People steadily lose the landscapes they have accumulated. At some point the landscape of a town will undergo transformation. It’s not likely that anyone can now faithfully recall how scenes appeared ten or twenty years ago. That’s because people actively incorporate the scenes before their eyes into their daily lives, to the extent that they even forget that the landscape has changed. Still, just a small number of yellowed afterimages are closeted away as reminiscences in some corner of the mind. I think people are able to continue living in the present because we forget most every little thing.
- Daido Moriyama, “Decayed Time” in Memories of a Dog
