Japan used to be foreign to me, but after living here for more than 7 years, it’s very familiar. However, there are times that I see things that feel foreign to me. I lived in the Ofuna area of Kamakura for 4 years, and ever since I moved to Fujisawa, I’ve returned to find changes. That’s one thing about Japan, there’s constant redevelopment happening. When people move out of their old house, it’s usually demolished, then replaced by a couple newer, narrower, taller houses. Since moving from Ofuna, I have seen that several new buildings have been constructed, some torn down, and some renovated. The building right next to my old apartment is gone, and is currently surrounded by a white construction fence. Probably one of the most noticeable changes near Ofuna Station is the demolition of half of the station’s main entrance staircase. They’re installing an elevator. But this is what makes things so foreign to me. As things slowly change, my familiarity with the area decreases, even though I return there on a weekly basis. This is certainly foreign to me.
Demolition at Ofuna Station.
This post was inspired by the Weekly Photo Challenge at WordPress’ Daily Post blog.
Very interesting.
Thanks!
Oh, I agree! Tokyo is in a constant state of flux, so much so that I’ve started thinking of it as a living organism that’s forever morphing all over. (Is that very fanciful?) Even Google Maps can’t always keep up! 🙂
At least Google Maps is far more accurate than Apple’s new map service 🙂 I find the dynamic quality of Tokyo to be very interesting.
One day a nice little house, a week later a public parking lot… Happens all the time and it doesn’t get less confusing.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen that happen. But at least one parking lot I know of is now 3 new houses.
For some reason half of the houses turn into parking lots – and then they realize after a while that there are too many parking lots in the suburbs and they start to turn them into houses again… Maybe it’s a tax thing?
I wonder if it is. If they can’t get someone to buy the lot, they may turn it into a parking lot to collect some income and taxes until someone is interested in buying.
The area I lived in when I first went to Tokyo was old, like Taisho era old… maybe older in parts. After the quake, I think a lot of people used fears about the instability of the buildings to get their elderly parents out of their homes. We went from having a very dark house, boxing in on all sides to having sunlight streaming through the windows. In Australia, you’d never get permission to tear down houses that old!
Was it the Nippori area? I’ve seen a good number of old houses there.
In Canada, houses that old are often designated as culturally or historically significant and are not easy to get torn down. But it happens, usually if they’re in poor shape and unfit for people to live in.