Archive

Global cities

“We are people who scoop. Environmentally active students.” That’s the welcome message for prospective students.

May 24, 2012
Culture, Global cities, Nodai
2 Comments

.@ilynam とユキさんと一緒に農大に来て、強い雨に降られました。入口に、「すくう人。環境学生』のポスターを見て、うれしくなりました。鈴木先生のために、海外に作られた日本庭園のことについて学べるサイトを作ります。デザインと庭と画像と土を一緒にするので、このプロジェクットは楽しいです。

It was raining when @ilynam and Yuki joined me for the first meeting to create a website for the 500 garden database of Japanese gardens outside Japan, a project I am helping Suzuki sensei with this year.

At the entrance to the school, somehow this rainy scene was an apt start for this exciting project where we will mix design, gardens, pixels, and soil. Bringing this knowledge online will be very helpful for people around the world who are interested in knowing about and visiting hundreds of Japanese gardens in dozens of countries. And working with design stars Ian and Yuki, I am confident that we can combine simplicity and beauty in the interface.

The banner offering campus tours for new students says, “We are people who scoop. Environmentally active students.” The word sukuu means “scoop” and also “save.”

Interview in the Japan Times about Tokyo Green Space

May 20, 2012
Corporations, Culture, Global cities, public space, small streets, Urban food, Walking and transit
1 Comment

Japan Timesという日本で一番大きい英語新聞に、Tokyo Green Space のインタビューが出ました。丸井の屋上の庭でインタビューが行われて、ちょうどその時、店員さんが芝生に掃除機をかけていました。都市生活と自然が完璧にミックスしてました。

The Japan Times, Japan’s largest English language newspaper, published an interview about Tokyo Green Space online and in print. The interview took place on Marui’s roof garden, and when we met there, a staff member was vacuuming the lawn. A perfect mix of city life and gardening. I hope you find the interview interesting.

Here’s the print version of the newspaper, where the blogroll interview is positioned on the “Techno Times” page. You can click to make it larger.

Rough Guide to Tokyo travel book cites Tokyo Green Space

May 15, 2012
Culture, Global cities
1 Comment

.@skidgel が、新しい英語の東京の旅行ガイドに Tokyo Green Space がのせられたことがわかりました。観光客も東京で、自然を体験してもらえるかもしれないので、うれしいです。

Thanks to @skidgel, I saw that the current edition of The Rough Guide to Tokyo travel book features Tokyo Green Space on the second page of “what to do” under the heading of “towards a greener Tokyo.” It’s great to see that visitors are interested in experiencing nature in Tokyo.

Wild tulips from Hiyoko in Amsterdam

April 25, 2012
Global cities, Residences
2 Comments

このかわいいピンクと黄色のチューリップは もともとトルコとイランから来た 原種だそうです。ヒヨコさん、アムステルダムから球根を持ってきてくれてありがとうございます。たぶん昔のトルコとイランのチューリップはこんな風に小さくてきれいだったのでしょう。

I love these species tulips that Hiyoko brought from Amsterdam last fall. They are small and simple, with a great combination of pink and yellow. This type of tulip is closer to its wild origins in Turkey and, before that, Iran. Thanks, Hiyoko, for bringing these bulbs to Tokyo!

Highway rest stop cherry blossoms. Unlike US, Japanese rest stops are immaculate.

April 23, 2012
Culture, Global cities, public space, trees
Leave a Comment

きれいな桜がサービスステーションにあります。日本のは米国のより全然違います。

I love this elegant cherry tree in bloom at a highway rest stop. In the background, you can see a row of cherry trees lining the highway. I am rarely a car passenger in Japan, but I was my in-laws on a day trip last weekend.

In the United States, highway rest stops have a bad reputation: dirty, few food options, insufficient toilets, and an atmosphere of decrepitude and crime. In Japan, they are immaculate, constantly renovated, over-supplied with clean toilets, food options that rival a large mall, and endless rows of souvenir edible gifts for people you will visit or for friends and family back home.

Thousands of tulips at Netherlands Embassy open house

April 14, 2012
Culture, Garden diplomacy, Global cities, Governments, Residences
Leave a Comment

４月１３日と１４日に、オランダの大使館の庭が一般公開されて、一万一千本のチューリップが見られました。チューリップはとてもきれいで、とても特別な場所です。毎年二回、一般公開されます。

Showing off 11,000 tulips specially planted, the Netherlands Embassy opens its gardens to the public on April 13 and 14. I was fortunate to go the first day, and see the splendid varieties of color, height, and shape before the rains started.

One of Tokyo’s oldest and most renowned garden maintenance firm expertly selected dozens of hybrids, created a grand walkway, and also integrated tulips into the main garden of the residence. Planning extended the season as long as possible, which I heard is about three weeks.

Amidst all the bright colors in this grand setting, I felt like I was in a mini-Keukenhof crossed with Gatsby’s home in West Egg. We caught a glimpse of two chefs working in the kitchen, which made me think this diplomatic outpost with 400 years of history is not so far from Downton Abbey.

If you have a chance, please go today, or in the fall on Culture Day when both the residence and garden are open to the public.

Call for participation: public research on stratification, nature, and landscapes

April 2, 2012
Culture, Global cities
Leave a Comment

I was delighted to hear from Italian collective Limno, which conducts public research on nature, who informed me about their upcoming issue on “the stratification of floristic, faunal, architectural, landscape elements of a particular place, their overlapping and interaction.”

The open call for “professionals and amateurs” will create material that will be juxtaposed to their study of a Venetian fort.

Please read more about this project and the call for participation. The deadline is April 15.

 

 

Tokyo Local Food slideshow

February 28, 2012
biodiversity, Community, Culture, Global cities, public space, Urban food
Leave a Comment
東京ローカル・フードのプレゼンテーションをご覧ください。先週、東京のPecha Kucha でEdobleのジェスとA Small Labのクリスと一緒に発表しました。日本語もあります。東京のローカル・フードについて何か意見がありますか？
Edoble‘s Jess, A Small Lab‘s Chris, and I created this presentation and delivered it at Pecha Kucha‘s Global Cities in Tokyo last week. Your ideas are most welcome.
You can see our live presentation recorded on UStream. We start at 4:25.

Seoul’s transformation into livable city. Makes Tokyo look stunted.

January 25, 2012
Global cities, Governments, Walking and transit, parks, public space
1 Comment

去年の夏、ソウルを訪れて驚きました。短い期間で、東アジアの他の醜い都市から離れて、魅力的で住みやすい都市になりました。ソウルを見たときに、なぜは東京政府と都市計画は、過去でなくて、未来を見つめないのでしょうか。

In the past five years, Seoul has gone from one of East Asia’s ugliest mega-cities to one of its most livable and attractive. The transformation has been rapid. While I think Tokyo is often stunted by its autocratic government and urban planning, Seoul shows that East Asian cities can be dynamic and forward-looking.

On a visit last summer, I toured new city parks (the Cheonggyecheon river and Seonyudo island), visited art galleries, experienced the mix of old and cutting edge architecture, and met meta-designers, Seoul’s city brand manager, and a national environmental researcher.

Read More

Winter cherry trees in Adachi-ku

January 16, 2012
Culture, Global cities, Governments, Nodai, public space, trees
Leave a Comment

農大の鈴木誠先生のおかげで、足立区の桜の木のバスツアーに参加させてもらいました。今年は東京がワシントンにあげた桜の百年記念です。今では、ポトマックという川の桜は有名な風景になりました。寒い日なのに、たくさんの人がツアーに参加しました。足立区はたくさんの種類の桜を育ています。冬に咲いているの木もあります。残念なことに、桜を植えた場所は高い電線や高架高速道路の下です。

Thanks to Professor Suzuki Makoto at Nodai, I went on a bus tour of Adachi ward’s cherry trees. They are celebrating the ward’s role in the 100th anniversary of Japan’s gift of cherry trees to Washington DC, where they are now a landmark landscape along the Potomac.

It was fun to see how many local people turned out for the tour and ward office symposium. Adachi-ku continues to cultivate many types of cherry trees, including this winter blooming one. Unfortunately, many of the open spaces for tree-planting are marginal spaces: below the high voltage power lines, and along the Arakawa River, where they are drowned out by multiple levels of elevated freeway.

Like most of Tokyo, it all depends in which direction you’re looking. Adachi-ku is proud also that it retains many views of Mount Fuji. Many of these views include the river and also smokestacks and factories.

Did anyone see Sky Tree lit up for the new year?

January 2, 2012
Corporations, Culture, Global cities, public space
Leave a Comment

大みそかにスカイツリーは特別な照明をつけました。観れなくて残念だったけれど、マザちゃんという写真家のブログにこのきれいなイーメジが載りました。

am sorry I didn’t see Sky Tree lit up for one of the first times this new year’s eve. Fortunately, the fantastic photographer and blogger Muza Chan shared this lovely image.

Yokohama’s lovely ferry terminal and promenade

November 14, 2011
Global cities, Governments, parks, public space, Visionary, Walking and transit
4 Comments

都市計画が良くないのに、東京生活は素晴らしいと友達に話します。最近、TEDxSeedsに行って、横浜の港でまた遊びました。大さん橋という国際埠頭はきれいな建築や商売や水辺公園を組み合わせています。横浜がこんな新しい開いたスペースを作られるならば、東京もできるはずです。

I often tell people that Tokyo’s urban life is wonderful in spite of city planning. On the one hand, this view valorizes the activities of everyday people in making public spaces alive with plants, care, and community. On the other hand, it also expresses a resignation that city leaders cannot or will not improve city life.

Recently I attended TEDxSeeds at Yokohama’s restored port. In addition to wonderful historic buildings that are preserved and reused, the entire port area has a revitalized public park and waterfront promenade. One of the most spectacular public places is the undulating rooftop park above the International Ferry Terminal, designed by London’s Foreign Office Architects; in Japanese it’s called Osanbashi.

This is a bold example of creating a new open space that combines commerce (the business of loading and unloading passenger ships) with a place for residents and visitors to stroll and relax on the waterfront. I heard one Yokohama resident refer to the building as “the whale” building because of its curvy surface.

If Tokyo city leaders thought big, what kind of new public spaces could be created here? How could some of its past be made visible and accessible today? What natural resources could be reclaimed with great architecture and some vision? It seems in terms of city planning that Japan’s other cities are more dynamic and more forward-looking than its capital.

Fragrant Angel’s Trumpet flowers remind me of San Francisco

September 30, 2011
Global cities, Residences, small streets
Leave a Comment

エンジェル・トランペットはサンフランシスコを思い出させます。特に夜、香りがいいです。この植物はもともと南アメリカのアンデズという山から来ました。

Angel’s Trumpet, or brugmansia, reminds me of San Francisco. Its big flowers are particularly fragrant at night. Originally from the Andes mountains of South America, in Tokyo this wonderful bush dies back in the winter and re-sprouts every April.

Valued by US preppies, hosta seems ignored in Tokyo

September 27, 2011
Culture, Global cities, public space, small streets
1 Comment

ホスタはアジアの植物だけど、アメリカではもっと人気。アメリカ人にとって、ホスタは上品な輸入品の高価な気分があります。東京の中では、あまりそう見えないですが。育てやすいし、素敵だと思います。

Although hosta is an Asian plant, it’s more popular in America. For Americans, hostal is a very elegant import and expensive feeling. I associate it with upper class neighborhoods in New York City and elsewhere in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. You hardly see it in Tokyo. It’s easy to grow and very attractive I think.

Tokyo Tower is a rare landmark

September 8, 2011
Global cities, public space, Temples and shrines, trees
Leave a Comment

東京タワーは東京の数少ないランドマークの一つです。ニューヨークやパリと全然違います。東京には終わりもなければ、中心もありません。川からの有名な景色もなくて、他の都市にあるように超高層ビルが並ぶ景色もありません。東京タワーは昭和のレトロモダンです。

Few buildings in Tokyo are as iconic as Tokyo Tower. In a mega-city that sprawls as far as Japan’s second largest city, Yokohama, Tokyo lacks a single center, a recognizable river, or a conventional view of its skyscrapers, unlike NYC’s Hudson River or Central Park views.

I like how the top photo’s framing of Tokyo Tower mixes auto traffic with mature trees and a shrine entrance gate in a nostalgic ode to the 1950s. The lower photo shows its reflection at night in an office mid-rise.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 843 other followers