Japan: On the Monorail to Port Island

To be honest, I am not too happy about the shots below. Except for the first picture, I just shot out the window of the monorail going to Kobe's Port Island. I didn't have any time to prepare my shots, which I dislike. Ah well, some of them offer some insight into what Japan looks like.

Crappy, crappy, crappy. I was in a rush to get to the monorail, so this picture turned out nothing like I had hoped. In the backgroud you can see a train go by.

The monorail runs somewhat above another railway station and I just shot down.

A dream for every concrete/steel lover. Look at those highways!

More highways. I think they are the epithomy of what's wrong with the Japanese construction industry, but at the same time I really enjoy they way the cut through the cities. As soon as I have time, I will try to shoot some of them at night.

Bad everyday weather.

Quotes (I)

Lately, I have to read book after book for my research. Every once in a while I run across delicious quotes. I thought I'd share a couple. Here is the first one:

Salvador Giner (1985: 254) wrote of civil society that "the impression of the notions used may perhaps be more symptomatic of the object described by them than a reflection of carelessness on the part of its interpreters. In stark contrast to the clearly defined boundaries of its 'opposite' entity, the state, those of civil society must always remain unclear. For the state, demarcation is all, whereas for civil society ambiquity - the ambiguity that stems from a certain kind of freedom - is all." I disagree. (p. 23)

Schwartz, Frank J. (2003). "What Is Civil Society?" In: The State of Civil Society in Japan. Schwartz, Frank J. and Pharr, Susan J. (eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press.