One of the few Japanese cities to be spared the fire-bombing of WWII, historic Kyoto holds a precious legacy of finely crafted, medieval wooden architecture. As in Beijing, postwar modernization has fractured the cityscape with widespread demolition of historic buildings. In recent decades, a chaotic contemporary aesthetic has emerged, typical of many Japanese cities, which appear as jumbles of disparate pieces to the Western eye. This pulsing modern bedlam of concrete, steel, and digital screens is sometimes just around the corner from an aged neighborhood, palace, or monastery made in many of its parts of bamboo, paper, straw, and wooden slats—all hand-crafted with an ancient Zen-like state of mind.