Construction on each corner of Box Hill’s main streets. The suburb had come a long way since cultivating a reputation as a most comfortable home away from home for many whom had left their lives on other continents. For a new life in Melbourne.
The acclaim is persistent, “Melbourne’s second CBD”, they say. This once suburban town will be a major hub for jobs, commercial shops and high rise apartments. As the construction workers and automotive wheels on the road increased however I found myself asking the question “what is progress”.
Whilst I take in fresh oxygen an old fashioned tram passes me. CCCRRUNK! I love the sound it’s crunching mechanics emit. I grew up on that in Melbourne. Though I have to quickly remind myself I am in Japan and not Australia. I’m not sure how the last eighteen months went by so fast but they did.
“Poverty” was the word one student used to describe this place. She can be afforded significant leeway though as she pulled the term from her portable English dictionary without completely understanding the power of it. We both laughed at that assessment in an instant. Kochi Prefecture and Kochi City are extremely far from poverty as a matter of fact. Yet I did
understand the origin of her reasoning. Kochi is the least visited area of Japan because it’s very difficult to travel to this region. It’s located on the southern point of Shikoku island but the majority of corporate money goes to other areas of Shikoku island(Ehime, Kagawa, Tokushima) which are closer to the Honshu mainland.
The Japanese economy was booming in the 80s and 90s. Old foreigners I’ve spoken to coin it “The Golden Years”. I try to imagine what Kochi was like during that time. But I’m not much fussed. Life is really good here. The rivers are clear and the fish is the freshest I’ve ever
tasted. The countryside is twenty minutes away when I need to refresh from the urban. It’s beautiful. I still wonder “what is progress” but I’m not in any hurry to answer it.
