"Scott Reynolds" <sar@gol.com> wrote in message
news:bpqatm$8iq$1@newsflood.tokyo.att.ne.jp...
> On 11/23/2003 9:37 PM, Eric Takabayashi wrote:
>
> > I can believe that in a rural area with a more traditional sense of
> > community, he might actually be sheltered from the problem, and be
allowed
> > to have his view that problems he has never seen or experienced are
merely
> > a way of life, and someone else's problem.
>
> Could be. I've never lived in a really rural community and it would be
> silly for me to make assumptions about what life is like in one.

knots of old women with those little push carts clogging up the roads while
chatting with each other, old men in motorized scooters or tractors taking
up what's left of the road, a few old guys have bought their first car (a
kei truck) and drive in first gear through the neighborhood while peering at
what they can see of the road through the middle of the steering wheel. The
only reason I can figure why they're outside is to visit each other and give
vegetables to each other. The younger generation (50ish) ride bicycles
side-saddle while standing on one pedal. The arrival of an ambulance
provides the only real excitement of the day. Everybody drops their
vegetables or starts walking towards the house where the ambulance is so
they can see who is being hauled off to the hospital this time. There are
probably only two stores in the area. One is a small vegetable market where
they only sell milk on thursdays, and the other is a clothing store that
only stocks clothes for grandmothers.

Other than that, it's a fairly sedate lifestyle.