I’ll be one of many and admit that the natural beauty of Japan is an indeed a wonderful sight to behold. The Japan sun dipping into the horizon behind orange-red clouds making for an eerie surreal landscape; the graceful and delicate dance of Cherry Blossoms caught in the wind, swirling and twirling, or the soft, white billowing clouds swaying across Mount Fuji all stir a quiet solitude inside of me. But when this same beauty is marred by the electrical wires running across Japanese streets, I can’t help but feel a quiet desperation.

Before I lived in Asagaya and I remember seeing the most beautiful sunset one evening, the soft billowing clouds tinted the sky a supernatural orange, more vibrant and lush than I’d ever seen and not only could I not keep getting those electrical wires in my line of sight, but the buildings kept framing the scenery so that I couldn’t get a wider picture of the view before me. Needless to say, I felt a growing frustration at not being able to witness this enchanting sunset in its entirety.

Now, I live in Kunitachi and I’m lucky enough to live on “Fuji Mi Dori,” which basically translates to “You can see Mt. Fuji Street”. And on clear days in the distance you can see the rising snow capped spire of Mt. Fuji reaching towards the heavens, but again, this awesome sight is spoiled by the black electrical wires running across the street not only hindering the beauty that Mt. Fuji is, but somehow also strangling it’s magnitude. It always saddens me to see Mt. Fuji this way and I can only speculate to an earlier time when down this same street there were no electrical wires hindering the marvel that Mt. Fuji is and how lucky those people were to be able to enjoy Japan’s beauty in all of it’s splendor without the encroachment of electrical wires marring it’s magnificence.