Life in the world's largest conurbation

TOKYO, Dec 12: In the shadow of Tokyo tower at the heart of the Japanese capital, Masakazu Shirai walks down the stairs from his apartment to his workshop at 8 am each day to begin work making tatami mats.

Life in the world's largest conurbation -- there are around 35 million people in Tokyo and its surrounds -- might conjure up a nightmarish image of marathon commutes between anonymous concrete apartment blocks and offices.

In fact, a stroll behind high-rise buildings often reveals one of the city's many tiny village-like communities, with their own schools, shops and restaurants.

Neighbours know one another and go about their daily business on foot or by bicycle.

''A lot of people have lived here for a long time,'' said 54-year-old Shirai, whose family have made traditional flooring in the same spot in Higashi Azabu for five generations -- selling it to customers from temples to interior decorators.

''Gossip spreads like wildfire, but if something goes wrong, everyone steps in to help one another,'' he added, as he stitched a blue fabric border onto a mat.

Although Tokyo's population continues to grow, social changes, such as low birth rates and a wave of high-rise development in central Tokyo, are now threatening the survival of old-fashioned neighbourhoods like Higashi Azabu.

''Some of the new developments are very stylish,'' said Tomoyoshi Nomura, a scientist who also lives in Higashi Azabu.

''But when it comes down to it, local people do not always get to live in the new buildings -- they are pushed out,'' he added.

The area in 2004 lost its battle to keep an elementary school that had only 37 pupils left, while a 27-floor apartment building -- the first of its kind in the area -- is under construction, despite protests.

Nomura and many of his neighbours are concerned that the weakening of community ties could lead to isolation.

They organise regular events such as festivals and even an American-style Halloween parade to liven up the neighbourhood, but tatami-maker Shirai is not optimistic about the future.

''It's quite likely to fade,'' said Shirai of the area's community spirit. He does not expect either of his two children to take over his workshop.

''There are fewer people to take over the local businesses.

It would be good if the people living in the apartment blocks would join in with our events, but those kinds of people don't come around here much,'' Shirai added.

Reuters *