history lesson!

I wrote earlier about how there are narrow, windy streets that give Tokyo a unique feeling that is urban, but not mega-metropolis-y, even though Tokyo is nothing if not a mega-metropolis. A few days ago I found a TINY street near my dorm. It's more of an alley - about five feet wide - lined with a combination of old falling down single family houses, shiny new apartment buildings and what might be gigantic houses. Also this pretty orange tree. When I've walked down there are old people sitting in front of their houses chatting, playing with their dogs, hanging out laundry. I do my awkward half-bow and smile but sometime I want to work up the courage to stop and make conversation. It seems like a really nice community to be a part of. And maybe I could get invited into one of those rizty houses! I'm shameless.

The first unit in my core Japanese class is Tokyo history and geography and although the structure of the class is dead boring (I've honestly never been so inattentive in a Japanese class in my life), the content is actually pretty interesting. In the past 100 years, Tokyo has undergone two major destructions: the 1923 Eastern Region Big Earthquake Fire (direct translation), and the fire-bombing at the end of WWII. Both times the central region of Tokyo was basically destroyed and tens of thousands died. After these disasters, there were so many left homeless that the mayor (??) ordered people to rebuild houses where-ever and with whatever they could. So the city was built with no plan and very unsystematically (such a contrast with the culture of the people who live here!). My textbook describes it as "neither quiet nor beautifully built." Obviously I disagree. After New York, Paris (yawn), a gridless city built in a mishmash of styles is refreshing and interesting. Plus, exploring these back alleys and hidden streets, seeing the nice neighbor-ly atmosphere on the street a few blocks from me, etc., is a reminder that good things can come out of tragedy (sorry for the cheese, it must be near bedtime), and that maybe meticulous planning isn't all it's cracked up to be.