Over the past decade I have lived away from home. An area of Tokyo, which is surrounded by rivers, canals, and bay is my hometown. Occasional visits to home have always been exciting but they also have led me to uneasy discoveries of change and familiar scenes slowly disappearing.

Rivers, canals, and even Tokyo Bay have gradually lost their fundamental functions as routes of transportation and have therefore been filled with earth. At that point they metamorphosed into prime estates. These expanding landfills are available for monotonous silver high-rise buildings that are used for corporate offices, residences, and also mega-sized malls for big name foreign brand shops and multi-plex theaters. Carefully pruned trees are planted in calculated locations. These new developments attract residents who hold hopes of having lives like they have see in Sunday paper ads. In exchange for this perceived progress, the long rooted history of local family businesses are jeopardized or wiped out by the rising the properties values.