It has been something of a cliche to talk about Japan in terms of contrasts, but Japan really is a country defined by juxtapositions. For all of Japan's technological advances, not to mention the unquenchable thirst for the new and the next you see in cities like Tokyo, Japanese society is still rooted deep in tradition. Timeless and cutting edge comfortably sit side by side, as do the sacred and the cute. Japan prides itself on an appreciation of nature, yet nowhere seems safe from concrete, a vending machine or a gaudy pachinka parlor. No wonder the country can bemuse first-timers as much as it can keep surprising old hands.