Lanes Without Roads

To the north of Downtown Sendai in the Kitayama neighborhood, Sendai is building a tunnel to relieve traffic along that heavily traveled route. Traffic there gets so bad, it can take up to an hour to go a kilometer. This is a good thing, because for people coming from the northwest, this is the only route outside of going through the equally busy part of Kita Sendai, or going all the way around to the Yaotome side. The tunnel is a good idea to straighten traffic out and to avoid some traffic lights.

What bothers me is that they are only building one lane each way. Certainly current traffic levels warrant at least two lanes going each way. And what if there is an accident in the tunnel, or a stalled car?

Anyway, I went to play tennis today and I went through the neighborhood below.

See that elbow of a road? Aside from the funky shape it seems like a normal four-lane road.

Except that two lanes are blocked off each way.

Why?

This is not the only road like this either. There are several roads around that were designed and built for more lanes than they are using. Why not just open them up?

Getting Ready for the JLPT

When I first came to Japan, my goal was to pass the JLPT Level 1. I was a studying fiend at the time too, going to class twice a week and studying after work on the weekdays.

My current job does not leave me with much extra time to study on weekdays nor much extra energy after work.

Realizing that was not even close to being a good excuse for not studying, I decided that taking the JLPT N1 this year would give me a good reason to start studying again.

I have done an OK job so far this year studying once or twice a week. When I looked for resources online, I found a few that seemed like they had potential, but came up mostly empty.

The best resource I found was Google Books. That is great, but I don't like to read on a PC. An iPad is different though.

Then I just came across this site that has a sample test. Too bad it's 50-some pages.
http://sakizuo.blog.163.com/blog/static/1359305312010102691523497/

The Japanese New Year

My New Year's holiday has fallen into a routine. My wife and I go to her parent's house around Christmas. We bum around for a few days and reemerge on New Year's Day. We leave the house to go grocery shopping or out to dinner, but not much else.



On New Year's Day, we go to the local shrine. It is a cool little place, but there is not much there.



Every year since we were married, my wife and I have gone to Hachimangu in Morioka where we were married. We haven't been married very long, but it has become routine - at least until we move.



This year we went to Hachiman on January 2nd, and it was insanely warm. Snow was melting it was so warm. Warm and crowded.

The last sunset over Mt Iwate of 2011