Economic Development in Kanagawa Prefecture

by BEN STARR

Hakone’s shaggy green hills are webbed with power 
lines, towers sprout from the forest floor like kanji. 

The local butcher is the Hayawaka river, it splits the town 
with a fine roar, carving rocks delicately placed by serious men 

 in hard hats and round glasses. A sawagani crab escorts you 
to your room, scuttles across the tatami with thunder  

in its legs, each lean as a rice husk. He will deliver green tea 
if you ask nicely, say gozaimasu. My wife and I drink  

sake in our plastic onsen, hold each other in the acid rain.