Strolling around the ancient ruins of Nara's Heijokyo Palace site, a 2,500-hectare area of footpaths and open green fields, it's easy to imagine that one is back in the distant past, walking on ground first tread 1,300 years ago when it was Japan's first true city.
It's a quiet, bucolic scene, until one's thoughts are interrupted by the very modern sound of yet another train on the Kintetsu-Nara Line clacking along the rails that cut through the site heading either east to Shinomiya Station or west to Yamato-Saidaiji Station.
The presence of a train running through the ruins, a World Heritage site, has long been a source of complaints. Tourists, archaeologists and local politicians, starting with Nara Gov. Shogo Arai, have all called for the tracks to be rerouted out of the area. And this year, talks involving the prefecture, city, central government and Kintetsu Railway Co. toward that goal are slated to kick off.