Neighbour's House

The house in front of my apartment is currently being demolished; I can actually hear the machines as I write this. As older denizens move into senior homes and as younger people prefer to live in prefabricated houses, old building get demolished on a daily basis in Japan. Their decisions are understandable as who, save for romantic nostalgics, would like to live in poorly insulated homes in chilly winters and suffocating summers. However, it is sad to see them being torn down, as often they are replaced by characterless apartment buildings with no garden to suck some of the humidity in summer.

One of the advantages of being a shutterbug is that when we wake early and can't fall asleep, we can always just grab our gear and head out the door to indulge in our passion. And that is exactly what I did this morning. I figured that this early, no one would be on the demolition site and I could take some shot. Just as I had taken what I planned would be my last shot (although you never know!), one of the construction workers arrived and was a little startled by my presence. He asked me what I was doing, told him I was taking pictures and told him I was done, and that was it! I was surprised he didn't make an issue of it, but he truly seemed unconcerned. Great of him to think so, considering all the people full of themselves who will grab any opportunity to assert whatever authority they think they may have.

I leave you with what I feel are the six best shots out of the 41 I took. If I manage to wake early tomorrow morning, I'll try to go again. But don't count on it, tonight is the Kansai Scene 10th anniversary at Sam & Dave, and I'm the official photographer: of course I'll assert my rights and 'you will respect my authoritah'!