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small streets

Interviewing neighbors for Plant Journal article about flower pot gardens

May 30, 2012
Culture, public space, Residences, small streets, Walking and transit
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バルセロナの「plant journal」という雑誌が東京の植木鉢の庭について記事を聞きました。浜田大輔さんはフィルム写真を撮りました。近所の庭師たちをインタビューをして、楽しかったです。

Barcelona-based Plant Journal invited me to write an article about Tokyo flower pot gardeners, and arranged for Daisuke HAMADA to take film photos of the gardens I selected in Nakano and Shinjuku. I interviewed two older gentlemen whose gardens I’ve long admired.

Hamada-san’s fantastic photos inspired me to buy a film camera, and in a few weeks I’ll start posting from my first roll. I think it’s been nearly twenty years since I had a film camera.

Professor Owl teaches a class of animals, near Nodai campus

May 29, 2012
Nodai, public space, Residences, small streets, Tokyo University of Agriculture
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農大の近くに、梟先生が動物のクラスを教えています。コンクリート・ブロックの壁の中に、小さな驚きです。

What a happy classroom taught by professor owl. Yuki spotted this cute diorama in the gap space in a resident’s cinderblock wall, between Nodai and the Kyodo station. What a tiny surprise.

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
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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.

Mature dogwood beautifies old Showa-era building in Tamchi

May 16, 2012
public space, Residences, small streets, trees, Walking and transit
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雨の日の田町、ハナミズキが昭和の建物をもっときれいに見せています。隣の建物が今はコインパーキングになってしまいました。@Shibaura House の岩中さんと散歩して、来月のフィールドワークのワークショップの準備をしました。

On a wet day in Tamachi, this mature dogwood beautifies a Showa era building. The building next door has been replaced with coin parking. I took a long walk with Iwanaka-san of Shibaura House to prepare for next month’s “field work” workshop on green mapping.

Decorating the ugly air conditioners

May 13, 2012
small streets, public space
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東京には、どこにも醜いエアコンがあります。シールで、かっこい飾りになりました。

To walk through Tokyo is to see air conditioners strapped onto buildings and littering the sidewalk. I like how someone used a simple grid of stickers to transform these two units into something special. This is a rare Tokyo Green Space post with zero plants or living organisms.

Tokyo micro-farm has two long rows of snap peas

May 8, 2012
small business, small streets, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Urban food
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世田谷区の住宅の間にある小さい畑に、長くて素敵なスナックエンドウの棚があります。花も野菜も格子のアーチもすばらしいと思います。家で一年中食べられるように、今私は収穫を終わったスナックエンドウを抜いて、そこにキュウリを植えました。

I stopped to admire these two rows of snap peas growing in a micro-farm between the houses. I love the trellis work, and the combination of white flowers and green vegetable.

I was on my bike riding to Nodai (Tokyo University of Agriculture), and cutting across Suginami and Setagaya on this unusually straight, narrow road. I believe there’s a sewer line underneath which makes this long street especially useful above and below ground.

On my balcony, I am going to do a final snap pea harvest this week. The leaves are turning moldy so I think now’s the finish line for this winter crop. I already started some cucumber plants to take over in the summer. I train them on the railing, and then, above that, a net.

Springtime at Omotesando Koffee. The small garden and old house make you feel like you’re on a country lane.

April 21, 2012
small business, small streets, trees, Walking and transit
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Omotesando Koffee の入口はとても素敵です。美味しいコーヒーが飲めるだけじゃなくて、小さい庭が四季を感じさせてくれます。春に、桜とモクレンが咲いていて、金属製の花瓶には毎週、違う花がいけてあります。おしゃれなお客さんは三年以上の常連で、バリスタオーナが東京に来る前に、大阪のカフェにも行きました。

This is the lovely entrance to Omotesando Koffee. It would be enough just being one of Tokyo’s best espresso coffee bars. O K also sells a single pastry that is eggy and square and incomparable. And O K has a micro-garden that is incredibly charming, with many traditional Japanese plants including maple and a lovely drooping cherry tree with long stemmed flowers.

The fashionable gentleman in the photo explained to me that he used to drink coffee at the Osaka coffee bar run by the same owner, before he moved to Tokyo three years ago. In the foreground is a lovely, metal sculpture and flower vase with understated petals.

Visiting Omotesando Koffee you feel like you’re on a country lane, not in the middle of a mega-city.

Cherry blossoms rising above giant buddha in Shinjuku Ni Chome temple

April 19, 2012
Culture, small streets, Temples and shrines, trees
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この新宿の二丁目のお寺は静かで広いところです。ここの桜が人を引き付けます。仏陀の赤い服はよだれかけみたいです。見ていると、お腹が減ってきます。

This temple in Shinjuku’s Ni Chome is a quiet open space in a crowded part of the city. It’s a great juxtaposition of the sacred and ordinary, nature and the built environment.

This day, the cherry tree in bloom seems to have enticed more people to enter. I am always charmed by the red cloth bibs place on buddha and ojizo statues. The bibs make me think the statues are preparing for a meal.

Early cherry blossoms across parking lot in Shibuya. Showa house and mature tree dwarfed by newer buildings.

April 4, 2012
public space, Residences, small streets, trees
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駐車場のおかげで、裏庭の桜が見えます。この辺りに、最後の昭和時代の自宅と庭なのです。渋谷のNHK本社の近くです。

Because of this parking lot, the result of another building torn down, you can see into the back garden of a Showa house in Shibuya, not far from NHK’s headquarters. The two story house is the last remnant of the older neighborhood that was replaced starting in the 1970s with taller, mixed use buildings. I’m glad this early blooming cherry tree has survived until now. It was a pleasant surprise after a Barbados lunch with @a_small_lab and @jessmantell.

Contrast between pre-Bubble and post-Bubble residences in Omotesando

March 29, 2012
public space, Residences, small streets, trees
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なぜは庭なしの新しい自宅が人気なのでしょうか。表参道では、バブル前と８０時代後の自宅の差が大きいです。

Walking in Omotesando, you can see the contrast between houses built before and after the 1980s. Unfortunately, most of the new houses occupy the entire lot, with no room for the sizable gardens in their pre-Bubble predecessors.

Fragrant paperbush (mitsumata) in Omotesando back street

March 28, 2012
Residences, small streets, trees
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表参道 で、ミツマタという木をはじめて見ました。裸の枝に、香り高い花がたくさん咲いていました。木の持ち主が説明してくれました。五百年前に中国から輸入されて、ミツマタは、和紙を作るために使用されます。

I was admiring this fragrant tree with poofy balls of yellow and white flowers on bare branches. It’s in a shallow residential garden near Omotesando Koffee. Luckily, the owner came by as I was photographing, and explained that it’s called mitsumata, because of its three branch structure.

Later, I learned it’s called paperbush in English, and it’s known for producing high quality paper, once used for Japanese bank notes. The Kew Botanic Garden website says that it originates in China and has been cultivated in Japan and Korea since the 16th century. It’s also used in Chinese medicine.

In the photo below, you can see how the newer residential styles, with sleek concrete facades, close the house from the street, and very often include no plants at all. A sad contrast for garden lovers.

Small Showa garden visible from the lane. Plum blossoms, shuro palm, and bamboo.

March 19, 2012
trees, Residences, small streets, Walking and transit
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昭和時代の庭に、梅が咲いています。落葉生の木も常緑のシュロと竹もあります。西東京のこんな自宅の庭が減っています。

Winter provides a glimpse into this small Showa-era garden. Close to the house is a plum tree in bloom. Bordering the new development are evergreen plants including bamboo and the shuro palm.

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