Japan is changing. Or is it? The young Japanese people are changing while the old Japanese are holding on to their traditions. Whether you witness the changes in Japan, and to what degree, largely depends on where you are.
On Shiraishi Island where I live, for example, the changes we experience are temporary, taking place only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the summertime. This is when 30-year-old women in leopard-print bikinis and high heels and their tattooed husbands come from the mainland to enjoy the beach here. These changes always go home on the last ferry at 5 p.m., after which the island returns to its traditional lifestyle.
During these summer hours is the only time one can witness this mix of old and new. In the mornings, as the first scantily dressed crowds get off the ferry and walk along the road to the beach, they pass the island's "obaa-chans" donning bonnets, aprons and gloves, pushing their wooden carts to the gardens. Their fisherman husbands are already out at sea.