Simon Elmer

The Hill Road flyover in Shek Tong Sui was completed in 1981. True to the architectural principles of the Swiss architect, Le Corbusier, the flyover lifts the traffic off the road and into the air, freeing the former up for the pedestrians, which include the numerous schoolchildren in this neighbourhood. The columns are masterpieces of … Continue reading Hill Road Flyover

‘My body is dying, but my brain is still good.’ How should a man meet his death, but with terror and equanimity? Tell us now the story of the Sixth Age of Man: The age of his regrets, lived more in the past than the future; The age of his decline, when the blood in … Continue reading Another Year

One can only visit Kyoto for the first time xxxxxxxxOnce in a lifetime xxxxAnd we are virgins in the hands xxxxOf a Japanese courtesan. Near the canal, in a tempura restaurant, xxxxOur pleasure is so apparent xxxxThe chef, a master of his art, xxxxxxxxVisits our table. And the barman who serves me Japanese whisky xxxxxxxxIn … Continue reading Geisha

Strange behaviour Two men playing at romance But what artistry! — Tokyo, January 2025 • • • • • The etymology of kabuki is contested. Some say its three characters, ka-歌 (‘song’), bu-舞 (‘dance’) and ki-伎 (‘skill’), indicate the composite character of an art that contains elements of music, dance and drama that would usually … Continue reading Bizarre Theatre

Restaurant or shrine Not a sign the place is full But how you should queue — Tokyo, January 2025 • • • • • The queue in Tokyo, whether at a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine, outside a restaurant or shop, into a museum or through an airport security check, and which can stretch for … Continue reading A Tokyo Queue

XXXXXXXXTatami mat XXXXXXXXSix feet by three XXXXThe length and breadth of a body XXXXBuilding block of the residence XXXXOn which the residents recline XXXXUnit of its composition Rationalisation of construction Three-hundred years before modernism XXXXPossibilities infinite XXXXBy their arrangement limited XXXXAt each change of scale remaining XXXXProportionate to the building XXXXXXXXEight to a room XXXXXXXXWarp, … Continue reading Taguchi House

Snow falls from the trees White roofs of the town below This winter temple — Takayama, December 2024 • • • • • Our guide on this, our first visit to Japan, was Roland Barthes’ Empire of Signs (1970), which I had first read many years before, but had left little impression on me at … Continue reading Sunrise Mountain Walk

An autumn leaf Falls from a tree To the moss floor Of the forest Red stars glinting In a green sky Heap of colour Which two women Wielding twig brooms Will sweep away. — Kyoto, December 2024 • • • • • The Philosopher’s Path (哲学の道) runs along the foot of the Higashiyama (‘Sunrise Mountain’) … Continue reading The Philosopher’s Path