World Bank Document

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized WELCOME TO NEW STAFF-JULY (L to R): Mercedes J. Labora, &onomic Department, from Mexico City; Virginia Draper, Economic Department, from Denver, Colorado; Madeline Potts, Technical Operations Department, from Tulsa, Oklahoma; Gloria C. Coates, Technical Operations Department, from Washington, D.C.; Susan McIver, Tech nical Operations Department, from Washington, D.C.; Jean Norton, Legal Department of IFC, from Montreal; Edna L. Palla, Technical Operations Depart ment, from Cavite, Philippines; Rosario T. Dacanay, Treasurer's Department, from Mandaluyong, Rizal, Philippines; Marlies Smit, Development Services Department-EDI, from Delft, Holland; Beverley Baxter, Technical Operations Department, from Islington, Ontario. (Unable to be present): Rogelio G. Da1l id, &onomic Department, from Manila. ********************************************** Vol. 18 No.8 September 1964 INTERNATIONAL BANK NOTES CONTENTS Page I mpressions of Japan ..........,..................................... 3 Banking on Evere·s[ .... ~ .......................................... 7 The Dez Dam ........... ~ .. ~...............................,............ 10 ********************************************** Cover picture courtesy of Japanese Embassy. 2 Impressions of JAPA:N by Leonard Maurer In order to give a little of the flavor of Japan to Bank and Corporation staff members not attending the Annual Meetings this year, we asked permission to reprint excerpts from a report written by Washington artist Leonard Maurer on his return from Japan last summer. Mr. Maurer received a grant from Mt. Vernon Junior College, where he teaches art, to study print making in Japan. He wrote this report for their Alumnae Bulletin. The illustrations are from his sketch books. Air travelers arnvmg in Tokyo at The wooden buildings of the Edo pe dusk, as we did, are greeted by a spec riod were lost in great numbers tacle of multi-colored neon, a painting through fire. Those which survived the with-light unique to our age. The 18th and 19th centuries were mostly colors move, by design, by reason of destroyed by the earthquake of 1923 vapor-drift, and because of eclipse and and the fire ·bombs of 1945. Where a revelation due to the plane's move historic structure exists it almost cer ment. No matter how tawdry some of the lights seem from the streets, they take on a magic from the air. No talk of jewels can begin to convey the beauty of this wide sea of sparkling, trembling brilliance that seems more like an imagined mass of fireflies convening and communicating by means of color. New York from the air is exciting, but the light is centralized and be comes lost in the canyons created by the tall buildings. The beauty lies more in the verticality of the lights than in their color ~nd movement. Weare always moved by the sight of New York at dusk, seen from over the East or Hudson Rivers, but Tokyo, because of its low buildings, opens up aU its light and color, and is like no other city in the world. Of all the many things we saw with pleasure in Japan, tainly is a recent reproduction. New no one thing impressed us more, al buildings are rising in every area of though some affected us as much in the city. New roads, overpasses, un different ways. derpasses, and subways make travel • • • within the city a bouncy, dusty adven By day Tokyo is an undistinguished ture, and walking more like threading city - drab, dusty, noisy, crowded. a tortuous obstacle course. There are no great avenues and no Beyond the central area the city vistas. The trees are few and lawns stretches for miles along narrow ave are rare. Little exists from the past. nues that are lined with one or two 3 story structures, occasionally relieved and prints; another selling only aba by ,taller ones-hotels, offices, depart cuses; a store in which are made and ment stores, schools or factories. In sold bamboo garden i terns such as general, private houses are located on gates; a shop selling radio parts; an narrow streets or alleys that originate other stocked with dried fish; and the on the avenues and form complexes rest those common to any neighbor within uneven boundaries. These hood, such as grocery, drug and barber houses are usually small and hidden shops. The drug store may be modern by walls that give privacy in a crowded and well supplied with the new drugs, situation. No matter how small the or it may be more traditional, showing house it inevitably has a garden, small in its window live snakes and toads, too but in scale and of great impor strange plants and jars containing tance. items we chose not to recognize. A Visitors who come to Tokyo after walk past a restaurant is not unlike a having seen Hong Kong and the cities visit to a Pop Art show, as almost all of Southeast Asia often express dis appointment in its drabness, and this is understandable, especially where the traveler is caught up in the tourist's life of hotels, guides, shops, restau rants, and little time, and dares not venture beyond these elements. The face of Tokyo is somewhat blank es pecially in the areas of big business, • big stores and big buildings. The de light and the sense of life is more to be found in the myriad neighborhoods that make the city and its environs. These neighborhoods are so complete in themselves that one feels a life could be lived in anyone of them with no need for stepping outside the boundaries. One. gets to know Tokyo as much by the nose as by the eyes and ears, the smells being numerous and often unpleasant. The canals, especially in hot weather, can be overwhelmingly odorous, and there are often stenches that arise from nowhere to assault the nostrils at most unexpected moments. Balancing the bad smells are those of spice and incense, the latter always prevalent in the vicinity of the tem ples. One of the charms of the streets is in the endless variety of shops, small, often dark, and almost always busy. Within a single block you may find a store selling nothing but rope, a com mon commodity; another selling books 4 restaurants exhibit in their windows plastic reproductions of the dishes served. As the reproductions are done with care and without pretention, they seem superior to the Poppers. Stone plays an important part in Japanese life and stone works occur in most neighborhoods. The tap of chisels against stone can almost always be heard. Walls and steps, cemetery memorials, stone lanterns and building blocks are being produced every day, and the chance to watch the expert craftsmanshi p of the stoneworkers adds much to the pleasure of strolling. This craftsmanship is a commOn as pect of daily life, and it can be ob served on all sides, since so much work is done in the streets or in open fronted shops. Even the wrapper of a package conveys a sense of pride in a job expertly and carefully done . ... ... ... We know it has been said over and over that Japan is a country of con tradictions, but it is still so true the need to say it is inescapable. On two successive days we were taken on trips gant store dealing in the accessories of to nearby places. On the first of these the Geisha, where the cases are full of days we visited the Asakusa area, tortoiseshell combs and decorative hair where the chief point of interest is a pins selling for hundreds of dollars. large, colorful temple in very active The next day we went to Kita use, with people coming and going, Kamakura, a short distance beyond worshiping or visiting. Our taxi left Yokohama, perhaps an hour's train us several blocks from the temple and ride. Here one enters into a silence we approached it through a long ar of taU, straight, giant cryptomerias and cade lined with shops. These have end old temples where the steps are worn less fascination for the westerner, and with hundreds of years of pilgrimages. it becomes obvious that this is no less The temples are built of wood weath true for the Japanese. The arcades are ered by the years, and have thatched. crowded with people and business al or tiled roofs. The gardens are waned ways seems good. The hub-bub and enclosures of moss, bamboo, and fruit the sense of life, even on ordinary trees set among beautifully placed days, lends a festive air. The juxtapo stones. A bent, wandering remnant of sition of shops adds to the interest. a plum tree six hundred years old, Next to a small shop selling hardware propped up by crutches, still sends and farmers' tools, and in which the forth a handful of leaves. The whole proprietor sits on the floor sharpening feeling is of reverence, silence and his knives and saws, one finds an ele timelessness. The sounds are those of 5 birds, frogs and cicadas, the shuffle of house behind a wall reveals a beauti sandals and the occasional murmur of ful, quiet garden while next door a priest telling his beads. The beauty girder rises upon girder and the rivet of the moss and ferns and soft-edged ers destroy the silence. Beyond the stones is unique, the hustle of yesterday new building may lie another house a distant memory. with a tiny garden pool enclosing a Contrasts are also met within the red carp or two where the only sound same block and same minute, when a is of trickling water and crickets. ************ CRI CKET The Yorkshire County Cricket Club is coming to Washington to play the local club, the British Commonwealth Cricket Club, on Monday, September 21.

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