"Pockets Here & There"

Although it's still possible to find some trace of "old Japan", it's becoming ever more difficult. The building material of choice is concrete far more than wood now (even many of the traditionally shaped shrines are temples have been made with concrete), and many parts of Japan could be a modern city in any advanced industrial economy on the planet. That's not all bad of course, but it's a bit boring sometimes. Whatever happened to the exotic aspect of this country?

But then that's what 23 years of living here does as well - everything just seems normal. I guess it's still an exotic country to newcomers, but not much in the external style of things.

All that by way of introducing a new page I've put up:

http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/PhotoGlryMain/pgc/Kagurazaka01.html

Even here, not much of it is authentically old - it's sort of a theme area in a way, marketing itself as one of Tokyo's (very few) traditional neighborhoods.

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/