A Letter to Mom
Mom, went to Oyama-cho to look for your old house. Arrived Sunday night filled with excitement about seeing the much talked about digs. Now the neighborhood is upper-class--I have a feeling it was back then, too--and ridden with modern apts and businesses. Something tells me that many diplomats live there, as we saw more than a few foreign children being dropped off by bus from school. As we made our way to the house we saw the famous mosque, which you see pictured. The mosque was built in 1938 and then rebuilt in the 1980's. You probably dont recognize it now. It's an amazing , yet beautifully imposing work of art. As we proceeded to find the house we met a woman who lived in one of the apts very near to the address on the invitation. She said that in 1968 the Japanese govt. gave the people of Oyama-cho new addresses. Furthermore, we learned that the city demolished many of the houses on that street so as to make the roads wider. Argh! This was not good for the "Find Oyamo-cho House Campaign," not at all. Friend R. suggested that we ask people on the street for info, "Nick, they look old, let's ask them." Did speak to an "old" woman who lived there who owned an American style steak restaurant her whole life and could tell us more if she saw the picture of the house. We then decided to wait until Monday to take better pics of the area in the light. Monday we went to the Shibuya Govt bldg. and spoke to one of the clerks in Records. He told us that it would help if we knew the name of the owner of the house. We didnt, but he showed us a city map and outlined an area of where the house would have been. Went back to Oyamo-cho and pinpointed the the place where we think the house would have been. Sadly it is a grey, grungy apt. building now. Got your pictures of the house today, mom, and I can say that your house is an othewise nameless victim of modern conveinence.
Mom, went to Oyama-cho to look for your old house. Arrived Sunday night filled with excitement about seeing the much talked about digs. Now the neighborhood is upper-class--I have a feeling it was back then, too--and ridden with modern apts and businesses. Something tells me that many diplomats live there, as we saw more than a few foreign children being dropped off by bus from school. As we made our way to the house we saw the famous mosque, which you see pictured. The mosque was built in 1938 and then rebuilt in the 1980's. You probably dont recognize it now. It's an amazing , yet beautifully imposing work of art. As we proceeded to find the house we met a woman who lived in one of the apts very near to the address on the invitation. She said that in 1968 the Japanese govt. gave the people of Oyama-cho new addresses. Furthermore, we learned that the city demolished many of the houses on that street so as to make the roads wider. Argh! This was not good for the "Find Oyamo-cho House Campaign," not at all. Friend R. suggested that we ask people on the street for info, "Nick, they look old, let's ask them." Did speak to an "old" woman who lived there who owned an American style steak restaurant her whole life and could tell us more if she saw the picture of the house. We then decided to wait until Monday to take better pics of the area in the light. Monday we went to the Shibuya Govt bldg. and spoke to one of the clerks in Records. He told us that it would help if we knew the name of the owner of the house. We didnt, but he showed us a city map and outlined an area of where the house would have been. Went back to Oyamo-cho and pinpointed the the place where we think the house would have been. Sadly it is a grey, grungy apt. building now. Got your pictures of the house today, mom, and I can say that your house is an othewise nameless victim of modern conveinence.
xol.m.
posted by Sick in Eden @ 4:23 AM
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