In a land swept by typhoons and shaken by earthquakes, how have Japan's tallest and seemingly flimsiest old buildings—500 or so wooden pagodas—remained standing for centuries?
It towered above the older buildings like a citadel, which indeed it was, the outpost of a new age, perhaps a new civilization, perhaps a new barbarism.
The Ares I-X towers 327 feet (100 meters) above Launch Pad 39B, a launching site that until recently was used to fly space shuttles, and has been converted for the new booster.
The State which maintained itself in unbroken continuity throughout the vicissitudes of more than a thousand years is proverbial for its conservative spirit.