Friday, March 19, 2010

Nagata Neighborhood Streets #2



The contemporary Japanese landscape is one where the awkwardly new jostles the really old, not uncomfortably but often without admiration. In Nagata this has created a landscape with wide almost suburban-american main streets and hidden ally-like side streets packed with restaurants and small markets that imbue nostalgia. Walking these side streets make Nagata feel like a town that time forgot.

2 comments:

  1. I've heard that after the Kobe earthquake, they made the streets wider to accommodate emergency vehicles and give more space to the buildings which I think were really packed tight next to each other.

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  2. That does make sense considering the highway system that was the planned route for emergency vehicles prior to 1995 partial collapsed and was otherwise crippled at the time of the quake. I am often struck at how earthquake and disaster information is omnipresent here compared to places like San Francisco that also experience major natural disasters - thanks for the comment!

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