Heading for Shinrin Koen

 At the convenience store, I turned left and could immediately see the subway entrance. It is on the left side of the tall trees on the right. Also this is a large bus stop.

 Next I walked through a small housing area and crossed this side road that leads to more homes. The large building in the distance is a activity center for the elderly.

 The center is on the right and apartment buildings on the hill to the left. These are the last buildings before the entrance to Shinrin Koen, Forest Park.

 This is the official entrance to the park.

 The roofed area has tables and seats, all made of concrete, where people stop to rest or eat and drink, usually snacks and soft drinks but some people have beer or sake. Also people use this as a smoking area, but they almost never use the whole space, just a single small area out of the weather. Smokers are becoming very considerate of other people.

Just passed the roofed area is the beginning of the walking path. It makes a big loop around the park, arriving back in this area at the other end of the roof.

Dainohara

 The highest point on the road to Sendai is called Dainohara, the field on the hill. I turned left onto another wide road. The highest point in the area was ahead of me. The sidewalk turns into stairs because the hill is so steep.

 At the top of the stairs, there is a road and a sidewalk that continue up hill.

 From the top of the hill there is a good view. The large building in the distance is a hospital. It is where I spent a week a few years ago when my stones acted up. It is actually a pretty good hospital and, if I need to be hospitalized again, I plan to go there.

 This is the highest point. From here the road goes steeply downhill. You can just see the bridge that connects the opposite sides of the wide road.

 I am standing under that bridge. You can see its shadow. From here the road goes down and then up again.

The blue sign is on a Lawson's convenience store. Just beyond it is a large park. When Ian and I walk in the park we stop here for a sports drink and maybe a sweet.

Still walking on the main roads

 The grass on the left is not a field. It is the bank of the stream that made this valley. The water is about three meters below the road but you can see down into it. It is very shallow but there is enough water so that there are fish in it. In some of the deeper pools, there are some very big carp.l

 The hill on the right used to mark a torture and execution ground. No one is sure exactly where it was but it was at the base of this hill. As Sendai expanded, this area became more built up and they moved to Yaotome.

 This building has had a Kawaii musical instruments store and music school on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors. The work here is on the outside of the building, not in the store.

 A little further on I passed a Seiyu department store and game center. It  has been completely closed since t the quakes and there is obvious structural damage to the building. I will be very surprised if it is ever opened again. I expect that it will be torn down once the current bubble of taking down and putting up has shrunk.

 This is a Honda auto dealer on the left. As you can see the road is rising and I am almost at the highest point between my home and downtown Sendai.

The highest point is the farthest part of the road that you can see. There is a large intersection there where I will turn left.

Walking

 I decided that I would take pictures so that the whole road is covered. This is the road to downtown Sendai just after leaving Yaotome. On the left is a auto repair shop and beyond that a sports building with indoor courts. On the other side of the road is a car dealer (the flags in front are just visible) and then the large building used to be a men's clothing store but it closed.

 Just past the sports center they were tearing down an old building. There is a kindergarten out of the picture on the left. On the right is a series of small stores that seem to just barely be staying in business.

 Not much to see here. The tall building on the left is the tallest apartment building in Sendai. It is a condo. My old university was going to buy the top floor as the president's residence but the first president wanted to be closer to the school.

 These cars are stopped at one of the main intersections. The intersecting road is wide and has recently been extended so that the wide part extends into housing areas on both side. After a few kilometers in either direction the road narrows and becomes like most of the other roads in the city. Wide roads like these are unusual.

 On the left is a pachinko parlor and on the right an insurance company with a unique building. Then entire first floor is parking and the offices are all on the second floor.

The building on the left is the distribution center for the local newspaper, the Kahoku Shinpo. It is a pretty good newspaper and we have been getting it since we came to Sendai. When my daughter was still living with us, we got both the morning and evening editions, but now we only get the morning paper. It has more news, national and international, as well as many special columns of general interest. The evening paper has mostly Sendai news and events.