Urban planning? We don't need no stinkin' urban planning!

In my first step towards independence, I went for a look around the area where I live today. Now, for those of you who have yet to experience the wonder of Japanese urban planning this might seem trivial, but the simple truth about Japanese urban planning is - there is none. Things that we take for granted, like that if you take a parallel street to the one you usually take you wind up in roughly the same place do not apply here. In fact, the concept of parallel streets seems about as alien as that of parallel universes. You would think that Daedalus was the city architect. I really need to get my hands on one of those nifty Japanese cell phones with GPS...