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TOKYO - In the shadow of Tokyo tower at the heart of the Japanese capital, Masakazu Shirai walks down the stairs from his apartment to his workshop at 8am each day to begin work making tatami mats.
Life in the world's largest conurbation - there are around 35 million people in Tokyo and its surrounds - might conjure up a nightmarish image of marathon commutes between anonymous concrete apartment blocks and offices. In fact, a stroll behind high-rise buildings often reveals one of the city's many tiny village-like communities, with their own schools, shops and restaurants.
Neighbours know one another and go about their daily business on foot or by bicycle.
"A lot of people have lived here for a long time," said 54-year-old Shirai, whose family have made traditional flooring in the same spot in Higashi Azabu for five generations - selling it to customers from temples to interior decorators.
"Gossip spreads like wildfire, but if something goes wrong, everyone steps in to help one another," he said.
Although Tokyo's population continues to grow, social changes, such as low birth rates and a wave of high-rise development in central Tokyo, are now threatening the survival of old-fashioned neighbourhoods like Higashi Azabu.
"Some of the new developments are very stylish," said Tomoyoshi Nomura, a scientist who also lives in Higashi Azabu.
"But when it comes down to it, local people do not always get to live in the new buildings - they are pushed out."
The area in 2004 lost its battle to keep an elementary school that had only 37 pupils left, while a 27-floor apartment building - the first of its kind in the area - is under construction, despite protests.
Across town to the west, a very different community is also struggling to preserve its identity.
Shimokitazawa, a bohemian area renowned for narrow, winding streets crammed with tiny independent stores, cafes, theatres and music venues, is facing a Government plan to drive a 26m-wide road through its centre. A group of shopkeepers has brought a court case aimed at blocking construction of the road.
Experts say this is just another step in Tokyo's gradual loss of identity and that the road will lead to a loss of greenery, more noise pollution and higher temperatures.
Growing pains
About 35 million people live in the greater Tokyo area, making it the world's most populous metropolitan area.
Tiny village-like communities, with their own schools, shops and restaurants, can be found scattered around the city.
Social changes, such as low birth rates and a wave of high-rise development in central Tokyo, are now threatening the survival of these old-fashioned neighbourhoods.
- REUTERS
