Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival (42 page)

10.
The author taking notes inside the wreckage of the Capital Hotel, Rikuzentakata.

11.
Ippon matsu
: Rikuzentakata’s solitary surviving pine has become a symbol of hope, even though it is technically dead.

12.
Tokyo after the massive fire bombing of 1945, the most destructive air raid in history. The scenes after the 2011 tsunami were eerily reminiscent.

13.
Still from
Tokyo Story
, a 1953 film by the great director Yasujiro Ozu. As economic growth gathered momentum, the old ways were rapidly left behind.

14.
Chewing gum and chocolates, Yokuska, 1959. America’s military and cultural influence persisted long after the occupation ended in 1952.

15.
Author Haruki Murakami: ‘If there is a hard, high wall and an egg ... no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I will stand on the side of the egg.’

16.
Cherry blossom against a castle wall in Kumamoto. For the Japanese, the fleetingness of the blossom is the essence of its beauty.

17.
Tofu hotpot in Kyoto. Even the simplest dish is treated as art.

18.
Foot
onsen
at a railway station in Kyushu. The Japanese never miss out on an opportunity to bathe.

19.
Ginza. A visiting politician told the author, ‘If this is a recession, I want one.’

20.
Junichiro Koizumi campaigning in the dramatic ‘post-office election’ of 2005. He threatened to smash his own Liberal Democratic Party but ended up winning it its biggest post-war election victory.

21.
Junichiro Koizumi visits Graceland with George W. Bush in 2006. Here, Priscilla Presley looks on.

22.
A 21-year-old hostess shows her business card.