Yasubei Hosoda has a dream of cruising once again down the Nihonbashi River toward Tokyo Disneyland, as he did every spring long ago to collect shellfish.
Hosoda, a 70-year-old adviser to confectioner Eitaro Sohompo, said that if the elevated Metropolitan Expressway over the Nihonbashi Bridge in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward was moved, the area would become attractive again and businesses might be encouraged to start offering water transportation that would take him out to Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture.
"We used to go from Nihonbashi by boat to Urayasu -- close to where Disneyland is -- every spring to collect shellfish," Hosoda said. "It was sort of a company outing. Life was still deeply connected to the water in those days."