Organization and Juxtaposition

Upon arriving in Japan, one of my first observations was of how neat and organized everything is. There is a specific place for everything, and every is in its place. One ofter hears about how clean and tidy Japan is, but
even when it is expected, the sight is a shock in comparison to the average disarray of things that has come to be expected. Two examples of this were found right at my front door: the holder for umbrellas and the cubby-holes for each resident's shoes. And while these things may not seem that amazing, I found it interesting that all of the umbrellas were not placed together in one holder, but rather there was a different slot for each individual umbrella. The same goes for the cubby-holes; each space was marked with a number that corresponds to the resident's room number.

Another observation of mine was that juxtaposition was seen almost everywhere. The side-by-side comparison of things both old and new are actually found side-by-side; such as with this picture of two neighbouring houses. The house on the left is more modern (from an architectural stand point) while the house on the right is reminiscent of traditional Japanese structures. Perhaps it is the Japanese people's need for new technology combating against their desire to hold on to their ancient roots that causes a phenomenon such as the chronological opposites seen here. Another example of this comparison, while harder to photograph, can be seen in many stores. Even within large, modern stores, the companies seem to strive for a positive interaction between the employees and customers more so than the desire to make a sale. This "out-dated" value of reciprocal exchange is not commonly seen in the USA; where most companies care most about the profit rather than the customers and their satisfaction. A pleasant employee is often so hard to come by. It's a rather nice change of pace with the way things seem to be here.