Each city has its peculiarities. One thing that most expats based in Tokyo lament is the lack of public benches.

Edan Corkill vents his frustration in Standing up for the right to sit down in public (Japan Times, October 10) on the unability in most of the town to find a bench where one can sit down to eat a quick lunch or simply rest their legs.

One area that the writer points as an exception is Jiyugaoka (Kurinoki Road pictured below).

Contrary to New York where small oasis have been created recently, the idea of community spaces as part of the urban landscape seems to be an alien landscape in the Japanese city according to Tokyo Green Space which points out to residents supplying their own bus stop seating (May 2009, picture below).

Will things change?

(*  Kurinoki Road photo is part of Tokyo, Jiyugaoka Pictures Album copyright Photopass Japan)

Unable to sit down for Tokyo Thursdays # 161

Previously: Meet the Buddha, Kill the Buddha, Zen and its Opposite, Dark Side of Japanese Flicks