A new subway line opened this week. The Oedo line makes a loop around the city, connecting points that have previously been on the fringes of other subway lines.
Our station, Kasuga, is one of the Oedo line stops. In fact, the new station bridges three lines here which means we can walk underground from our closest station entrance all the way to Tokyo Dome a kilometer away.
The new subway is giving an economic boost to the neighborhoods it passes through and making some big changes. In Kasuga, we're seeing new residential towers just completed, including the one that houses our new gourmet grocery. Tsukushima, a quiet, blue-collar neighborhood on the other side of town, is being remade into a district of luxury apartment buildings.
Whether all this is good in the long run, I don't know. A lot of traditional areas here and in Tsukushima are being destroyed to make way for the new. But the Oedo line is here to stay and it means a quicker trip to a number of places for me. Self interest rules the day (again).
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