365 - Day 68.

When you type in "Sendai, Japan" into Google images the most terrifying photos of the March 2011 Earthquake/Tsunami come up. No wonder we were hesitant to pack our bags and move 6,000 + miles away from the comforts of home! When Dan initially received the job offer we did a lot of research about the area to figure out how safe it would be to live in a city that many claim "has been completely devastated by the tsunami." 

There have been many conflicting reports on the internet, some state that the city has been completely rebuilt - others say that the actual city wasn't hit and that most of the damage happened on the coast. I literally have no idea! I've tried to find maps of the actual damage to see how wide spread it was but I have been coming up short. 
 
From personal experience (all four days I have been here, haha) I haven't seen anything that would resemble a devastated city. People go on with their lives, the sun is shinning and the city is bustling with a calming energy. 


On day three of being alone (Dan had an away game in Chiba, a city near Tokyo) I decided to find another park. Dan kept telling me he has not seen many trees around Sendai and I wanted to prove him wrong. :) 
I ventured north of our apartment to a park I saw on the city map - since I had issues finding the last park I decided just to walk into the first entrance I found. This park wasn't as stunning but it did have some pretty fall colors. 

No one was walking around this particular park which I though was a bit odd.
I did see some signs posted by the entrance (that I couldn't even begin to try to translate) but didn't think anything of it until I saw this in the pond....

Tsunami damage? Perhaps... 
People disposing their bikes in the pond? Perhaps... 

This is the only possible tsunami damage I have seen in the city. 
I'm sure I will encounter more in the coming up months but for now Sendai is living up to its name as the 
City of Trees.