Upon returning to Tokyo

It seems strange to say this but the familiar scenery of Tokyo looked different after being away from Tokyo for two month. Taking the limousine bus from the Narita Airport to Tokyo, the scenery looked different than when I left beginning of November. Of course at that time some trees were turning yellow and others were still green but now in January most of the leaves are gone.

However I am not talking about the natural landscape. At the Narita airport one cannot say the scenery is particularly beautiful with scattered buildings related to the airport facilities but they now seemed to be neat, clean and orderly. Rather a pleasant view.

Just this morning taking a taxi to Newark airport, driving down west side of Manhattan by the riverside was not a pretty drive. Most of the buildings had a look of early 20th century when New York was considered very modern with cutting edge skyscrapers built every year forming the Manhattan silhouette. Those landmark buildings in New York now bear the weight of history and are reminiscent of New York in the early days.

In the 50th the bridges and highways connecting to Manhattan seemed to be brimming with modern technology. The same bridges and highways now seem to be run down.

Anyway, stepping on to a plane in the morning in Newark and stepping out of the plane in Narita in the afternoon was such a contrast.

In Japan, all the buildings seemed to be well taken care of at least from out side. They seem much cleaner than in New York too although the pollution level must be about the same. It is true the skyscrapers which now make landmarks in Tokyo are built recently and there fore looks more modern.

But what I am trying to say is in Tokyo and its out skirts all the building seems to be taken good care of where as in New York there are some buildings in the city as well as in the out skirts which look abandoned and run down as nobody seems to care for them.