It's fun to see Shanghai (and China) through the eye of my friend H, whose first visit it is. Where the subways remind me of Japan, they remind her of Jakarta! Indeed, what I've learneda little reluntantly to call "former French Concession" she sees as standard-issue Southeast Asian colonial, the street life reminds her of Asian places south, too. (Not South Korea, which sounds more Japanlike in her estimation.) Interesting! She gets to discover things I discovered, too, like the speed with which the old is swept away to make way for the new. On our way to the theater last night we noticed some rubble from a recently cleared area being cleaned up, behind a temporary barrier we probably weren't supposed to be able to see over.
After the play, everything was gone - barrier, machinery, and rubble. そうきれいになくなった..., so cleanly dis- appeared, she mused. I completed the thought: ちょっと恐ろしい, a little terrifying.
