It has always surprised me how so often in Japan, the beauty of the countryside loses out to the convenience of the city. To most Japanese people, the countryside is backward and just not suited for everyday living. Nature is like a video to be watched for a few hours during your free time, preferably from the car window. To live among nature is too inconvenient -- too far from work, too far from the convenience store. Like freedom is always a good thing in America, convenience is always a good thing in Japan. No one stops to question it.
The Japanese should be happy to know that the countryside is getting more convenient. So convenient, they just might be able to live there again. Even on my little island in the Seto Inland Sea, every night I go to sleep to the sounds of nature and the glow of vending machines.
You've got to wonder why, especially in the countryside, these machines need to be lit up all night long. Is it so reassuring to know that if you can't get to sleep you can get a cup of coffee from the vending machine in the middle of the night?