In Harajuku, famous for fashion and youth subcultures, there is a public map that seems to undergo regular updates using stickers to locate shops. It has the feeling of a public/private interface where an official document is open to temporary revisions that imitate the dynamic nature of the fashion scene. Read More
adaptable fashion map in Harajuku
infrastructure theme park
We recently had a fine time with Jared from Tokyo Greenspace exploring the Tokyo docklands area, or a very small part of it, on foot. As expected it was on a grand scale and our efforts to find the ‘edge’ were almost in vain. Our journey began at the excellent Shibaura House designed by Kazuyo Sejima, near Tamachi station, and led towards the Rainbow bridge, along the waterfront ending at another mixed creative venue Tabloid. Read More
100 famous views
Trying to see a little into the past, we spent an afternoon in Meguro searching for this wonderful location. The image is from Ando Hiroshige’s famous Ukiyo-e prints “100 Views of Edo” it is view #24 titled “Meguro, Shin Fuji” (Date cut 1857) illustrating an interesting landscape artefact of the time, an imitation Mt Fuji or Fujizuka (富士塚). Read More
hand drawn maps of Tokyo
Hand drawn maps taken from our current research project in Tokyo “…. where streets seldom bear names and addresses are often located via landmarks, SMLWRLD plans to engage with the local practices of giving and receiving directions… Read More
place holding, stubborn buildings
At street level, this shopfront on Chuo Dori, Akihabara, is like many others, unnasuming, an antique that still operates comfortably in a high tech district of Tokyo. Read More
overlaps, undercrofts, acceptable trespassing
This little kitchen on wheels was discovered in a niche in Akasaka Mitsuke, Tokyo, colonising the entry ramp of a carpark at lunch time. Read More
automatic murals
Walking along the canal in Nakameguro these softly brushed arcs appear where hanging vines have cleaned back the stone surfaces. It is both old and new feeling, a strange recording of the passage of time. Read More
prophylactics
Prophylaxis (Greek “προφυλάσσω” to guard or prevent beforehand) is any medical or public health procedure whose purpose is to prevent, rather than treat or cure a disease (wikipedia)
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granite uplights
This is a nice example of the ‘official illusion’. Found in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Retrofitted uplights and conduit pipe that have been painstakingly camouflaged to melt into the neoclassical banking institution facade behind. Read More
acceptable littering
Tokyo is blessed with vending machines on every corner and countless takeaway snack options yet there is no litter and there are no public rubbish bins (except for those dedicated to cans). Read More