Takanezawa Town Pictures

We decided to live in Takanezawa. Although the house option was the oldest and needed the most updates, it was the best choice for location. Savannah can walk to the Takanezawa Elementary School which is supposed to be one of the best choices for foreigners. Dennis is also attending a very good Yochien (pre-school).

This is the park that is about 2 blocks from our house. There are actually 3 parks that we know of within walking distance. Elin, Savannah and Dennis were at the park. They met some Jr. High School students. They took to Denny pretty quick. He blew them kisses and everything. Both of the kids' red hair gets a lot of attention.

This is Savannah's Elementary School and Denny's Yochien. The Yochien has an ocean theme. His level is a dolphin. I believe next year he will move up to a whale.

View looking out over the tracks at Houshakuji Station. This is the Takanezawa station and it is the closest to the house, but still a long way to walk. Biking will not be so bad.

I had a weekend here in Japan alone. I took the train to Takanezawa and walked to the house. This is a view down our main street in town. Many people called Takanezawa 'country', but we are finding that most of the things that we need are within walking distance - grocery, hyaku yen store (dollar store), Kanseki hardware, gas stations, shoe and clothing stores, restaurants, etc. We actually feel like we are living in a city compared to where we were in Delaware Ohio.

The Tori-sen is the grocery store closest to us. We have another one in town, but it is further away so we have not yet been there. If you look closely you can see that, yes, we do have a McDonalds. We don't go very often, but it is comfort food for the kids. A Big Mac Set (meal) runs about 630 yen which is about $7.00. It seems like every time we go into the Tori-sen (which seems like every 2 days), we drop $50.

These are pictures of Sakura or Cherry Blossoms. Many Japanese like to go to places with many cherry blossom trees. They often take lunch and have their meal under the trees. At Honda, there is a main street that is lined on both sides with Sakura trees. It is impressive.