Going to the outer side of the Yamanote Line from Takadanobaba station, you will reach a neighborhood on this side of the Kanda River. That is where a labyrinth can be found. If you go deep into the little streets from Waseda Boulevard, there are no straight lanes but winding alleys of about two-meters width. Because the view is obstructed I have no idea what lies ahead. After turning a corner of such an alley you'd see a little park, or a general store, vegetable store, bathhouse, and other shops that seem unchanged from old times standing in solitude. Not only around here but also all around Takadanobaba, Waseda, and Kagurazaka, there are a quite number of streets along Waseda Boulevard that don't cross at right angles. So I imagine that those streets are still staying as they were in the past when there were paddy fields of an early-ripening variety of rice all over the neighborhood.

It's better not to walk through such narrow alleys in a group. Even though you have no intention of being noisy, you'd be attracting attention simply because you are in a group and people would wonder what is going on. Considering the size of the town, it's more suitable to walk alone quietly. Walking along an extremely narrow alley where even an ambulance may or may not be able to pass through, I become very nervous. It's because that it makes me feel like if I were walking inside someone's garden. As there are some houses keeping their windows open, or having potted plants, which have been raised with loving care, placed by the front doors, it seems like that those houses are integrated with the alleys. I think that the atmosphere around here is similar to the "old men playing shogi just in front of the houses" kind of world. Some people may say that this is a town with the atmosphere of the traditional districts, but some other may see the town as a typical outcome of reckless construction. Whichever it may be, the fact is that such narrow alleys exist in Tokyo. There are a number of people who turn out to visit such district as Yanaka for the purpose of enjoying the mood of alleys. But, I'd like them to consider that there are people actually living there, and to pretend to be passing by in a casual manner. It's not a bustling street but a residential street. I'm sure that there is nobody who likes other people to peep into their lives.

As a matter of fact, I had no intention of walking about here, and I actually wanted to go to the Shinjuku Central Library first. But as it was closed, I didn't want just go back the way I had come, and I ended up getting into these alleys. I get excited only by walking about an unfamiliar place where I usually don't go. Lately I really think that a walking-lover like me who can feel that way so easily is having such a beneficial life.

Translated by Maiko Noda