Until a year ago, the tallest structure I could see from my apartment in Hashimoto, Kanagawa Prefecture, was the neon sign for the local Denny's. Not any more.
A forest of cranes now rings the site of one of the area's largest redevelopment projects, a clutch of 32-story apartment buildings that blocks out the sky to the west of Hashimoto Station.
The project has been the subject of puzzled discussion in our car as we drive around its lengthening shadow.