The final plate in this exceptionally gorgeous photo collection is the jagged, mirrored facade of Kyoto Station, a structure so spectacularly in disagreement with its surroundings.
Splintered in one panel is the reflection of that other anomaly, Kyoto Tower, and faintly replicated in a lower plexiglass octagonal are a few tile roofs -- from this vantage all that is visible of the traditional city.
Coming after pages of the most beautifully colorful examples of the old capital's traditional culture, this final picture both indicates the imperiled state of tradition and, at the same time, its endurance. The authors -- photographer and writer -- of this collection are well aware of the threat of the future but at the same time are determined to celebrate the admirable persistence of the past.