Much of the world seems to run sequentially--one thing after another, but with a chunk of logic undisclosed or just left out. For an idea, a star, a place or a fad to gain currency in the popular imagination, it must replace something else. There are reasons given for why the new is superior to the old, but these reasons can be pretty thin paint.
Japan is somewhat different. Its preferred mode of evolution is much more syncretic. As a result, it can simultaneously accommodate diverse and even conflicting ideas, fashions, preferences and preoccupations from various historical periods, laying them down like multiple coats of paint one on top of another.
"(O)ld time izakaya" is based on this artist's photo. In the background, the izakaya, or Japanese pub, is getting ready to host a party of thirty people, primarily dentists and doctors. They will be fed seven or eight dishes derived from one fish, weighing over eighty kilograms. The creature responsible for this modern retelling of "Jesus feeds the multitude" was caught by one of the dentists while he was on vacation.
Before participating in the revelry, Skyler was standing outside, struck by how different the pub looked from its surroundings. The izukaya seemed as if time had been snatched here from long ago. The impression was so uncanny that it led the artist to imagine for an instant a woman from the Edo period (1603-1868) walking along the street carrying a paper parasol and lantern.
