The passage contains a lot about renovation within the old houses and buildings----.

As one steps out of the busy commercial streets in
front of the station in a Japanese city and moves on
into the side streets, one often encounters old
shops and historic temples and shrines which hint at
the former character of the city. It is in the side
streets rather than the main roads that the original
face of a city is to be found. But even in antiquelooking
houses in side streets, one can often see
that their interiors may have been rebuilt and their
fittings replaced in an attempt to keep abreast of
the times. This applies in farming villages as well
as cities; old-style houses and buildings decrease
yearby year, and in some cases the changes have
been even more radical than those which have
occurred in the cities. But although outward
appearance and facilities may have been
renovated, there has surely been no renovation in
the sensibilities and attitudes of the people who live
in these new environments.