent.

 Here are some more advertising flags. These are in front of a large store that sells tires.

Since I moved into the area, this has been a pay-by-the-month parking lot. But now, they are starting some sort of construction. I would bet that it will be an apartment building but I guess I will have to wait and see.

Going home

 This old fence and gate were covered with wild plants and very pretty.

 This collection of large rocks are waiting for a landscaping company to place them in someone's yard.

 Just beyond the rocks in the previous pictures, you can see a blue roof. When I got to a position from which I could see well, it turned out to be a storage shed for the poles that are used on Japanese farms.

 These stairs lead up to the top of a hill where there was a fort. The buildings are long gone but there is still some traces of the structures and the area has been turned into a park. The signs give the history of the fort and show a diagram of the grounds. I was tired so I did not go up there, but in the past I have explored the area.

 Rice paddies with the athletics dome in the background. My apartment is about four kilometers on the other side of the dome.

There were very few buildings along this stretch of the road, but I found a convenience store, a couple of other shops, and some apartments in a small complex. I stopped in the store and bought a drink and a snack.

Jiganji Graveyard

 Looking at the pictures I took, I am still amazed at the lack of caretaking in this graveyard. The grass is completely wild and it looks like nothing has been cut or trimmed since last year or maybe longer ago.

 Even the private plots have grass growing in them. The fresh flowers indicate that people come here but usually the grass, such as in the nearest plot above, would be pulled out so that just bare earth or crushed stone remained. On the left side of the picture you can see a whole row of empty plots.

 I found signs like this on many of the small plots. It says that for only 500,000 yen, a little over US$6,000, the plot can be yours.When I said the plot was small, I meant it. The sign also says that the plot is 1.5 square meters.

 As I left, I found this sign on the wall. It says that the this is part of Zenshoji temple, which is not the temple that is on the grounds - the one I showed yesterday. Very strange. It must have something to do with the inscrutable East

 On my way home, I found this sign built into the sidewalk. Apparently this sidewalk is considered to be a jogging trail.

Just past that sign, I found some kind of chemical plant beside the road. There were no signs so I have no idea what this is used for.