More construction on the river and a really nice house

 There is a section of the Naka River that is around a kilometer long and it is all under construction. Hopefully, the next time we have a huge amount of rain, there will not be flooding into the housing areas.

This is a large house by Japanese standards with an even larger landscaped area around it. As you can see at the sides of the picture there is a wall around the property so the garden is not visible, but what I was able to view through the entrance was very, very nice.

Mountains and Rivers

 When I took this picture I was standing at a spot less than a 10 minute walk to the west of my apartment. You can see how close the mountains are, only a couple of kilometers. They and mountains about 10 kilometers to the east protect us from much of the bad weather.

They are still working on the Naka River. The summer before we arrived here two years ago, there was a very bad flood, the worst in many years, so they decided to rebuild most of the banks and deepen the riverbed, plus putting in some dams. The work has been going on continuously since we came.

More interesting things along the way

 This crane looked at me when I stopped to take its picture, but it did not fly away. It must have understood the fence and the three meter drop between the road I was on and the riverbed.

I arrived at one of the main east/west roads and found a man watering the plants along the roadside. Typically in Japan when they build roads they place plants and trees between the sidewalk and the road, but they do not budget any upkeep so they soon die. Here as in many other places, the local people use the little plots of land for flower gardens.

A gate and a river

 I wish there had been a person here so you could see how low this gate actually is. When I stood directly in front of the gate, I could see over the top of the little roof that covers it. Many gates, particularly in traditional walls are very low. I believe that the main purpose is Buddhist, to force the person into a state of awareness. This is the same as the walkways in Japanese gardens that are made from irregular stones, again forcing the person to pay attention to the present. One additional point with the low gates is that back in the age of continuous fighting throughout the country, a low gate put the invader at a distinct disadvantage when carrying a sword of spear.

I came to the river and started following a very wide sidewalk. The sidewalk was wider than the water in the river.