The first sentence in every Japan guidebook says something about it being a "land of contrasts." This is certainly true of the architecture. This street scene from Morioka juxtaposes a weathered shrine with an über-geometric modern office building. Personally, I much prefer the decayed, wabi-sabi look, which you see not just on the antique buildings, but also on houses that people actually live in.

I never did get figured exactly what's happening with religion in Japan. The books describe the mainstream thing practiced by seemingly everyone over forty as a mixture of Buddhism, Shinto and Confucianism. My ignorance of the latter two is almost total, and how they pertain to Buddha similarly eludes me. Christianity certainly hasn't penetrated Japan to any visible degree - we saw shrines like this one every fourth building, but no churches, no crosses, zippo.

I did see The Da Vinci Code prominently displayed in bookstores and movie theaters, and I'd imagine that its Japanese readers/viewers find it totally baffling. Whereas a US Barnes & Noble surrounds the DVC with books refuting or expanding on it in some way, a Japanese Books First is mostly trying to explain what the heck is going on, who Jesus and Mary Magdalene are, and what all the fuss is about in America.

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