Japanese cities, both fast and slow. By Diane PAGANO & Jeanne PALLANDRE

I have chosen a photo of Tokyo, the capital city, and a photo of the Shimogamo-Jinja Temple in Kyoto, in order to show the huge contrasts to be found between Japanese cities.

I took the photo of Tokyo one year ago during my summer vacation. It was an extremely hot and humid summer day (39℃). The street was quite crowded like every summer and so it was pretty noisy; I could hear people talking, traffic, and music coming from the shops, also footsteps and so on. It was an amazing sunny day and, as the weather was rather wet, there were strong smells of food which came from the restaurants (especially the grills).

On this picture we can see a store aisle with colourful signs written in Japanese. There is no space between buildings, they are piled up high.

This photo was taken from a low angle in order to show how huge the high-rise buildings really are. Most of the buildings have restaurants (typical Japanese restaurants, foreign restaurants and also fast-food joints). There are places for leisure activities such as karaoke. In the foreground, we can see the ground level on which many people walk and we can easily imagine the sound of footsteps. In the background, there are some skyscrapers reaching for the clouds. And, like every summer, there is a big blue sky above this lively capital city.

This street was one of my favourite in Tokyo. It’s situated in the Shibuya District (one of the most well-known for young people). In the right-hand corner, at the top and in the background, panels announce a famous summer event called TANABAT (it means: “Evening of the seventh”) which celebrates the meeting of the divinities Orihime (represented by the star Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). The legend says that the Milky Way separated them and only once a year, on the seventh day of July, they are allowed to meet again. And so Japanese people celebrate this festival by wearing a Yukata and eating traditional foods (unfortunately we can’t see any people wearing a Yukata in the picture).

This photograph illustrates well the modern urban environment. Shibuya has always been a very busy area with lots of shops. Most Tokyoites know about this district and appreciate it very much.

The picture of the temple was also taken last summer. Kyoto is one of the hottest regions in summer. Contrary to what we could imagine, it was pretty noisy because of the song of the cicadas. I could smell the ashes of the temple and also the perfume of vegetation. I remember the temple was being restored and the paint was still fresh when we arrived. The Shimogamo-Jinja is one of the most famous temples, full of history.

We can see a large and beautiful temple which is situated in Kyoto, a big Japanese town. There is a lot of vegetation behind the temple. It looks traditional and looks like many temples in Japan. It is coloured red and white and simply decorated. It looks empty and quiet and is attractive and really worth seeing. This monument shows us the well-known image of the city; it is the historical and cultural capital of Japan. We were able to stay a long time visiting the temple. There were tables and chairs to rest. We were able to breathe the air without the city’s pollution (Kyoto is a big city with high buildings and many cars).

One photograph represents the way Japan is today whereas the other one shows the ancient side of the country. These two pictures are very different. They show the two sides of Japanese cities. On the one hand we see the urban side of the city with the buildings and a large crowd, always walking through the streets, but on the other hand the old side is presented. There is a huge contrast between them. If we watch these pictures, we are able to imagine the scenes. For example, we can hear a busy city with plenty of noise or listen to the nature’s silence and serenity of the temple. When we are talking about Kyoto, we necessarily think that it is a very big town, rather like Tokyo. But the photograph with the temple shows us the opposite. Thanks to these two pictures, we gain an insight into Japanese towns even we haven't been to Japan. Visiting these places can provide sensations, feelings and emotions, even if they are very different!

These photos evoke two contrasting aspects of Japan: the calm spirituality and the frenetic materialism.