Exercise

Every morning I get to bicycle to school about 4 kilometers.  I ride on different types of roads and paths.  Now that I have done this for over a month, I'm beginning to bump into the same people.  I can tell whether I am later or earlier based on where I meet these people.  
I begin bicycling down the street I live on.  This is "the hood."  There are a few families with young children.  I can hear and see children playing in the evenings and on the weekends.  

It is a good neighborhood.  

I bicycle past a park.  I haven't been able to figure out what the name of it is, but here is a sign at the entrance, which I assume is the name.  

Anybody able to read this Kanji?

It's wooded and also has some open space.  This was taken on Saturday, not on a weekday morning.

Each morning by the time I get to this park, there is an exercise group for what looks like older folks.  They are all wearing white hats and doing what looks like stretching exercises, but it may be the "cool down" part of the routine.  I am impressed that so many show up on any given morning.  I haven't seen them there when it's raining, though.  There are also some children with adults, who are practicing their baseball, usually pitching, sometimes they are swinging a bat, or some are kicking a soccer ball around.  
I also ride down the Suido-doro.  This is a road that goes along a canal that was built to bring water to the farmers, a long time ago.  

Street sign.

This is the actual canal.  I have seen fish in it.  

I also ride along the river for much of the ride.  It has bicycle/walking paths on both sides.  Some parts are quite smooth but there is a rough patch.  I find it quite interesting that here in Japan they tend to manicure the rivers, meaning the erosion is controlled.  

There are fish in here also, but you can see how they control the erosion.

When I first get on the river path, there is a High School that I pass.  It has great fields and there is a lot of activity there, although not when I ride by in the morning, but after school there is almost always some sort of sport activity happening in the field.  I have heard that this school has had some very successful teams and as a result a fair amount of money has been given to this school and the facilities look pretty good.  

Today there was soccer.

I turn off the river path and head into Higashi Kurume, where CAJ is.  I ride right past the City Hall and every morning they also have a group of older folks that stand in a circle and do their morning exercises.  

Here they are bending down reaching for their toes.   

Some close-ups of some of the participants in Higashi Kurume.

So, all to say, what do I do for exercise?  Well, I do have to bicycle 4 km each way to and from CAJ each day.  I really do like that opportunity, except on those cold, cold days or those rainy, rainy days.  I also have tried to go to the VanderHaak's and walk Hana once a week.  It's so nice that she gets excited when I come, although I wonder if she just gets excited when anyone comes.  :)  Either way, it makes my day!  :)

Hana and I walking along the river path.  Don't you see that smile on her face?