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| Ginza |
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Namba, St. Mary's, Tokyo Dome, and Fujimoto Sou
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Our meeting with Namba Sensei on Tuesday was really nice. We got to take a look around the Tokyo University campus and had lunch in the food court. Then Namba Sensei gave us a lecture on his design philosophy and examples of his work.
Namba started working on Box House projects in 1995, and since then has done one hundred and thirty houses based on this philosophy. Now his office designs and constructs about 10 houses per year, spending on average 6 months on design, 6 months on construction. He explained to us that the concept of the house is always the same, but it is adjusted for each site and program. His design process is based on what he calls the four layers of architecture. The first layer is the physical matter, for which the focus is on standardization and optimization to create buildings more efficiently. Next comes energy control which may be implemented incorporating new technology, but is always focused on energy savings. The third layer is the social implications of the building, which for Namba is focused on creating one living space for a flexible lifestyle and in an attempt to bring families back together. Finally is the cultural layer which manifests itself for Namba in the simple form of a box shape, symbolizing something pure, efficient and clean.
Throughout his study of the box houses, Namba Sensei has done a few different series, starting with a wood frame series, the progressing to a steel frame series and finally to Aluminum Eco House. One of his most interesting explorations was the Muji Infill Timber Houses. In these projects, Namba designed the structure and shell, while the interior was meant to be filled with parts from the Muji catalog. Muji is a Japanese company that designs furniture and the like. The houses are really interesting and showcase the modern idea of standardizing housing designs into a kit of parts. Currently, Namba Sensei is working on a house that is constructed entirely out of plywood. The structure is based on the plywood boards almost weaving together, creating a structural skin.
After our meeting, we went to a bookstore district, but I am trying not to spend too much money, so I headed home to work on our project a little.
Wednesday Jeff and I met with Don in the morning to discuss our project. We need to start developing the plans and such, and we’re really trying to just get this over with. After the meeting, I went out on an adventure by myself to a few districts in Tokyo. First I headed to Ikebukuro to see the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office. The Art Space was an interesting building, mostly because of the intensity of the structure. The two buildings are directly across the street from one another and they create an interesting contrast. The government building is very solid, with its design based on two tower-like structures. The Art Space is a glass form, creating an extremely open interior. The program was interesting because it seemed to be a combination of an art gallery and a shopping mall.
Next, I headed to Gokokuji Station and then walked for about twenty minutes trying to find a particular building: St. Mary’s Cathedral by Kenzo Tange. The building was definitely worth the search. As a cathedral, it seems appropriate so say that the building was awe-inspiring. Tange is not my favorite architect and he has come up with some pretty bizarre buildings, but every once in a while he literally stuns me. St. Mary’s Cathedral is absolutely beautiful. From the exterior, the play between the tall, vertical towers and the flowing, organic, almost tensional roof structure creates interest from every angle. I see some similarities in terms of form between this building and his Olympic Gymnasiums in Shibuya near Yoyogi Park. The inside of the cathedral did not disappoint. The flowing concrete form of the roof, though it may be considered somewhat yonic, creates a natural, almost cave-like feeling to the space that is broken only by the stained glass and light coming from behind the altar that continues through the middle of the roof. I was blown away by the space and the use of light. Of course I had to sneak some illegal interior pictures that will be up soon.
After that, I went to Iidabashi Station to see a few smaller buildings and the Tokyo Dome City area. I also stopped at the Koraku Police Box and passed by the Bunkyo Civic Center by Nikken Sekkei Ltd. Tokyo Dome was designed by the same firm in collaboration with Takenaka Corporation. The area around it has been developed into essentially an amusement park, with roller coasters and a ferris wheel, called Tokyo Dome City. The area was busy, crowded and loud even on a Wednesday evening.
From there, I headed to the War Dead Memorial of Tokyo by Takefumi Aida. Unfortunately, I got there too late and it was closed. I settled for snapping some pictures through the gate and then headed home. The rest of my night was spent working on floor plans.
Today, we met with Don in a group at 11 am. We presented our work quickly and then headed out to Fujimoto Sou’s office. Fujimoto Sou is probably one of the most popular architects in Japan right now. He is the architect that all the graduating arch students want to work for. Unfortunately, he was out of the country himself, but we were given an incredibly gracious tour by Chijiwa Hideto who works in the office, and luckily for us, speaks fluent English. The firm is interesting because they work mostly through models. The office looked very familiar to us, with models and supplies literally strewn into every corner…it felt like home haha. In terms of atmosphere, the office keeps a very open mentality, as well as an open space. Each table is working on a particular project, but everyone can see what everyone else is doing and come have a conversation about the project. I really liked the firm, mostly because of their open minds. Fujimoto seems to take any project that comes his way, and seeks out competitions that involve new challenges. Recently, the office has been able to hire more people from overseas, which has added to their palette by giving new perspectives on architecture and design. I really respect the office’s openness to new ideas and different points of view. We were also each given a signed copy of Fujimoto Sou’s book Primitive Future. I was just blown away by the hospitality.
The rest of my day was spent on floor plans, pictures and blogs. Tomorrow we are going to Kengo Kuma’s office. I’m actually really impressed because if you know your architects, we are seeing quite a few of them that are pretty big deals. Anyways, I’ll be back within the next couple days to let you know how stuff is going. I might head to Roppongi for Tokyo Tower tomorrow after the office visit and depending on the weather.
Our meeting with Namba Sensei on Tuesday was really nice. We got to take a look around the Tokyo University campus and had lunch in the food court. Then Namba Sensei gave us a lecture on his design philosophy and examples of his work.
Namba started working on Box House projects in 1995, and since then has done one hundred and thirty houses based on this philosophy. Now his office designs and constructs about 10 houses per year, spending on average 6 months on design, 6 months on construction. He explained to us that the concept of the house is always the same, but it is adjusted for each site and program. His design process is based on what he calls the four layers of architecture. The first layer is the physical matter, for which the focus is on standardization and optimization to create buildings more efficiently. Next comes energy control which may be implemented incorporating new technology, but is always focused on energy savings. The third layer is the social implications of the building, which for Namba is focused on creating one living space for a flexible lifestyle and in an attempt to bring families back together. Finally is the cultural layer which manifests itself for Namba in the simple form of a box shape, symbolizing something pure, efficient and clean.
Throughout his study of the box houses, Namba Sensei has done a few different series, starting with a wood frame series, the progressing to a steel frame series and finally to Aluminum Eco House. One of his most interesting explorations was the Muji Infill Timber Houses. In these projects, Namba designed the structure and shell, while the interior was meant to be filled with parts from the Muji catalog. Muji is a Japanese company that designs furniture and the like. The houses are really interesting and showcase the modern idea of standardizing housing designs into a kit of parts. Currently, Namba Sensei is working on a house that is constructed entirely out of plywood. The structure is based on the plywood boards almost weaving together, creating a structural skin.
After our meeting, we went to a bookstore district, but I am trying not to spend too much money, so I headed home to work on our project a little.
Wednesday Jeff and I met with Don in the morning to discuss our project. We need to start developing the plans and such, and we’re really trying to just get this over with. After the meeting, I went out on an adventure by myself to a few districts in Tokyo. First I headed to Ikebukuro to see the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office. The Art Space was an interesting building, mostly because of the intensity of the structure. The two buildings are directly across the street from one another and they create an interesting contrast. The government building is very solid, with its design based on two tower-like structures. The Art Space is a glass form, creating an extremely open interior. The program was interesting because it seemed to be a combination of an art gallery and a shopping mall.
Next, I headed to Gokokuji Station and then walked for about twenty minutes trying to find a particular building: St. Mary’s Cathedral by Kenzo Tange. The building was definitely worth the search. As a cathedral, it seems appropriate so say that the building was awe-inspiring. Tange is not my favorite architect and he has come up with some pretty bizarre buildings, but every once in a while he literally stuns me. St. Mary’s Cathedral is absolutely beautiful. From the exterior, the play between the tall, vertical towers and the flowing, organic, almost tensional roof structure creates interest from every angle. I see some similarities in terms of form between this building and his Olympic Gymnasiums in Shibuya near Yoyogi Park. The inside of the cathedral did not disappoint. The flowing concrete form of the roof, though it may be considered somewhat yonic, creates a natural, almost cave-like feeling to the space that is broken only by the stained glass and light coming from behind the altar that continues through the middle of the roof. I was blown away by the space and the use of light. Of course I had to sneak some illegal interior pictures that will be up soon.
After that, I went to Iidabashi Station to see a few smaller buildings and the Tokyo Dome City area. I also stopped at the Koraku Police Box and passed by the Bunkyo Civic Center by Nikken Sekkei Ltd. Tokyo Dome was designed by the same firm in collaboration with Takenaka Corporation. The area around it has been developed into essentially an amusement park, with roller coasters and a ferris wheel, called Tokyo Dome City. The area was busy, crowded and loud even on a Wednesday evening.
From there, I headed to the War Dead Memorial of Tokyo by Takefumi Aida. Unfortunately, I got there too late and it was closed. I settled for snapping some pictures through the gate and then headed home. The rest of my night was spent working on floor plans.
Today, we met with Don in a group at 11 am. We presented our work quickly and then headed out to Fujimoto Sou’s office. Fujimoto Sou is probably one of the most popular architects in Japan right now. He is the architect that all the graduating arch students want to work for. Unfortunately, he was out of the country himself, but we were given an incredibly gracious tour by Chijiwa Hideto who works in the office, and luckily for us, speaks fluent English. The firm is interesting because they work mostly through models. The office looked very familiar to us, with models and supplies literally strewn into every corner…it felt like home haha. In terms of atmosphere, the office keeps a very open mentality, as well as an open space. Each table is working on a particular project, but everyone can see what everyone else is doing and come have a conversation about the project. I really liked the firm, mostly because of their open minds. Fujimoto seems to take any project that comes his way, and seeks out competitions that involve new challenges. Recently, the office has been able to hire more people from overseas, which has added to their palette by giving new perspectives on architecture and design. I really respect the office’s openness to new ideas and different points of view. We were also each given a signed copy of Fujimoto Sou’s book Primitive Future. I was just blown away by the hospitality.
The rest of my day was spent on floor plans, pictures and blogs. Tomorrow we are going to Kengo Kuma’s office. I’m actually really impressed because if you know your architects, we are seeing quite a few of them that are pretty big deals. Anyways, I’ll be back within the next couple days to let you know how stuff is going. I might head to Roppongi for Tokyo Tower tomorrow after the office visit and depending on the weather.
Fujimori Sensei and Namba Sensei
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 11:00 AM
We came back to Tokyo from Gokayama on Sunday. It was a long day filled with a bus and three separate trains. Headphones and naps are life savers on long train rides. We left Gokayama at 2 PM after hiking up the hill to get some pictures of Ainokura and then down the mountain a little to go to the Japanese washi (traditional Japanese paper) store. I finally got back into my room at the Olympic Memorial National Youth Center at around 8:30.
Monday we had the opportunity to meet one of Japan’s famous architects, Fujimori Sensei. We saw a brief glimpse of his work at the Tokyo Gas Sumika Projects. He designed the ‘Coal House’. Don was actually one of his students when he lived in Japan. Fujimori Sensei took us to one of his residential projects that is finishing up landscaping. He is known for his tea houses or rooms in his projects. His focus is on nature, and it shows in the spaces he designs as well as in his material choices. This project was clad in copper sheets, bent and folded to create an aesthetic based on the American use of wooden shingles. The tea room cantilevers off the front of the house, so when you are in it you are literally sitting on air. An interesting story he told us was about a column in the house that is untreated and naturally shaped cherry wood. He and the client, Kojima-san, went together up into the mountains, picked out the tree, and cut it down themselves to go in the house. This sort of dedication is really inspiring. The influence of nature on design really helps to create a unique beauty in Terunobu Fujimori’s designs.
We also went to Fujimori’s own home. This was his first architectural design after teaching architectural history for many years. The main interest of his house is the roof. His roof actually functions as a sort of garden, and has flowers and plant planted in between shingles. This creates alternating rows of plants and roof material and is really interesting. He told us with a laugh that many people have been interested in his roof because it is different, but no one has taken it as inspiration yet. He and his wife were very gracious hosts. We spent a bit of time up on the roof, and then went back down into the house only to receive an incredibly nice (and incredibly unexpected) sushi box lunch. It was definitely one of the best meals I’ve had here. Then Fujimori’s wife was nice enough to perform a small, informal tea ceremony for us. I was just blown away by their generosity, especially after being privileged enough to get to meet Fujimori and have him take us through his projects.
The rest of the day yesterday was spent on work. I am trying very hard to catch up on everything, and I’m slowly starting to. I’ve made decent progress with my travel journal, so I just need to keep it up.
This morning, we met with Don to talk about our project which, to be honest, isn’t going to be my best. Jeff and I are both a little burnt out and there really just isn’t enough time. We’re going to finish it, and it’s going to be decent, but I highly doubt it will be something I want to show off lol.
In about half an hour, we are meeting to go to Tokyo Universtiy to meet with Namba Kazuhiko, another famous Japanese architect. Both he and Fujimori Sensei are full time teachers at Tokyo University, the most prestigious university in Japan. Namba Sensei’s work seems to be mostly focused on modernism and structure. He is known for what is called “box houses”. These are modern homes, designed based on principles of prefabrication and modular parts. This is one of the most efficient ways to construct buildings and is a strong focus of many modern architects. The fact that Namba Sensei has mastered the use of these systems in order to create spaces that offer interest and beauty, using their ‘kit of part’ construction is really commendable. I am looking forward to meeting him, and I’ll let you know how it goes.
We came back to Tokyo from Gokayama on Sunday. It was a long day filled with a bus and three separate trains. Headphones and naps are life savers on long train rides. We left Gokayama at 2 PM after hiking up the hill to get some pictures of Ainokura and then down the mountain a little to go to the Japanese washi (traditional Japanese paper) store. I finally got back into my room at the Olympic Memorial National Youth Center at around 8:30.
Monday we had the opportunity to meet one of Japan’s famous architects, Fujimori Sensei. We saw a brief glimpse of his work at the Tokyo Gas Sumika Projects. He designed the ‘Coal House’. Don was actually one of his students when he lived in Japan. Fujimori Sensei took us to one of his residential projects that is finishing up landscaping. He is known for his tea houses or rooms in his projects. His focus is on nature, and it shows in the spaces he designs as well as in his material choices. This project was clad in copper sheets, bent and folded to create an aesthetic based on the American use of wooden shingles. The tea room cantilevers off the front of the house, so when you are in it you are literally sitting on air. An interesting story he told us was about a column in the house that is untreated and naturally shaped cherry wood. He and the client, Kojima-san, went together up into the mountains, picked out the tree, and cut it down themselves to go in the house. This sort of dedication is really inspiring. The influence of nature on design really helps to create a unique beauty in Terunobu Fujimori’s designs.
We also went to Fujimori’s own home. This was his first architectural design after teaching architectural history for many years. The main interest of his house is the roof. His roof actually functions as a sort of garden, and has flowers and plant planted in between shingles. This creates alternating rows of plants and roof material and is really interesting. He told us with a laugh that many people have been interested in his roof because it is different, but no one has taken it as inspiration yet. He and his wife were very gracious hosts. We spent a bit of time up on the roof, and then went back down into the house only to receive an incredibly nice (and incredibly unexpected) sushi box lunch. It was definitely one of the best meals I’ve had here. Then Fujimori’s wife was nice enough to perform a small, informal tea ceremony for us. I was just blown away by their generosity, especially after being privileged enough to get to meet Fujimori and have him take us through his projects.
The rest of the day yesterday was spent on work. I am trying very hard to catch up on everything, and I’m slowly starting to. I’ve made decent progress with my travel journal, so I just need to keep it up.
This morning, we met with Don to talk about our project which, to be honest, isn’t going to be my best. Jeff and I are both a little burnt out and there really just isn’t enough time. We’re going to finish it, and it’s going to be decent, but I highly doubt it will be something I want to show off lol.
In about half an hour, we are meeting to go to Tokyo Universtiy to meet with Namba Kazuhiko, another famous Japanese architect. Both he and Fujimori Sensei are full time teachers at Tokyo University, the most prestigious university in Japan. Namba Sensei’s work seems to be mostly focused on modernism and structure. He is known for what is called “box houses”. These are modern homes, designed based on principles of prefabrication and modular parts. This is one of the most efficient ways to construct buildings and is a strong focus of many modern architects. The fact that Namba Sensei has mastered the use of these systems in order to create spaces that offer interest and beauty, using their ‘kit of part’ construction is really commendable. I am looking forward to meeting him, and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Gokayama
Saturday, May 23, 2009, 9:11 PM
This morning we left Kanazawa at 8 AM, and headed to Gokayama, a small gassho-zukuri style farming area of houses that are easily 300 years old. We got into the village of Ainokura at around noon and checked into our inns. We are staying in a place that is like a bed and breakfast, so essentially it is someone’s home. It is a very old house with a steep, thatched roof, and it is incredibly comfortable. The city is up in the mountains and it snows here during the winter, but today it was very hot and humid. The concept of seasons is still a little foreign to me, coming from California.
After we dropped off our stuff, we wandered around the village a little, taking pictures of the old houses and the rice paddies. At about 2, we took a bus to one of the other villages in the area called Suganuma. It was similar to the first with thatched roofs and a very old feel, but the site has become more of a tourist spot since the area was declared a world heritage site. There was an area with buildings that had been moved from other sites, but had the same style and feel. You can actually stay in those places if you want, but there are no meals included like there is at our inn. What was really interesting in Suganuma was a random modern museum near the old houses. It was the Style Museum of Gokayama, and it was built into the small hillside with walls of concrete and strange protruding rocks. It was really bizarre and totally out of place.
After that, we went to one of the most famous of these old houses. These houses had a pretty standard set up with two earthen floor rooms at the front of the house and then either two, or four raised rooms that were originally floored with planks of wood, but have now been replaced with tatami mats. There were two upper levels, the first accessed by stairs, the second by ladders. Some of the areas were structurally questionable, but it was nice because you could see the entire structure system of the house, which is unique because the members are tied together and kept in place that way. It is interesting because the upper triangle-shaped members come to a point and rest on the larger columns of the ground floor, creating a pin connection. When the roof is loaded with snow, the triangular members will shift without affecting the rest of the structure. This, in combination with the thatching of the roof being done in bundles, makes the building very easy to repair if one part of it were to fail.
The concept of thatching a roof is also really interesting to me because you are essentially keeping out water and holding up snow loads on dried grasses. The idea is that there are too many layers of thatch for the water to get through. Thatch is laid in bundles and is then tied to the roof structure in layers. In our town, the entire village gets together and re-roofs a house when it needs it. It only takes them one day to complete the process with all of them working together. It is amazing to me because this is a community and a system that has been in place for generations.
From the house, it was a half hour walk back to our inn. We were all a little tired, so we took a nap before dinner. At 6:30, dinner was served downstairs. Most of the meal looked very appetizing, but the main dish was a little intimidating. It was a fish…literally a whole fish, which had been skewered and cooked over the fire pit in the main room downstairs. You were meant to eat the fish…head, tail, bones and all. Now I do not like pork, and I only occasionally want beef, but poultry and fish I think are fair game. My reason for this has always been that I don’t like these creatures…I think they are ugly and so I will eat them so that I don’t have to look at them, plus they taste pretty good and don’t seem to have any other purpose really. This philosophy was definitely put to the test tonight. So when confronted by my dinner, I picked up that fish with my chopsticks, looked it in the gross little eyes and said “Alright fish, let’s do this.” Then I bit its head off.
It was crunchy and salty and really…not bad. I am not used to the whole idea of eating bone, but once you get past that whole thing, it was really good. The bones started getting a little intense for me down by the tail, so I just left the last little bit. The rest of the meal was pretty standard. We were served tofu with fish flakes, white rice, a bowl of vegetables with mushrooms and bean sprouts, some pickled things that I don’t really like, some sashimi with wasabi, vegetable tempura and soup with thin noodles, green onions and mushrooms in it. It was actually a lot of food, and on top of that, we shared a couple incredibly large bottles of biiru. It was fun, especially because Don is staying in our inn with our group (we had to break into two groups) and he’s always amusing. Plus it’s usually fun to drink with your teachers.
After dinner, we went up on the hill to try to get some night shots of the village with the houses all lit up. Unfortunately, my camera does not let me adjust the exposure time, so it’s not very good for night shots. I have messed with all the settings in vain, and have finally accepted that I will eventually need to drop a few hundred dollars on a camera that can actually take night shots. Oh well…I’ll just have to steal other people’s pictures since they have decent cameras.
Tomorrow we head back to Tokyo and I will hopefully catch up on some work. I’ll let you know how that goes.
This morning we left Kanazawa at 8 AM, and headed to Gokayama, a small gassho-zukuri style farming area of houses that are easily 300 years old. We got into the village of Ainokura at around noon and checked into our inns. We are staying in a place that is like a bed and breakfast, so essentially it is someone’s home. It is a very old house with a steep, thatched roof, and it is incredibly comfortable. The city is up in the mountains and it snows here during the winter, but today it was very hot and humid. The concept of seasons is still a little foreign to me, coming from California.
After we dropped off our stuff, we wandered around the village a little, taking pictures of the old houses and the rice paddies. At about 2, we took a bus to one of the other villages in the area called Suganuma. It was similar to the first with thatched roofs and a very old feel, but the site has become more of a tourist spot since the area was declared a world heritage site. There was an area with buildings that had been moved from other sites, but had the same style and feel. You can actually stay in those places if you want, but there are no meals included like there is at our inn. What was really interesting in Suganuma was a random modern museum near the old houses. It was the Style Museum of Gokayama, and it was built into the small hillside with walls of concrete and strange protruding rocks. It was really bizarre and totally out of place.
After that, we went to one of the most famous of these old houses. These houses had a pretty standard set up with two earthen floor rooms at the front of the house and then either two, or four raised rooms that were originally floored with planks of wood, but have now been replaced with tatami mats. There were two upper levels, the first accessed by stairs, the second by ladders. Some of the areas were structurally questionable, but it was nice because you could see the entire structure system of the house, which is unique because the members are tied together and kept in place that way. It is interesting because the upper triangle-shaped members come to a point and rest on the larger columns of the ground floor, creating a pin connection. When the roof is loaded with snow, the triangular members will shift without affecting the rest of the structure. This, in combination with the thatching of the roof being done in bundles, makes the building very easy to repair if one part of it were to fail.
The concept of thatching a roof is also really interesting to me because you are essentially keeping out water and holding up snow loads on dried grasses. The idea is that there are too many layers of thatch for the water to get through. Thatch is laid in bundles and is then tied to the roof structure in layers. In our town, the entire village gets together and re-roofs a house when it needs it. It only takes them one day to complete the process with all of them working together. It is amazing to me because this is a community and a system that has been in place for generations.
From the house, it was a half hour walk back to our inn. We were all a little tired, so we took a nap before dinner. At 6:30, dinner was served downstairs. Most of the meal looked very appetizing, but the main dish was a little intimidating. It was a fish…literally a whole fish, which had been skewered and cooked over the fire pit in the main room downstairs. You were meant to eat the fish…head, tail, bones and all. Now I do not like pork, and I only occasionally want beef, but poultry and fish I think are fair game. My reason for this has always been that I don’t like these creatures…I think they are ugly and so I will eat them so that I don’t have to look at them, plus they taste pretty good and don’t seem to have any other purpose really. This philosophy was definitely put to the test tonight. So when confronted by my dinner, I picked up that fish with my chopsticks, looked it in the gross little eyes and said “Alright fish, let’s do this.” Then I bit its head off.
It was crunchy and salty and really…not bad. I am not used to the whole idea of eating bone, but once you get past that whole thing, it was really good. The bones started getting a little intense for me down by the tail, so I just left the last little bit. The rest of the meal was pretty standard. We were served tofu with fish flakes, white rice, a bowl of vegetables with mushrooms and bean sprouts, some pickled things that I don’t really like, some sashimi with wasabi, vegetable tempura and soup with thin noodles, green onions and mushrooms in it. It was actually a lot of food, and on top of that, we shared a couple incredibly large bottles of biiru. It was fun, especially because Don is staying in our inn with our group (we had to break into two groups) and he’s always amusing. Plus it’s usually fun to drink with your teachers.
After dinner, we went up on the hill to try to get some night shots of the village with the houses all lit up. Unfortunately, my camera does not let me adjust the exposure time, so it’s not very good for night shots. I have messed with all the settings in vain, and have finally accepted that I will eventually need to drop a few hundred dollars on a camera that can actually take night shots. Oh well…I’ll just have to steal other people’s pictures since they have decent cameras.
Tomorrow we head back to Tokyo and I will hopefully catch up on some work. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Kanazawa
It is now Friday night, almost midnight. May 22nd.
Yesterday was basically a travel day. We came by bullet train to Kanazawa from Tokamachi. When we got here I was pretty tired, so I tried to focus on catching up on some work and getting some sleep. The work load is catching up...it's been too much all quarter, but now we essentially have 2 weeks to finish up and it's going to be a little difficult.
Today was really our one full day in Kanazawa. This morning we went as a class to the Kenrokuen Garden. This garden was built by the Tsunanori family, the second wealthiest family in Japan. It is considered one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. It was originally constructed as the outer garden of Kanazawa Castle but, as with so many other historic sites in Japan, it has been burned or destroyed and reconstructed several times. It was named based on the combination of the six attributes to a perfect landscape garden: spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, watercourses and panoramas. The most striking remaining aspects of the garden are probably the spaciousness and the watercourses. The grounds are quite large and house two large ponds: Hisagoike Pond and Kasumigaike Pond. Streams wind throughout the garden and the fountain, or funsui, is the oldest in Japan.
We also went to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art by SANAA. They are celebrating their 5th Anniversary (the project was completed in 2004) with an exhibition called Hundred Stories About Love. The museum in unique in that it seems to house more unique and modern forms of art. Many of the exhibits are experiential, and involve music or physical interaction. The museum was originally created with the mission of rejuvenating Kanazawa and its citizens. They aim to be open to the public, much like a park would be, and provide the opportunity for learning and growth. Some of the most interesting exhibits included the Green Bridge by Patrick Blanc, Swimming Pool by Leandro Erlich, and The Origin of the World by Anish Kapoor.
Finally, Jeff and I went to a temple called Myôryûji, or "Ninja-dera". This temple has been nicknamed Ninja Temple because of the complexity of its construction. The temple houses numerous trick staircases, hidden rooms and trap doors. Built during the Edo period, when local lords were demoted and kept in check by the Tokugawa shogunate, the building was meant to house soldiers that would be ready for battle at any moment. At the time, it was prohibited to build above three stories. From the outside, Myôryûji appears to be a two-story structure, but it actually has four stories, with seven actual level changes. The seemingly small building houses 23 rooms and 29 staircases, in addition to a seppuku, or ritual suicide chamber for Hara-kiri. Though it is called Ninja Temple, it was built in this way not for Ninja purposes, but to trick shogunate spies or enemies, as well as allow for quick escape or hiding for allies.
The rest of my day was spent trying, and failing, to catch up on my travel journal and other work. Tomorrow, we leave early in the morning for the gasshô zukuri village of Gokayama. We're going to be staying in old, thatched-roof inns so it should be an interesting experience, but I won't have internet again for a couple days. I'll catch you up when I get back to Tokyo.
Yesterday was basically a travel day. We came by bullet train to Kanazawa from Tokamachi. When we got here I was pretty tired, so I tried to focus on catching up on some work and getting some sleep. The work load is catching up...it's been too much all quarter, but now we essentially have 2 weeks to finish up and it's going to be a little difficult.
Today was really our one full day in Kanazawa. This morning we went as a class to the Kenrokuen Garden. This garden was built by the Tsunanori family, the second wealthiest family in Japan. It is considered one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. It was originally constructed as the outer garden of Kanazawa Castle but, as with so many other historic sites in Japan, it has been burned or destroyed and reconstructed several times. It was named based on the combination of the six attributes to a perfect landscape garden: spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, watercourses and panoramas. The most striking remaining aspects of the garden are probably the spaciousness and the watercourses. The grounds are quite large and house two large ponds: Hisagoike Pond and Kasumigaike Pond. Streams wind throughout the garden and the fountain, or funsui, is the oldest in Japan.
We also went to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art by SANAA. They are celebrating their 5th Anniversary (the project was completed in 2004) with an exhibition called Hundred Stories About Love. The museum in unique in that it seems to house more unique and modern forms of art. Many of the exhibits are experiential, and involve music or physical interaction. The museum was originally created with the mission of rejuvenating Kanazawa and its citizens. They aim to be open to the public, much like a park would be, and provide the opportunity for learning and growth. Some of the most interesting exhibits included the Green Bridge by Patrick Blanc, Swimming Pool by Leandro Erlich, and The Origin of the World by Anish Kapoor.
Finally, Jeff and I went to a temple called Myôryûji, or "Ninja-dera". This temple has been nicknamed Ninja Temple because of the complexity of its construction. The temple houses numerous trick staircases, hidden rooms and trap doors. Built during the Edo period, when local lords were demoted and kept in check by the Tokugawa shogunate, the building was meant to house soldiers that would be ready for battle at any moment. At the time, it was prohibited to build above three stories. From the outside, Myôryûji appears to be a two-story structure, but it actually has four stories, with seven actual level changes. The seemingly small building houses 23 rooms and 29 staircases, in addition to a seppuku, or ritual suicide chamber for Hara-kiri. Though it is called Ninja Temple, it was built in this way not for Ninja purposes, but to trick shogunate spies or enemies, as well as allow for quick escape or hiding for allies.
The rest of my day was spent trying, and failing, to catch up on my travel journal and other work. Tomorrow, we leave early in the morning for the gasshô zukuri village of Gokayama. We're going to be staying in old, thatched-roof inns so it should be an interesting experience, but I won't have internet again for a couple days. I'll catch you up when I get back to Tokyo.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Echigo-Yuzawa, Matsudai and The House of Light
Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 9:15 PM
We started today in Echigo-Yuzawa. This morning we went to the largest ropeway in Japan, about ten minutes away from our hotel. At the top, we went down the summer bob sleigh, which was a lot of fun. I had never been on a bob sled before, so going down the track was a really cool experience. It let us out near a rock garden, with beautiful views of the mountain around us. We spent some time there and then headed back to our hotel to check out.
My group consists of Carisa, Katie, Karen, Sig, Jeff, Trent, Scott, Jon, Norio and myself. We all got our luggage from the hotel and then headed to the train station. From there, we went to Matsudai for the Snow-land Agrarian Culture Center by MVRDV. We didn’t have too much time there, so we kind of rushed through the outdoor exhibits so that we could get to the James Turrell House of Light in Tokamachi. The exhibits were interesting, mostly abstract art.
The House of Light is an art piece/architectural work by James Turrell. We were able to see some of his other work on Naoshima in the Chichu Art Museum. The main room of the house is called Outside In, and is focused on the changing lights of the sky in the morning and evening. A portion of the roof opens up to the sky, and we were able to watch the sky change from sunset to complete darkness. There are orange lights installed on the walls, providing up-lighting towards the ceiling, creating the visual effect of a film over the sky. This creates a stronger contrast between the room and the sky, making the gradual changes more noticeable. It was a really interesting experience. We were all lying on the floor in a circle, with our heads in the center of the room, staring up at the sky and taking pictures for an hour.
The other nice experience at the House of Light is the bath. The bath itself is another artistic experience. There are no lights in the bath room except those designed by James Turrell. At night, there are lights in the water that make anything within the water glow. When the girls went in, we actually took some pictures…nothing graphic, but more artistic to show how the combination of the light and the water can distort form and create interesting optical illusions.
The experience of actually being in this house and having the opportunity to photograph here, let alone sleep here is just extraordinary. It is amazing to think that one man envisioned the effects of the light in such detail that he was able to design and create these spaces. Pictures will be posted soon. We are getting up at 3:15 am to watch the sunrise in the Outside In space. Tomorrow we head to Kanazawa for two days. I’m excited about that because this is the city that my grandfather was stationed in when he was in the army. I’m looking forward to it, but we aren’t supposed to get into the city until the evening. I will have internet there, so I will post my blogs from the past couple days and try to get some more pictures up. Until then…
We started today in Echigo-Yuzawa. This morning we went to the largest ropeway in Japan, about ten minutes away from our hotel. At the top, we went down the summer bob sleigh, which was a lot of fun. I had never been on a bob sled before, so going down the track was a really cool experience. It let us out near a rock garden, with beautiful views of the mountain around us. We spent some time there and then headed back to our hotel to check out.
My group consists of Carisa, Katie, Karen, Sig, Jeff, Trent, Scott, Jon, Norio and myself. We all got our luggage from the hotel and then headed to the train station. From there, we went to Matsudai for the Snow-land Agrarian Culture Center by MVRDV. We didn’t have too much time there, so we kind of rushed through the outdoor exhibits so that we could get to the James Turrell House of Light in Tokamachi. The exhibits were interesting, mostly abstract art.
The House of Light is an art piece/architectural work by James Turrell. We were able to see some of his other work on Naoshima in the Chichu Art Museum. The main room of the house is called Outside In, and is focused on the changing lights of the sky in the morning and evening. A portion of the roof opens up to the sky, and we were able to watch the sky change from sunset to complete darkness. There are orange lights installed on the walls, providing up-lighting towards the ceiling, creating the visual effect of a film over the sky. This creates a stronger contrast between the room and the sky, making the gradual changes more noticeable. It was a really interesting experience. We were all lying on the floor in a circle, with our heads in the center of the room, staring up at the sky and taking pictures for an hour.
The other nice experience at the House of Light is the bath. The bath itself is another artistic experience. There are no lights in the bath room except those designed by James Turrell. At night, there are lights in the water that make anything within the water glow. When the girls went in, we actually took some pictures…nothing graphic, but more artistic to show how the combination of the light and the water can distort form and create interesting optical illusions.
The experience of actually being in this house and having the opportunity to photograph here, let alone sleep here is just extraordinary. It is amazing to think that one man envisioned the effects of the light in such detail that he was able to design and create these spaces. Pictures will be posted soon. We are getting up at 3:15 am to watch the sunrise in the Outside In space. Tomorrow we head to Kanazawa for two days. I’m excited about that because this is the city that my grandfather was stationed in when he was in the army. I’m looking forward to it, but we aren’t supposed to get into the city until the evening. I will have internet there, so I will post my blogs from the past couple days and try to get some more pictures up. Until then…
Tokyo Gas Project and Sendai
Wednesday, May 19, 2009, 1:00 am.
Yesterday, we left Tokyo for our second week long trip. We headed through Utsunomiya and stopped to see the Tokyo Gas Sumika Project. These are four houses designed for the Tokyo Gas company by four different and distinguished Japanese architects.
The first one we saw is called “The Sumika Pavilion” by Toyo Ito. This building is based off of the structure and branches of a cherry tree growing on the site. It is essentially a glass box, whose wooden structure branches out like a tree, creating an interesting play between the glass and the angles of the structure. The idea was based off the idea of "eating delicious things under the cherry tree." The space is not really inhabitable, but serves as a show room for the Tokyo Gas appliances.
The second project we saw was “House” by Taira Nishizawa. This project focused on the almost reversal of the roles of the ceiling and the walls. The walls were completely solid, and all the light was let in through the ceiling. As the day progresses, the light moves from the bed, to the kitchen, to the living space. The outer wall is made of pivoting doors that can be opened up to look out onto a small field. This open ventilation can also be used to help control the heat in the room. Another interesting aspect of this project is the fact that the columns within the one-room house extend into the earth and serve as piles, the foundation structure of the building.
Right next door is “House Before House” by Sou Fujimoto. This project is based off of the idea of a child playing with blocks, stacking them up to create a rudimentary structure. The house is made up of steel boxes stacked on top of one another, welded together and painted white. Many of us likened the project to “an adult tree house.” Circulation between boxes was solved by simple ladders or stairs, which sometimes even serve to balance the cantilevered boxes, becoming part of the structure. This project was very intriguing because it involved looking back in time and finding a new way to explore and create space.
Finally, we went and saw the “Coal House” by Terunobu Fujimori. This house was based off the idea of the cave as a primitive dwelling. The main space of the house was envisioned as a cave, as if the space had been carved out of a form rather than constructed out of planes. Again, the circulation has been provided by steep stairways and ladders, up to the bedrooms on the second floor. A tea house has been attached to the house, as part of the original design. It branches off the master bedroom and is also accessible from the exterior by way of a ladder. Of course, in traditional Japanese style, the tea house is tiny. One of the most beautiful aspects of the project is the material: burnt cedar. The wood cladding was literally burnt, giving it a blackened and charred look that, when paired with the light wood detailing, is incredibly beautiful. The burning actually creates a sort of protection for the wood in terms of weather and insects, so the wood will not need treatment of any kind for twenty years.
After we finished at the Gas House Projects, we got on a bullet train for Sendai, famous in the architecture world for the Sendai Mediatheque. We got there in the afternoon and had some free time, so we went to see Ftown by Hitoshi Abe and then did some shopping before we met as a group to go photograph the Mediatheque in the evening. The building’s function is as a library and media center. It was designed by Toyo Ito and is really quite remarkable in terms of structure. It is essentially a glass box with vertical cores running up it, providing the structure. What is so unique is that the cores are open, diagram type structures of non-uniform sizes throughout each core. The metal for each of the steel hollow tubes is 2 mm thick. This type of construction was really only possible because of Sendai’s incredible shipping industry and the techniques and equipment employed there. The building really lit up at night and was nice to photograph, unfortunately it seems like it would have been better had there been nothing surrounding it and nothing inside it.
After the mediatheque, I went back to the hotel and tried (unsuccessfully) to catch up on my photos and blog. It was a pretty relaxing night at the typical Toyoko Inn.
Today, we had to check out at 10 am, as is standard. We were heading as a group to see the Sasaki-Gishi Prothetic & Orthotic Services building by Hitoshi Abe, but we got lost from the rest of the group so we found it ourselves. It was a little disappointing from the outside, because it seems that it has not aged well, but the interior had a surprisingly nice light well/courtyard space. It provided lighting to all the office space within the building very well and I was impressed with it, as well as the structure of the building.
We were lucky enough to be able to make an appointment at Aoba-tei, which is an award winning interior project by Hitoshi Abe. We were to meet there at 4 pm, which meant that we were much later getting into our next lodgings for tonight that was originally planned, but it was worth it and I was able to get some work done before. The restaurant is only open for reservations, and you can only get reservations if you are a friend of the owner, or a friend of a friend, so we were incredibly fortunate. The interior skin of the building is made out of perforated metal, with the holes punched in it to resemble the form and play of light of a tree. It is really incredibly well done and we spent quite a while trying to capture the effects of the material on camera.
After that, we took another bullet train to Echigo-yuzawa, where our hot springs hotel awaited us. We got in pretty late, so Carisa and I went to the public bath and then just uploaded our pictures. Tomorrow we’re going to try to go on the ropeway here, since it is the longest ropeway in Japan, and then catch our train to the James Turrell House of Light. He is one of the artist/architects whose work we saw in Naoshima, and The House of Light is one of his most famous projects. We will be staying there tomorrow night, so there’s something else to look forward to. I am diligently working on maintaining my blog, catching up on work and getting photos uploaded, so stay tuned. Hopefully I will be all caught up by the end of our travel week.
Yesterday, we left Tokyo for our second week long trip. We headed through Utsunomiya and stopped to see the Tokyo Gas Sumika Project. These are four houses designed for the Tokyo Gas company by four different and distinguished Japanese architects.
The first one we saw is called “The Sumika Pavilion” by Toyo Ito. This building is based off of the structure and branches of a cherry tree growing on the site. It is essentially a glass box, whose wooden structure branches out like a tree, creating an interesting play between the glass and the angles of the structure. The idea was based off the idea of "eating delicious things under the cherry tree." The space is not really inhabitable, but serves as a show room for the Tokyo Gas appliances.
The second project we saw was “House” by Taira Nishizawa. This project focused on the almost reversal of the roles of the ceiling and the walls. The walls were completely solid, and all the light was let in through the ceiling. As the day progresses, the light moves from the bed, to the kitchen, to the living space. The outer wall is made of pivoting doors that can be opened up to look out onto a small field. This open ventilation can also be used to help control the heat in the room. Another interesting aspect of this project is the fact that the columns within the one-room house extend into the earth and serve as piles, the foundation structure of the building.
Right next door is “House Before House” by Sou Fujimoto. This project is based off of the idea of a child playing with blocks, stacking them up to create a rudimentary structure. The house is made up of steel boxes stacked on top of one another, welded together and painted white. Many of us likened the project to “an adult tree house.” Circulation between boxes was solved by simple ladders or stairs, which sometimes even serve to balance the cantilevered boxes, becoming part of the structure. This project was very intriguing because it involved looking back in time and finding a new way to explore and create space.
Finally, we went and saw the “Coal House” by Terunobu Fujimori. This house was based off the idea of the cave as a primitive dwelling. The main space of the house was envisioned as a cave, as if the space had been carved out of a form rather than constructed out of planes. Again, the circulation has been provided by steep stairways and ladders, up to the bedrooms on the second floor. A tea house has been attached to the house, as part of the original design. It branches off the master bedroom and is also accessible from the exterior by way of a ladder. Of course, in traditional Japanese style, the tea house is tiny. One of the most beautiful aspects of the project is the material: burnt cedar. The wood cladding was literally burnt, giving it a blackened and charred look that, when paired with the light wood detailing, is incredibly beautiful. The burning actually creates a sort of protection for the wood in terms of weather and insects, so the wood will not need treatment of any kind for twenty years.
After we finished at the Gas House Projects, we got on a bullet train for Sendai, famous in the architecture world for the Sendai Mediatheque. We got there in the afternoon and had some free time, so we went to see Ftown by Hitoshi Abe and then did some shopping before we met as a group to go photograph the Mediatheque in the evening. The building’s function is as a library and media center. It was designed by Toyo Ito and is really quite remarkable in terms of structure. It is essentially a glass box with vertical cores running up it, providing the structure. What is so unique is that the cores are open, diagram type structures of non-uniform sizes throughout each core. The metal for each of the steel hollow tubes is 2 mm thick. This type of construction was really only possible because of Sendai’s incredible shipping industry and the techniques and equipment employed there. The building really lit up at night and was nice to photograph, unfortunately it seems like it would have been better had there been nothing surrounding it and nothing inside it.
After the mediatheque, I went back to the hotel and tried (unsuccessfully) to catch up on my photos and blog. It was a pretty relaxing night at the typical Toyoko Inn.
Today, we had to check out at 10 am, as is standard. We were heading as a group to see the Sasaki-Gishi Prothetic & Orthotic Services building by Hitoshi Abe, but we got lost from the rest of the group so we found it ourselves. It was a little disappointing from the outside, because it seems that it has not aged well, but the interior had a surprisingly nice light well/courtyard space. It provided lighting to all the office space within the building very well and I was impressed with it, as well as the structure of the building.
We were lucky enough to be able to make an appointment at Aoba-tei, which is an award winning interior project by Hitoshi Abe. We were to meet there at 4 pm, which meant that we were much later getting into our next lodgings for tonight that was originally planned, but it was worth it and I was able to get some work done before. The restaurant is only open for reservations, and you can only get reservations if you are a friend of the owner, or a friend of a friend, so we were incredibly fortunate. The interior skin of the building is made out of perforated metal, with the holes punched in it to resemble the form and play of light of a tree. It is really incredibly well done and we spent quite a while trying to capture the effects of the material on camera.
After that, we took another bullet train to Echigo-yuzawa, where our hot springs hotel awaited us. We got in pretty late, so Carisa and I went to the public bath and then just uploaded our pictures. Tomorrow we’re going to try to go on the ropeway here, since it is the longest ropeway in Japan, and then catch our train to the James Turrell House of Light. He is one of the artist/architects whose work we saw in Naoshima, and The House of Light is one of his most famous projects. We will be staying there tomorrow night, so there’s something else to look forward to. I am diligently working on maintaining my blog, catching up on work and getting photos uploaded, so stay tuned. Hopefully I will be all caught up by the end of our travel week.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Fun with Friends and Rail Passes
Sunday, May 17, 2009
This weekend was relaxing but relatively uneventful. It is now almost 6 PM on Sunday, and I still have to pack to leave early tomorrow morning for our week-long trip.
Yesterday was a lot of fun. I got up and talked to Andrew while I got ready to meet with Yasu and Emi at noon. Yasu met me a little after noon at the entrance to my campus. He apologized and said that Emi would meet up with us later because she was home with their father…I guess he was not feeling well again.
Last time we met up, I had told them that the thing I miss most about America was the Mexican food. So yesterday, they took me to El Torito for lunch. Yes, that’s right. They have El Torito in Japan. If you are at all interested, we went to the one near the Ikebukuro Station and Sunshine City in Tokyo, but there is another one near Shinjuku Station. The food was good, but different than what I’m used to from California. The sauce was lighter and the portions were definitely smaller, which is not really a bad thing at all. Kumi and her boyfriend met up with us there for lunch.
After lunch, we wanted to go play table tennis, and Yasu found a place nearby that we could play at. It was interesting because the tables were in the back of a convenience store. We got there and the room was full…and full of people who were taking the table tennis way too seriously. Kumi and I were a little intimidated, and I’m pretty sure that I would have embarrassed myself if the room hadn’t been booked for the rest of the day.
Instead of playing ping-pong, we went to Starbucks and got some coffee. We were talking about the differences between the US and Japan, and I was very happy to learn that they get Gingerbread Latte’s in Japan during the holidays too…those are just too delicious.
We met Emi at the train station and then said goodbye to Kumi and her boyfriend. Yasu, Emi and I then went back to the area around their house. We went to a karaoke place called Big Echo for an hour. It was a lot of fun. We even tried doing a few songs all together, which was incredibly funny but pretty awful.
After that, Yasu had to leave us to go run some errands, and Emi and I went to get dinner at a Yakitori place. If you don’t know what yakitori is, it is essentially random parts of chicken that have been cooked and put on a stick. There are things like cartilage or liver or hearts…some of them are really good and others…not so much. We had a few different kinds and to be honest, I’m not really sure exactly what I was eating, but it was all good. There was definitely some liver in there and some chicken skin, which is fatty and delicious lol. We also had a couple drinks and another dish that was two patties of some sort of ground meat, with raw egg. I told Emi that I had never really eaten raw egg before and she seemed a little surprised that we don’t eat it in the US. It’s amazing the things you never really think about as being unique or different until you go to a new place. The dish was actually really good, and I’m still alive…so no problems with the raw egg.
After dinner, Emi took me to her old gym where she used to practice Kendo. I got to watch the warm up and the practice and it was really an amazing experience. The sport is pretty intense and with all the gear they wear I’m surprised that they can move at all, let alone how quickly they do. I was thoroughly impressed. I also found out that during a match, if you win against one opponent, you have to immediately play against a new one. That is so intense because you could be standing up there fighting for a really long time with no break and no water. Emi said that one time she actually passed out because she couldn’t take a break. I don’t think I could handle it.
Finally, I had to head home because I needed to try to get some work done. We are all so behind on the work that Don is assigning that it’s almost futile at this point. Emi took the train back with me and I showed her around the campus, and my small and really dirty room. She also met a couple of my friends who were around. She is so sweet and I had so much fun with all of them again. I told them that when I get back to Tokyo that I’d like to invite them out to karaoke with me and a few of my friends. They said that they would invite some friends too, and I am really looking forward to it.
After Emi left, I did a little work and tried to upload and organize my pictures. I was so tired though that I didn’t get much done.
Today, I slept in until 11, which was much needed. I talked to Andrew for a couple hours, which was nice. The first time we’ve been able to have a long conversation in a while. After that I had to go to Shinjuku Station to get my rail pass for our trip. I also reserved seats on the train while I was there. I got some curry on the way home and ended up talking to Chris for a little when I got home. I hadn’t heard from him in a while, so it was good to catch up. We were talking a little bit about Ashlyn’s wedding and it just reminds me how much I am missing out on. I really can’t wait to get home and plan out Ashlyn’s big day. I’m so excited for her.
Anyways, the rest of my night is going to be pretty boring. I’m planning on packing and maybe working on a paper and uploading some pictures. Tomorrow I am going to Sendai early in the morning. I don’t really know what is in Sendai, so I’ll have to write about it after I go.
This weekend was relaxing but relatively uneventful. It is now almost 6 PM on Sunday, and I still have to pack to leave early tomorrow morning for our week-long trip.
Yesterday was a lot of fun. I got up and talked to Andrew while I got ready to meet with Yasu and Emi at noon. Yasu met me a little after noon at the entrance to my campus. He apologized and said that Emi would meet up with us later because she was home with their father…I guess he was not feeling well again.
Last time we met up, I had told them that the thing I miss most about America was the Mexican food. So yesterday, they took me to El Torito for lunch. Yes, that’s right. They have El Torito in Japan. If you are at all interested, we went to the one near the Ikebukuro Station and Sunshine City in Tokyo, but there is another one near Shinjuku Station. The food was good, but different than what I’m used to from California. The sauce was lighter and the portions were definitely smaller, which is not really a bad thing at all. Kumi and her boyfriend met up with us there for lunch.
After lunch, we wanted to go play table tennis, and Yasu found a place nearby that we could play at. It was interesting because the tables were in the back of a convenience store. We got there and the room was full…and full of people who were taking the table tennis way too seriously. Kumi and I were a little intimidated, and I’m pretty sure that I would have embarrassed myself if the room hadn’t been booked for the rest of the day.
Instead of playing ping-pong, we went to Starbucks and got some coffee. We were talking about the differences between the US and Japan, and I was very happy to learn that they get Gingerbread Latte’s in Japan during the holidays too…those are just too delicious.
We met Emi at the train station and then said goodbye to Kumi and her boyfriend. Yasu, Emi and I then went back to the area around their house. We went to a karaoke place called Big Echo for an hour. It was a lot of fun. We even tried doing a few songs all together, which was incredibly funny but pretty awful.
After that, Yasu had to leave us to go run some errands, and Emi and I went to get dinner at a Yakitori place. If you don’t know what yakitori is, it is essentially random parts of chicken that have been cooked and put on a stick. There are things like cartilage or liver or hearts…some of them are really good and others…not so much. We had a few different kinds and to be honest, I’m not really sure exactly what I was eating, but it was all good. There was definitely some liver in there and some chicken skin, which is fatty and delicious lol. We also had a couple drinks and another dish that was two patties of some sort of ground meat, with raw egg. I told Emi that I had never really eaten raw egg before and she seemed a little surprised that we don’t eat it in the US. It’s amazing the things you never really think about as being unique or different until you go to a new place. The dish was actually really good, and I’m still alive…so no problems with the raw egg.
After dinner, Emi took me to her old gym where she used to practice Kendo. I got to watch the warm up and the practice and it was really an amazing experience. The sport is pretty intense and with all the gear they wear I’m surprised that they can move at all, let alone how quickly they do. I was thoroughly impressed. I also found out that during a match, if you win against one opponent, you have to immediately play against a new one. That is so intense because you could be standing up there fighting for a really long time with no break and no water. Emi said that one time she actually passed out because she couldn’t take a break. I don’t think I could handle it.
Finally, I had to head home because I needed to try to get some work done. We are all so behind on the work that Don is assigning that it’s almost futile at this point. Emi took the train back with me and I showed her around the campus, and my small and really dirty room. She also met a couple of my friends who were around. She is so sweet and I had so much fun with all of them again. I told them that when I get back to Tokyo that I’d like to invite them out to karaoke with me and a few of my friends. They said that they would invite some friends too, and I am really looking forward to it.
After Emi left, I did a little work and tried to upload and organize my pictures. I was so tired though that I didn’t get much done.
Today, I slept in until 11, which was much needed. I talked to Andrew for a couple hours, which was nice. The first time we’ve been able to have a long conversation in a while. After that I had to go to Shinjuku Station to get my rail pass for our trip. I also reserved seats on the train while I was there. I got some curry on the way home and ended up talking to Chris for a little when I got home. I hadn’t heard from him in a while, so it was good to catch up. We were talking a little bit about Ashlyn’s wedding and it just reminds me how much I am missing out on. I really can’t wait to get home and plan out Ashlyn’s big day. I’m so excited for her.
Anyways, the rest of my night is going to be pretty boring. I’m planning on packing and maybe working on a paper and uploading some pictures. Tomorrow I am going to Sendai early in the morning. I don’t really know what is in Sendai, so I’ll have to write about it after I go.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Sumo Wrestling and Henri de Hahn
Friday, May 15th, 2009
It is now almost 1 AM on Friday night here in Tokyo. I last wrote about Wednesday, so let’s catch up again.
Thursday we met as a class in the morning and Don lectured about Tokyo and its post-war development. We talked about the major players, like Kenzo Tange, who seems to be incredibly influential, especially in Japan. We can’t go anywhere without seeing at least a couple of his buildings. What is so fascinating to me about his office is that every project is completely different. You can compare his work and constantly be baffled that all the projects that you’re looking at were designed by the same person. We have a new assignment (we’re all incredibly behind, by the way, including Don) based on a reading by Tange and his proposal for post-war Tokyo. I have yet to read it, but from Don’s lecture it seems a little fantastic to me. It is one of those futuristic designs that is really interesting to think about, but doesn’t really take in to account the way people actually live their lives and use their spaces. As designers, we tend to think that our buildings will change the lifestyles of the people who use them rather than design for the lifestyles of our users. I’m not sure yet which one is a better method, but I’m pretty sure that it’s somewhere in the middle.
Tange’s proposal involved building small city-sized buildings out on Tokyo Bay based on a linear axis, contrary to Tokyo’s chaotic layout. These mega buildings would house the residential aspects of the city, including food and entertainment. The work would be contained on the main land in tube-like structures built off of dispersed vertical cores, providing circulation and structure. As I said, a bit on the side of fantasy for me, but still interesting.
After class we were supposed to go to the site and make some decisions about our project, but the night before, our plans had changed. Thursday was Carisa’s birthday, and it just so happened that a bunch of people were planning on going to a sumo tournament that day. So, rather than do our work, we decided to go watch the sumo wrestling. Before that, we did stop by an educational site on our way. We spent an hour or two inside the Edo-Tokyo Museum by Kiyonori Kikutake, trying to better understand the development of pre-modern Edo into modern Tokyo. The museum was interesting, huge and very modernistic and futuristic in itself; the exhibits were very historical and tried to explain daily life in different time periods in Tokyo.
The sumo stadium was right by the museum. We went in and the stadium was relatively small. Our seats, being cheap, were towards the top of the stadium, as far away from the wrestlers as we could get. It was an amazing experience. I’m very glad I got to go, despite the fact that we sacrificed some of our work to do so. I wish I knew more about the religious and historical aspects of sumo so that I could share them with you, but I don’t. I have plenty of pictures and video, but the quality is relatively low because I was so far away.
After the final matches, at about 6, we headed home, but stopped near our campus to go to dinner at a Korean restaurant for Carisa’s birthday. Jeff and I ended up staying up until 2 finishing our work for the next day so we had some improvement to show Don. It was worth it, but I was tired the next day.
Finally it was Friday. I woke up and went to my meeting with Don. We showed him the Sketchup model we had done and he was happy with our progress. After that, we had to go back to the site, and figured we might as well check out some of the buildings in Shibuya while we were out. We went out at around noon and wandered around and checked out our site conditions until about 3. Then we got food and I bought another router so that everyone can have internet in their rooms since we are split up in the dorms now. Hopefully everyone will pitch in like they are supposed to because the router was $60.
After that, we had an optional meeting with the Head of the Architecture Department at Cal Poly, Henri de Hahn. He is on vacation for a few days here in Japan and is staying at the Tokyo Hyatt where Lost in Translation was filmed. I was very tired, but really wanted to see the building so I went. We got a tour of the 41st floor lobby and a couple of the suites. Then we walked through Shinjuku, which was a little frustrating because we had all already been there, and got dinner. I was a little disappointed with the night because I was under the impression that it was going to be less regimented and conducted mostly at the Hyatt, but overall it turned out to be fun. After dinner, we headed back to the dorms, getting home at around 10. I had some laundry to do and some House episodes to catch up on, so I did that rather than the work I had been planning on doing before I was kept out until 10.
Now it is late and I am meeting up with Yasu and Emi Kondo at noon tomorrow, so I will have to say good night. I will be back either tomorrow or Sunday to write before we go on our next week long trip starting Monday. I still don’t know exactly where we are going, but I’ll keep you updated.
It is now almost 1 AM on Friday night here in Tokyo. I last wrote about Wednesday, so let’s catch up again.
Thursday we met as a class in the morning and Don lectured about Tokyo and its post-war development. We talked about the major players, like Kenzo Tange, who seems to be incredibly influential, especially in Japan. We can’t go anywhere without seeing at least a couple of his buildings. What is so fascinating to me about his office is that every project is completely different. You can compare his work and constantly be baffled that all the projects that you’re looking at were designed by the same person. We have a new assignment (we’re all incredibly behind, by the way, including Don) based on a reading by Tange and his proposal for post-war Tokyo. I have yet to read it, but from Don’s lecture it seems a little fantastic to me. It is one of those futuristic designs that is really interesting to think about, but doesn’t really take in to account the way people actually live their lives and use their spaces. As designers, we tend to think that our buildings will change the lifestyles of the people who use them rather than design for the lifestyles of our users. I’m not sure yet which one is a better method, but I’m pretty sure that it’s somewhere in the middle.
Tange’s proposal involved building small city-sized buildings out on Tokyo Bay based on a linear axis, contrary to Tokyo’s chaotic layout. These mega buildings would house the residential aspects of the city, including food and entertainment. The work would be contained on the main land in tube-like structures built off of dispersed vertical cores, providing circulation and structure. As I said, a bit on the side of fantasy for me, but still interesting.
After class we were supposed to go to the site and make some decisions about our project, but the night before, our plans had changed. Thursday was Carisa’s birthday, and it just so happened that a bunch of people were planning on going to a sumo tournament that day. So, rather than do our work, we decided to go watch the sumo wrestling. Before that, we did stop by an educational site on our way. We spent an hour or two inside the Edo-Tokyo Museum by Kiyonori Kikutake, trying to better understand the development of pre-modern Edo into modern Tokyo. The museum was interesting, huge and very modernistic and futuristic in itself; the exhibits were very historical and tried to explain daily life in different time periods in Tokyo.
The sumo stadium was right by the museum. We went in and the stadium was relatively small. Our seats, being cheap, were towards the top of the stadium, as far away from the wrestlers as we could get. It was an amazing experience. I’m very glad I got to go, despite the fact that we sacrificed some of our work to do so. I wish I knew more about the religious and historical aspects of sumo so that I could share them with you, but I don’t. I have plenty of pictures and video, but the quality is relatively low because I was so far away.
After the final matches, at about 6, we headed home, but stopped near our campus to go to dinner at a Korean restaurant for Carisa’s birthday. Jeff and I ended up staying up until 2 finishing our work for the next day so we had some improvement to show Don. It was worth it, but I was tired the next day.
Finally it was Friday. I woke up and went to my meeting with Don. We showed him the Sketchup model we had done and he was happy with our progress. After that, we had to go back to the site, and figured we might as well check out some of the buildings in Shibuya while we were out. We went out at around noon and wandered around and checked out our site conditions until about 3. Then we got food and I bought another router so that everyone can have internet in their rooms since we are split up in the dorms now. Hopefully everyone will pitch in like they are supposed to because the router was $60.
After that, we had an optional meeting with the Head of the Architecture Department at Cal Poly, Henri de Hahn. He is on vacation for a few days here in Japan and is staying at the Tokyo Hyatt where Lost in Translation was filmed. I was very tired, but really wanted to see the building so I went. We got a tour of the 41st floor lobby and a couple of the suites. Then we walked through Shinjuku, which was a little frustrating because we had all already been there, and got dinner. I was a little disappointed with the night because I was under the impression that it was going to be less regimented and conducted mostly at the Hyatt, but overall it turned out to be fun. After dinner, we headed back to the dorms, getting home at around 10. I had some laundry to do and some House episodes to catch up on, so I did that rather than the work I had been planning on doing before I was kept out until 10.
Now it is late and I am meeting up with Yasu and Emi Kondo at noon tomorrow, so I will have to say good night. I will be back either tomorrow or Sunday to write before we go on our next week long trip starting Monday. I still don’t know exactly where we are going, but I’ll keep you updated.
Hakone and Yokohama
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
I last wrote on Sunday. The last two days, we have been on our own because our dorms in Tokyo were closed for some reason, so we had to find other accommodations.
Jeff and I decided to take this opportunity to go see something that D. Choi was not going to take us to: Mt. Fuji. Way back when we were staying at the Higashiyama Sanjo Hotel in Kyoto, I met a couple from Australia who had told me about the city of Hakone, near Lake Ashi. They told me about this amazing trip that they had just gone on and about the “Hakone Free Pass” for $40. They also gave me a brochure, from which we essentially planned our trip.
We got to Hakone, after issues based on the fact that we had no idea what the name of our hotel was, let alone how to get there, at about 1:30. We checked into our hotel called the Senkei Hotel, and relaxed for a while. Then we went out to explore and bought the Hakone Free Passes at the train station and rode up to Gora to try to see some museums. By that time it was almost 4, so everything was pretty much closed by the time we got there. We went back to the hotel and I took a bath in my first outdoor public bath. Luckily for me, I was the only one there and it was exceptionally nice. Like socially acceptable skinny dipping in a fountain. The view from the bath was nice and just the setting itself, on top of a hill, looking out from the warmth of a bath set in the middle of nature was really incredible.
We woke up early, hoping to go see as much as we could. The first stop was a water fall near our hotel called Tamadare Falls. Unfortunately, it was closed until the 18th due to construction. We were sad, but had too much to see anyways. We headed out to Lake Ashi to do the whole tour and make the most of the $40 we had paid.
At the lake, we walked through the Ancient Cedar Avenue, which was really pretty…beautiful old trees lining a dirt path. At the end of the path, we accidentally headed into the Hakone Detached Palace in Onshi-Hakone Park, which is actually where we wanted to be anyways. There were huge groups of students on a tour there, and we made a few friends because they were excited to speak English to us. The Palace grounds were supposed to have views of Mt. Fuji, but Tuesday was pretty overcast. We could see the mountain, but our cameras were having trouble picking it up. We went up to the observatory point, and tried to get some shots there too…hopefully it will come out better with a little help from Photoshop.
The next stop was the dock at Hakone Machi, to get on a boat to cross the lake and get views of Mt. Fuji from there. The boat turned out to be a pirate ship, and Jeff was like a kid in a candy store, he was practically giddy…it was cute. On the boat, the weather got pretty windy and brought in some more clouds…it felt like we were inside a cloud by the time we got into the dock on the other side of the lake at Togendai. The area itself was very pretty too and I’m glad we went, but it was a little disappointing not to get a good picture of Mt. Fuji.
At Togendai, we took a ropeway up the mountain, which was also supposed to have a view of Fuji. But by this time, there was no hope of us seeing it. We then took a cable car back to Gora Station, so by the end of the day we had pretty much taken every possible means of transportation.
It was after two by this time and there were still a couple places we wanted to see before we had to head to Yokohama and our capsule hotel. We got on a bus and headed to the Hakone Venetian Glass Museum which was about 20 minutes away. The museum was pretty cool and some of the stuff was very pretty, but we pretty much ran through it in order to get back to the bus stop in time to catch the next bus back. We left the museum at around 3.
Back at the Gora Station, we took a train to the Hakone Open Air Museum. The entrance fee was $14, so Jeff didn’t want to go in and we had to catch the last train before 5. So that being the case, I literally ran through the outdoor exhibits. Some of them were really interesting. One was called “Sfera con Stera” by Arnaldo Pomodoro. It was a golden sphere that had parts cut out of it…creating the notion of a landscape or a cityscape in parts. It was very interesting, just placed on the grass as part of a composition of other sculptures. Another interesting and architectural sculpture was the “Curved Space” exhibit by Peter Pearce. This was a bubble structure, creating interesting spaces inside and around the white bubbles.
At about 4:30, because Jeff was waiting, I left the museum so we could head to Yokohama. Figuring out how to get there was another challenge, but we managed it and got into the city at around 8 pm, after train rides and transfers and finding wireless internet so we could find directions. It took us a little while to find our hotel, probably because it was in the basement of a bigger, nicer hotel. It was like a subsection of the Breezebay Hotel in Yokohama. It was called the Sakuragicho Capsule Resort and was actually a lot nicer than I was expecting.
Capsule hotels are very interesting because they really make use of the idea of public space. Your only private space is inside your capsule, which literally consists of a bed. The bath, your locker, shower and toilets are all public and shared. I’m getting pretty used to the whole public bath idea, since this is like the third time I’ve done it. Tuesday night, Jeff and I went out to Mos Burger (really good Japanese burger place) and then went to figure out the internet situation at our hotel so we could do a little work on our project. We ended up at an internet café next door to our hotel, and again, it was surprisingly cool. I wish we had internet café’s like that in the states. You request the number of hours and the type of booth you want (Jeff and I got a private booth for two people) and then you get all the free drinks you want. There are also shower facilities, games, movies all included in the hourly rate. You can also buy food and towels…anything you might really need. Essentially, you could live in an internet café if you needed to.
Jeff and I rented a booth for 2 hours; plenty of time to get a little work done and check our email. Then we headed back to the hotel just to drop off our backpacks. By that time, it was after 11, but we had yet to explore Yokohama, so we went out and wandered a little. We walked towards the bay, where there was a Ferris wheel and a small theme park, along with a shopping mall and some interesting high rises. We saw a couple buildings that are being done for the 150 anniversary of Yokohama Port, but it was dark and I spent quite a bit of time finding out that my camera sucks for night shots.
We wandered around until about 12:30, then we headed back. I went to sleep at about 1 and woke up at 9. We had to check out at 10 and I had to rush to take a shower. We got out in time and then went back to the internet café and watched some movies. I got about 2/3 of the way through The Da Vinci Code before our time was up…I’ll have to finish it later.
After that, we headed to the train station to get back to Tokyo to meet with Don at 2 at the National Youth Center. We presented our sketches and talked about what we plan on doing, but we need to start producing on the computer so we can have presentations, which everyone else had. Our situation over the past couple days made that a little difficult, but we’ll just have to get on it. After we presented, I got to IM with Andrew a little bit, which was nice. I’m starting to miss him a lot, but I’m pretty sure my last month here is going to go by pretty quickly so I need to make the most of it. Finally, at 5, we checked back into our dorms and figured out the internet situation. Tomorrow, we have class at 10 and Jeff and I need to go back to the site to get better measurements, a better feel for the area and do an analysis of a nearby building.
That’s all for now. I’ll post pictures and write more about our project soon.
I last wrote on Sunday. The last two days, we have been on our own because our dorms in Tokyo were closed for some reason, so we had to find other accommodations.
Jeff and I decided to take this opportunity to go see something that D. Choi was not going to take us to: Mt. Fuji. Way back when we were staying at the Higashiyama Sanjo Hotel in Kyoto, I met a couple from Australia who had told me about the city of Hakone, near Lake Ashi. They told me about this amazing trip that they had just gone on and about the “Hakone Free Pass” for $40. They also gave me a brochure, from which we essentially planned our trip.
We got to Hakone, after issues based on the fact that we had no idea what the name of our hotel was, let alone how to get there, at about 1:30. We checked into our hotel called the Senkei Hotel, and relaxed for a while. Then we went out to explore and bought the Hakone Free Passes at the train station and rode up to Gora to try to see some museums. By that time it was almost 4, so everything was pretty much closed by the time we got there. We went back to the hotel and I took a bath in my first outdoor public bath. Luckily for me, I was the only one there and it was exceptionally nice. Like socially acceptable skinny dipping in a fountain. The view from the bath was nice and just the setting itself, on top of a hill, looking out from the warmth of a bath set in the middle of nature was really incredible.
We woke up early, hoping to go see as much as we could. The first stop was a water fall near our hotel called Tamadare Falls. Unfortunately, it was closed until the 18th due to construction. We were sad, but had too much to see anyways. We headed out to Lake Ashi to do the whole tour and make the most of the $40 we had paid.
At the lake, we walked through the Ancient Cedar Avenue, which was really pretty…beautiful old trees lining a dirt path. At the end of the path, we accidentally headed into the Hakone Detached Palace in Onshi-Hakone Park, which is actually where we wanted to be anyways. There were huge groups of students on a tour there, and we made a few friends because they were excited to speak English to us. The Palace grounds were supposed to have views of Mt. Fuji, but Tuesday was pretty overcast. We could see the mountain, but our cameras were having trouble picking it up. We went up to the observatory point, and tried to get some shots there too…hopefully it will come out better with a little help from Photoshop.
The next stop was the dock at Hakone Machi, to get on a boat to cross the lake and get views of Mt. Fuji from there. The boat turned out to be a pirate ship, and Jeff was like a kid in a candy store, he was practically giddy…it was cute. On the boat, the weather got pretty windy and brought in some more clouds…it felt like we were inside a cloud by the time we got into the dock on the other side of the lake at Togendai. The area itself was very pretty too and I’m glad we went, but it was a little disappointing not to get a good picture of Mt. Fuji.
At Togendai, we took a ropeway up the mountain, which was also supposed to have a view of Fuji. But by this time, there was no hope of us seeing it. We then took a cable car back to Gora Station, so by the end of the day we had pretty much taken every possible means of transportation.
It was after two by this time and there were still a couple places we wanted to see before we had to head to Yokohama and our capsule hotel. We got on a bus and headed to the Hakone Venetian Glass Museum which was about 20 minutes away. The museum was pretty cool and some of the stuff was very pretty, but we pretty much ran through it in order to get back to the bus stop in time to catch the next bus back. We left the museum at around 3.
Back at the Gora Station, we took a train to the Hakone Open Air Museum. The entrance fee was $14, so Jeff didn’t want to go in and we had to catch the last train before 5. So that being the case, I literally ran through the outdoor exhibits. Some of them were really interesting. One was called “Sfera con Stera” by Arnaldo Pomodoro. It was a golden sphere that had parts cut out of it…creating the notion of a landscape or a cityscape in parts. It was very interesting, just placed on the grass as part of a composition of other sculptures. Another interesting and architectural sculpture was the “Curved Space” exhibit by Peter Pearce. This was a bubble structure, creating interesting spaces inside and around the white bubbles.
At about 4:30, because Jeff was waiting, I left the museum so we could head to Yokohama. Figuring out how to get there was another challenge, but we managed it and got into the city at around 8 pm, after train rides and transfers and finding wireless internet so we could find directions. It took us a little while to find our hotel, probably because it was in the basement of a bigger, nicer hotel. It was like a subsection of the Breezebay Hotel in Yokohama. It was called the Sakuragicho Capsule Resort and was actually a lot nicer than I was expecting.
Capsule hotels are very interesting because they really make use of the idea of public space. Your only private space is inside your capsule, which literally consists of a bed. The bath, your locker, shower and toilets are all public and shared. I’m getting pretty used to the whole public bath idea, since this is like the third time I’ve done it. Tuesday night, Jeff and I went out to Mos Burger (really good Japanese burger place) and then went to figure out the internet situation at our hotel so we could do a little work on our project. We ended up at an internet café next door to our hotel, and again, it was surprisingly cool. I wish we had internet café’s like that in the states. You request the number of hours and the type of booth you want (Jeff and I got a private booth for two people) and then you get all the free drinks you want. There are also shower facilities, games, movies all included in the hourly rate. You can also buy food and towels…anything you might really need. Essentially, you could live in an internet café if you needed to.
Jeff and I rented a booth for 2 hours; plenty of time to get a little work done and check our email. Then we headed back to the hotel just to drop off our backpacks. By that time, it was after 11, but we had yet to explore Yokohama, so we went out and wandered a little. We walked towards the bay, where there was a Ferris wheel and a small theme park, along with a shopping mall and some interesting high rises. We saw a couple buildings that are being done for the 150 anniversary of Yokohama Port, but it was dark and I spent quite a bit of time finding out that my camera sucks for night shots.
We wandered around until about 12:30, then we headed back. I went to sleep at about 1 and woke up at 9. We had to check out at 10 and I had to rush to take a shower. We got out in time and then went back to the internet café and watched some movies. I got about 2/3 of the way through The Da Vinci Code before our time was up…I’ll have to finish it later.
After that, we headed to the train station to get back to Tokyo to meet with Don at 2 at the National Youth Center. We presented our sketches and talked about what we plan on doing, but we need to start producing on the computer so we can have presentations, which everyone else had. Our situation over the past couple days made that a little difficult, but we’ll just have to get on it. After we presented, I got to IM with Andrew a little bit, which was nice. I’m starting to miss him a lot, but I’m pretty sure my last month here is going to go by pretty quickly so I need to make the most of it. Finally, at 5, we checked back into our dorms and figured out the internet situation. Tomorrow, we have class at 10 and Jeff and I need to go back to the site to get better measurements, a better feel for the area and do an analysis of a nearby building.
That’s all for now. I’ll post pictures and write more about our project soon.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Shinjuku through Ginza/Odaiba
Sorry it's been a few days.
It's now 10:30 pm on Sunday, May 10th. I last wrote on Tuesday, so let's catch up.
Tuesday night Carisa and I went to an Indian curry place near our campus. I love Indian curry, so I was happy. The class also had a "meeting" during which people who were upset with our lodging were allowed the chance to "voice their complaints". It was pretty much a bitching fest. I grew bored pretty early with it, and made it clear that I'm fine with our situation as long as internet got figured out (which it obviously has). After that, Carisa and I watched Iron Man and then went to bed.
Wednesday we had class at 10 am. Our final project was assigned, which is a mixed-use building in one of the busier districts in Tokyo: Shibuya. It is not that far from our dorms (less than a 30 minute walk), so after class Jeff and I walked down there to pick a site in the designated area. It was raining so it wasn't incredibly pleasant. We got lunch at Denny's (which is about 20 times better here than it is in the US) then we wandered around and checked out the area that Don had designated for us to choose a potential site from. We found a very narrow site in an interesting part of Shibuya. It is right next to a big department store called The Loft and had exposure on all 4 sides, which is rare in an urban setting, but it is also essentially an island in the middle of traffic. We have some pretty interesting ideas about creating a partnership with The Loft and allowing a physical connection between our building and theirs.
Thursday we had class again at 10. D. Choi lectured on the historical process of the development of Tokyo, from the Edo period. It is always interesting to compare the development of castle towns, like Tokyo, to towns planned and organized on a grid. The methods of organization and land distribution are so different, and can make castle towns somewhat difficult to navigate. Unfortunately, most of the historical architecture in Tokyo has been destroyed over the years, either by fires, earthquakes or war.
After class, we all took a trip to Shinjuku, which is a very busy district of Tokyo, with the world's busiest subway station. We mostly were trying to get a feel for the district, which is mostly mid to high rise buildings and many department stores. We saw the Tokyo Metropolitan Government/City Hall building by Kenzo Tange. This is a perfect example of Tokyo's tendency to borrow from western culture and design. Tange himself has said that this building was influenced by Notre Dame de Paris, and you can definitely notice it. The design consists of two towers, and definitely has a Gothic feel to it. We also passed by MODE Gakuen's "Cocoon Tower", also by Tange. It is so interesting to me that these two buildings were designed by the same architect because they are so different. The MODE building literally looks like a cocoon, with pieces wrapping upwards, and gaps filled with glass. At the top, it almost looks like a bird's nest. The form seems to be very organically influenced, as opposed to the almost ridged structure of the City Hall. We also headed towards Chuo Koen, or "Central Park". This is just another example of borrowed ideas. Shinjuku is a big area, and there is definitely more I'd like to see there. Hopefully I will be able to make it back there.
The rest of Thursday was spent working on site analysis and basic ideas/inspiration for our project. To be honest, Jeff and I just sort of threw some stuff together for class the next day.
On Friday, we did a brief presentation during class, and found out that two other groups picked the same site as we did. Oh well...not too much we can do about it. The feedback was useful, we just need to get motivated to work on the design inspiration.
I had some free time so I got to talk to Andrew and my family. It was good to talk to everyone. I wouldn't say that I'm getting homesick, but I am starting to look forward to going home in a month. I think the 3 month trip is a perfect amount of time. I'm pretty sure that I'll be heading home right when I will be ready to.
Friday afternoon/evening, Jeff and I went and explored Harajuku. I really like this district. It is the major fashion district in Tokyo and the major streets are lined with huge clothing stores. We used our architectural guide books to help us see everything we wanted to, and we pretty much exhausted the area in terms of seeing the buildings it has to offer. We saw way too many of them to list them all, but I'll talk about a few that I found most interesting.
The first one is called the Wedge by Edward Suzuki. The building itself has an intentional crack up its facade. I thought the idea was interesting but wish that more had been done with the crack in terms of allowing light into the building and peaks of the program to the street.
The next two buildings that caught my eyes were the Dior Omotesando by Kazuyo Seijima + Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA and Tod's Omotesando Building by Toyo Ito. The Dior building is essentially a large semi-opaque glass box and was very nice lit up at night. The Tod building was beautifully done. It was pretty much a simple glass facade with an abstract pattern across the front that gave off the feeling of a tree. At night, it was as if you could see light peeking through the branches of a large forest...it was beautiful.
After that, we saw the Prada Boutique Aoyama by Herzog & de Meuron (a famous firm). The building was nicely done, but was a little disappointing at night. The facade is made of bubbling glass in a diamond grid. Just across a small street, we saw the Cartier building, which was very impressively done. The form itself was interesting and the composition of the Cartier building with the building behind it was spectacular. Unfortunately, I do not know who designed it, so I cannot give proper praise.
A little later in the evening, we saw Villa Moderna by Sakakura Associates. This is a housing complex done in the typical 'modern' style of the 1960's (1970's in Japan). Usually these modern buildings feel somewhat cold to me, but this building seemed very well done. The units offset one another, creating a somewhat jagged and angular step back of the concrete. This move created a nice courtyard and entrance to the building, and the units gave off a soft glow.
After we were done exploring, we got Subway for dinner (so good!) and then watched The Dark Knight. I couldn't fall asleep, so I was up til 4 am watching South Park.
Saturday, the class was going to Asakusa, but I already went there with Kumi, Emi and Yasu. Instead, I went to Amlux, a Toyota show room in Sunshine City, near Ikebukuro Station. It was an interesting building and the interior looked nice, but I unfortunately didn't have time to go in. I had to meet back up with the group at 1 to go to Ueno Park.
I got there just in time, after spending much too long figuring out the complex public transit system of Tokyo. Ueno Park is great. We went to a few museums, but only went into the National Museum and a renovation by Tadao Ando. The National Museum is interesting because it is a "European" stone building, with a traditional Japanese roof on it. It was somewhat bizzare and the obviously Euro-knock off style of the surrounding museums was just as disorienting. It is strange to see how much Tokyo has taken from the outside world. The Ando museum was typical Ando...just amazing.
After the museums, we went around the park, stopping at a small amusement park, and to take a ride in a swan paddle boat for a while. We found the only other white people on the lake and decided to mess with them a little. We followed them around and raced with them and pretty much made asses of ourselves, but it was fun. It was just Jeff, Blake and I.
That night consisted of more curry and South Park.
Today we went to Ginza, which used to be the major fashion district in Tokyo. This was the place where most of the initial western influence entered Tokyo. The major building we saw was the Tokyo International Forum by Rafeal Vinoly. The building is absurdly large for its program, but the structure and form is really quite incredible. The interior space is huge and the curved, drop-like plan creates an interesting experience. The structure of the building itself was enough to impress, but the fact that the form was also well designed, makes it a somewhat rare building.
The other important place we went today was an island called Odaiba. There we saw the Fuji TV Building by Kenzo Tange (we've noticed that he's everywhere). The building is again, interesting but strange. It consists of mostly void, balanced by two 'buildings' on either end, connected by a series of square tubes, with a sphere balanced towards the top. We went up into the sphere (an observatory) and got a very nice view of the city.
We also saw the Venus Fort, which is a shopping mall designed based on the Venetian in Las Vegas. They did a good job if that was the goal; the building was very reminiscent of Vegas. It was actually a fun place for shopping and hanging out. We also spent a little time at the Toyota Show Room.
We saw another Kenzo Tange building, which, of course, looks nothing like the first one. It is called the Tokyo Fashion Town Building and is actually somewhat conservative. If you're interested, you should look up this building and compare it to the Fuji TV building. Keep in mind that they were designed by the same office, under the same architect.
The last building we saw was the Tokyo International Exhibition Center by AXS SATOW INC. To be honest, this looks like a strange, triangulated space ship that has awkwardly landed on our earth. Again, a strange but interesting design.
Finally, we were done and headed back to Ginza for dinner. We got some pizza and gyoza and then came home. Tomorrow, we have to be out of our dorms by 9 am. We are all going our seperate ways for the next couple days. Jeff and I have decided to go to Hakone, for hot springs and views of Mt. Fuji. On Tuesday we will head to Yokohama to stay in a capsule hotel, which should be a very interesting experience. On Wednesday, when I get back into Tokyo, I will officially only have one month left in Japan. I don't know whether or not I will have internet tomorrow, but I should have it on Tuesday for sure, so I'll be back then.
Sorry there's so much...but I had to catch up. Love you all.
It's now 10:30 pm on Sunday, May 10th. I last wrote on Tuesday, so let's catch up.
Tuesday night Carisa and I went to an Indian curry place near our campus. I love Indian curry, so I was happy. The class also had a "meeting" during which people who were upset with our lodging were allowed the chance to "voice their complaints". It was pretty much a bitching fest. I grew bored pretty early with it, and made it clear that I'm fine with our situation as long as internet got figured out (which it obviously has). After that, Carisa and I watched Iron Man and then went to bed.
Wednesday we had class at 10 am. Our final project was assigned, which is a mixed-use building in one of the busier districts in Tokyo: Shibuya. It is not that far from our dorms (less than a 30 minute walk), so after class Jeff and I walked down there to pick a site in the designated area. It was raining so it wasn't incredibly pleasant. We got lunch at Denny's (which is about 20 times better here than it is in the US) then we wandered around and checked out the area that Don had designated for us to choose a potential site from. We found a very narrow site in an interesting part of Shibuya. It is right next to a big department store called The Loft and had exposure on all 4 sides, which is rare in an urban setting, but it is also essentially an island in the middle of traffic. We have some pretty interesting ideas about creating a partnership with The Loft and allowing a physical connection between our building and theirs.
Thursday we had class again at 10. D. Choi lectured on the historical process of the development of Tokyo, from the Edo period. It is always interesting to compare the development of castle towns, like Tokyo, to towns planned and organized on a grid. The methods of organization and land distribution are so different, and can make castle towns somewhat difficult to navigate. Unfortunately, most of the historical architecture in Tokyo has been destroyed over the years, either by fires, earthquakes or war.
After class, we all took a trip to Shinjuku, which is a very busy district of Tokyo, with the world's busiest subway station. We mostly were trying to get a feel for the district, which is mostly mid to high rise buildings and many department stores. We saw the Tokyo Metropolitan Government/City Hall building by Kenzo Tange. This is a perfect example of Tokyo's tendency to borrow from western culture and design. Tange himself has said that this building was influenced by Notre Dame de Paris, and you can definitely notice it. The design consists of two towers, and definitely has a Gothic feel to it. We also passed by MODE Gakuen's "Cocoon Tower", also by Tange. It is so interesting to me that these two buildings were designed by the same architect because they are so different. The MODE building literally looks like a cocoon, with pieces wrapping upwards, and gaps filled with glass. At the top, it almost looks like a bird's nest. The form seems to be very organically influenced, as opposed to the almost ridged structure of the City Hall. We also headed towards Chuo Koen, or "Central Park". This is just another example of borrowed ideas. Shinjuku is a big area, and there is definitely more I'd like to see there. Hopefully I will be able to make it back there.
The rest of Thursday was spent working on site analysis and basic ideas/inspiration for our project. To be honest, Jeff and I just sort of threw some stuff together for class the next day.
On Friday, we did a brief presentation during class, and found out that two other groups picked the same site as we did. Oh well...not too much we can do about it. The feedback was useful, we just need to get motivated to work on the design inspiration.
I had some free time so I got to talk to Andrew and my family. It was good to talk to everyone. I wouldn't say that I'm getting homesick, but I am starting to look forward to going home in a month. I think the 3 month trip is a perfect amount of time. I'm pretty sure that I'll be heading home right when I will be ready to.
Friday afternoon/evening, Jeff and I went and explored Harajuku. I really like this district. It is the major fashion district in Tokyo and the major streets are lined with huge clothing stores. We used our architectural guide books to help us see everything we wanted to, and we pretty much exhausted the area in terms of seeing the buildings it has to offer. We saw way too many of them to list them all, but I'll talk about a few that I found most interesting.
The first one is called the Wedge by Edward Suzuki. The building itself has an intentional crack up its facade. I thought the idea was interesting but wish that more had been done with the crack in terms of allowing light into the building and peaks of the program to the street.
The next two buildings that caught my eyes were the Dior Omotesando by Kazuyo Seijima + Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA and Tod's Omotesando Building by Toyo Ito. The Dior building is essentially a large semi-opaque glass box and was very nice lit up at night. The Tod building was beautifully done. It was pretty much a simple glass facade with an abstract pattern across the front that gave off the feeling of a tree. At night, it was as if you could see light peeking through the branches of a large forest...it was beautiful.
After that, we saw the Prada Boutique Aoyama by Herzog & de Meuron (a famous firm). The building was nicely done, but was a little disappointing at night. The facade is made of bubbling glass in a diamond grid. Just across a small street, we saw the Cartier building, which was very impressively done. The form itself was interesting and the composition of the Cartier building with the building behind it was spectacular. Unfortunately, I do not know who designed it, so I cannot give proper praise.
A little later in the evening, we saw Villa Moderna by Sakakura Associates. This is a housing complex done in the typical 'modern' style of the 1960's (1970's in Japan). Usually these modern buildings feel somewhat cold to me, but this building seemed very well done. The units offset one another, creating a somewhat jagged and angular step back of the concrete. This move created a nice courtyard and entrance to the building, and the units gave off a soft glow.
After we were done exploring, we got Subway for dinner (so good!) and then watched The Dark Knight. I couldn't fall asleep, so I was up til 4 am watching South Park.
Saturday, the class was going to Asakusa, but I already went there with Kumi, Emi and Yasu. Instead, I went to Amlux, a Toyota show room in Sunshine City, near Ikebukuro Station. It was an interesting building and the interior looked nice, but I unfortunately didn't have time to go in. I had to meet back up with the group at 1 to go to Ueno Park.
I got there just in time, after spending much too long figuring out the complex public transit system of Tokyo. Ueno Park is great. We went to a few museums, but only went into the National Museum and a renovation by Tadao Ando. The National Museum is interesting because it is a "European" stone building, with a traditional Japanese roof on it. It was somewhat bizzare and the obviously Euro-knock off style of the surrounding museums was just as disorienting. It is strange to see how much Tokyo has taken from the outside world. The Ando museum was typical Ando...just amazing.
After the museums, we went around the park, stopping at a small amusement park, and to take a ride in a swan paddle boat for a while. We found the only other white people on the lake and decided to mess with them a little. We followed them around and raced with them and pretty much made asses of ourselves, but it was fun. It was just Jeff, Blake and I.
That night consisted of more curry and South Park.
Today we went to Ginza, which used to be the major fashion district in Tokyo. This was the place where most of the initial western influence entered Tokyo. The major building we saw was the Tokyo International Forum by Rafeal Vinoly. The building is absurdly large for its program, but the structure and form is really quite incredible. The interior space is huge and the curved, drop-like plan creates an interesting experience. The structure of the building itself was enough to impress, but the fact that the form was also well designed, makes it a somewhat rare building.
The other important place we went today was an island called Odaiba. There we saw the Fuji TV Building by Kenzo Tange (we've noticed that he's everywhere). The building is again, interesting but strange. It consists of mostly void, balanced by two 'buildings' on either end, connected by a series of square tubes, with a sphere balanced towards the top. We went up into the sphere (an observatory) and got a very nice view of the city.
We also saw the Venus Fort, which is a shopping mall designed based on the Venetian in Las Vegas. They did a good job if that was the goal; the building was very reminiscent of Vegas. It was actually a fun place for shopping and hanging out. We also spent a little time at the Toyota Show Room.
We saw another Kenzo Tange building, which, of course, looks nothing like the first one. It is called the Tokyo Fashion Town Building and is actually somewhat conservative. If you're interested, you should look up this building and compare it to the Fuji TV building. Keep in mind that they were designed by the same office, under the same architect.
The last building we saw was the Tokyo International Exhibition Center by AXS SATOW INC. To be honest, this looks like a strange, triangulated space ship that has awkwardly landed on our earth. Again, a strange but interesting design.
Finally, we were done and headed back to Ginza for dinner. We got some pizza and gyoza and then came home. Tomorrow, we have to be out of our dorms by 9 am. We are all going our seperate ways for the next couple days. Jeff and I have decided to go to Hakone, for hot springs and views of Mt. Fuji. On Tuesday we will head to Yokohama to stay in a capsule hotel, which should be a very interesting experience. On Wednesday, when I get back into Tokyo, I will officially only have one month left in Japan. I don't know whether or not I will have internet tomorrow, but I should have it on Tuesday for sure, so I'll be back then.
Sorry there's so much...but I had to catch up. Love you all.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Japanese Exposure and The Move
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
I last wrote on Sunday, my second day in Tokyo. Monday was a very interesting day for me. At 10, we met briefly as a class to discuss some new assignments and our moving arrangements for the next day. After that, I got to talk to Andrew for a little bit while I got ready for the rest of my day.
At noon, I was supposed to meet a business associate of my dad and his children in the lobby of my hotel. His name is Yoshio Kondo and I think he has known my dad for close to 20 years. I was in the lobby at noon, waiting to meet him and his children when three people walked into the hotel, who looked a little older than me. I thought maybe this was them, but they were all close to my age, so then I thought maybe not. Plus, I didn’t want to just assume that people speak English here and go up and ask if they are looking for me. Finally, one of them approached me and asked if I was Britney. I said yes, and she got very excited and introduced me to her siblings. We exchanged awkward greetings and I gave them the bottle of wine I brought from California. They explained that they were sorry, but their father could not make it to our meeting because his health is not so good.
The oldest is Kumiko (Kumi). She is 27 and works at a trading company, and so she is essentially fluent in English, which was lucky for me since I speak very, very little Japanese. Yasu is the brother who is 25 or 26 I think, and he is working very hard at learning English right now. Emiko (Emi) is a year older than me and is finishing law school right now. She will work for Citibank and they told her that speaking English was not optional, as she may be asked to work in another country. They are all incredibly nice and I was so glad, because we ended up having a lot of fun together and teaching each other a lot about our different cultures and languages.
They took me to a part of Tokyo that was new to me: Asakusa. There, they took me to lunch at a Russian place that they have been to many times. It was an incredibly nice meal, with multiple courses. First I had a seafood salad, followed by a cold and sweet pumpkin soup and then the main course of a hamburg (which is a burger without the bun) with vegetables. Finally, we had tea or coffee and desert comprised of a caramel pudding and fruit. It was definitely one of the best meals I’ve had here. It was also very pleasant because as we grew more comfortable with each other, we started joking and talking about the differences between our cultures. Poor Yasu; he has only been studying English for a few months and already he has caught on very well, but he would be in the middle of asking me a question and then would have to ask his sister for a certain word, and I could tell it was a little frustrating for him. He was also a little self-conscious about his English at first, but he grew more relaxed as the day went on, which actually helped to improve his speech.
After lunch, we went briefly to a tourist spot, which was very crowded because it is Golden Week in Japan, meaning everyone is on vacation right now. There were many traditional Japanese street vendors lining the way towards the Sensoji Temple, with the Kaminarimon Gate marking its entrance. We did not stay long because it was very crowded, but the temple was very nice. It was actually somewhat unique to see the stands lining the walkway right in front of the temple, as it seems that they are usually pulled farther off the religious property. The temple itself looked very similar to many of the temples we have seen, with its wood structure painted red and white and its traditional tile roof becoming a dominant feature. What was unique about the Sensoji Temple was its ceiling. On the inside, there are large paintings done on the ceiling, above a large golden shrine for worship. We threw coins into the shrine and prayed. Kumi explained to me that some coins are better than others to throw. You should not throw a 10 yen coin, for example, because of multiple meanings of the word for 10. Usually, “ju” is used, but one can also use “to” (pronounced toe) which also means people. The word “yen” can also be read to mean relationships. So if you throw a 10 yen coin, it is implying that you will have difficulty with human relationships. I thought this was very interesting, and though it was a little difficult for her to explain to me, I’m very glad that Kumi took the time to help me understand.
After our sight-seeing, Emi invited me back to their house because Yoshio very much wanted to meet me. I was very happy to have been invited since I had really been looking forward to meeting them all, so we all took a taxi to their home in central Tokyo. Their neighborhood is very nice, though not exactly what I expected for downtown Tokyo, I must admit. It is quiet and cute, with little single family homes rather than the high-rise apartments one might expect. I’m sure that this was just their immediate area, but it was very nice to get to see a typical Japanese home in Tokyo.
When we entered the house, we were greeted by the barking of their dog, which they had warned me about. I met Yoshio and his wife, with the dog barking wildly in the background the entire time. They offered for me to give her a treat or two so that maybe she would calm down. I took one, set it on the ground and said “matte” which I guessed means wait. When I felt like she could take it, I said “yoshi”. She pounced on the treat, so I did the ritual again, trying to develop at least a mutual indifference. She also pounced on this treat, but after it was gone, she went right back to barking at me and actually bit me. Fortunately, she is a wiener dog…not very threatening. Her bite didn’t even break the skin and was actually somewhat pathetic. They took her into a different room after making sure that I was alright and apologizing profusely. They said that she barks and acts like that with every guest…I’m surprised that the dog is still alive or at least that they still have it.
Anyways, their mother (I feel terrible, but I don’t think I ever caught her name) served us iced lemon tea, which was delicious, and we all sat down and talked. I asked Yoshio how he had met my father and how long they had known each other. It is amazing that they have known each other for almost as long as I have been alive. They asked me what I had seen in Japan, and what my plans were for the rest of my time here. Yasu also showed me a youtube clip of the “Japanese Beyonce”. It was very funny. It is this female Japanese comedian who does impersonations. She studied Beyonce’s movements and dancing until she could imitate it almost perfectly. She lip-synchs the songs and does the movements to them and it is really funny. If you get a chance, go to youtube and search for Japanese Beyonce. After that, Yoshio said that he would like me to join them for dinner. Again, I was grateful for the invitation.
Yasu also asked me about places he should see in Kyoto since he was going there for a short trip the next day. I suggested Kiyomizudera, Sanjusangendo and Fushimi Inari, since they are all in the same area and he only had a day. I told him that he should try to see Katsura some time, but it seems like it takes a lot more time for citizens to be able to schedule a tour for some reason.
To give Yasu time to pack before dinner, Kumi, Emi and I walked around their area. We saw some shops and they told me that the area is becoming more of a sight-seeing and touristy area. They took me to this beautiful street, which is actually called Gravestone Street, because there is a cemetery that is cuts through. It was quite beautiful though, with large cherry blossom trees lining it. Unfortunately, the cherry blossom season is over, but I could imagine that the walk along that road would have been incredible about a month ago. At the end of the street we stopped briefly at a small temple. We passed by a few more on our walk, but it was past 5 pm so they were all closed. I’m glad I got to spend some time with just the girls because I think we got to know each other better. Emi invited me to an event this Saturday. It has something to do with candles and a gym…I think it is some sort of custom that she does as a hobby, but I am not exactly sure what to expect. I told her that I would do my best to go because it sounds very interesting. The three of us talked about boys and school and jobs and English, until finally, we headed to the Indian Curry restaurant where we would meet the rest of their family for dinner.
At the restaurant, they asked me to teach them some slang, so I did. I tried to keep it pretty harmless, but you all know I have a mouth on me lol. It made me laugh because Kumi was taking notes…it was pretty cute. She kept saying “I want to know, I want to know!” It was a lot of fun. Earlier at lunch, I taught them “screw it” as being equivalent to “forget it” and Kumi wrote down “Let’s screw it”…I told her that she probably would want to drop the “let’s”, as it implies something else lol. Before dinner, I tried to teach them some things that are a little more harmless like “I’m stoked” or something is sweet, or tight, or baller. Of course we all ended up laughing.
The rest of the family showed up and we ordered our curry. I was so excited because I love curry, especially Indian curry. I got a chicken masala curry, mostly because it sounded delicious and was also not very expensive, since this was the second meal of the day that they were treating me to. Emi had to leave a little early to go tutor junior high school students in English, which is her part-time job. Hopefully I’ll get to see her on Saturday. After dinner, Yasu and Kumi went with me all the way back to my hotel, which was not necessary but was very sweet of them. Before we left, I thanked Yoshio for his hospitality and told him that I was very glad to have met him. At the end of the night, I gave them all my email so hopefully I will get to see them all again before I have to leave. The entire day was just an amazing experience and I was astonished by their generosity and attention. They fed me, gave me a tour of their city, invited me into their home…it was just amazing. By the time the day was over, I felt bad, to be honest, because they had paid for everything, insisting when I even tried. It was very sweet, but if you know me, you also know that it makes me uncomfortable when other people pay for me, so of course, I felt bad. I will just have to try to return the favor before I leave, and if Emi does end up in California, I would like to show her the same generosity and welcoming that they have given me.
I got home at around 8 and did some work, but I have been having insomnia lately so I stayed up til 1 or 1:30 watching House. I’m all caught up now so hopefully that will be the end of that.
Today, we moved from the Toyoko Inn to the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center near Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. Check out was at 10, but we weren’t leaving the area until 1, since we couldn’t check in at the Youth Center until 3…kinda complicated huh? So Jeff, Blake and I wandered around for a while and then just hung out until 1, when we left for our new housing.
The National Olympic Memorial Youth Center is probably the worst place I have ever stayed lol. The rooms are only $11 a night. They are tiny and we have a communal bathroom and shower. None of this is too big of a deal to me, but there is also an issue with internet. We have to pay for the internet, $5 a day. It’s not too bad, because it’s still much cheaper than any other place, and I’m pretty sure I can deal with almost anything for a month. It is also somewhat difficult to get anywhere besides the park from our new “campus”. What’s nice about the place is that it is almost a campus. We have a classroom here every morning and there are restaurants and a gym and a pool…none of which are free or even cheap, but that’s ok. The major issues are the internet and all the rules. The front gate is locked at 11, which isn’t a huge issue because we can still use the service gate. The worst part is that the rooms are dirty. The comforter on my bed is…nasty to be honest. There’s crap all over the walls and dust in the corners of the ceiling…it’s pretty bad. Also, we are not allowed to have food or drink in our rooms, classrooms or lounge area. I’m just not really sure where I’m allowed to eat in this place lol. I think we may have the internet situation figured out, and if that’s the case I can definitely deal with being here for a month if it means I get to see Tokyo. Unfortunately, it also means that I won’t be able to be online as often, so I am writing my blogs in word, and then posting them when I can. I apologize to my faithful readers lol. Anyways, that’s it for now. Pretty much everyone in the group is really upset with the living situation, but I don’t think it’s really that big of a deal. Tomorrow we have class at 10 in the morning and I have no idea what’s in store after that. Jeff and I decided to work on our final project together, but I don’t think either one of us is that motivated to work too hard on it. We’ll see how it progresses. Hopefully we can make it out to the site tomorrow so Jeff and I can pick an area and a specific site/program. My plan is to keep it as simple as possible lol. More on Tokyo to come.
I last wrote on Sunday, my second day in Tokyo. Monday was a very interesting day for me. At 10, we met briefly as a class to discuss some new assignments and our moving arrangements for the next day. After that, I got to talk to Andrew for a little bit while I got ready for the rest of my day.
At noon, I was supposed to meet a business associate of my dad and his children in the lobby of my hotel. His name is Yoshio Kondo and I think he has known my dad for close to 20 years. I was in the lobby at noon, waiting to meet him and his children when three people walked into the hotel, who looked a little older than me. I thought maybe this was them, but they were all close to my age, so then I thought maybe not. Plus, I didn’t want to just assume that people speak English here and go up and ask if they are looking for me. Finally, one of them approached me and asked if I was Britney. I said yes, and she got very excited and introduced me to her siblings. We exchanged awkward greetings and I gave them the bottle of wine I brought from California. They explained that they were sorry, but their father could not make it to our meeting because his health is not so good.
The oldest is Kumiko (Kumi). She is 27 and works at a trading company, and so she is essentially fluent in English, which was lucky for me since I speak very, very little Japanese. Yasu is the brother who is 25 or 26 I think, and he is working very hard at learning English right now. Emiko (Emi) is a year older than me and is finishing law school right now. She will work for Citibank and they told her that speaking English was not optional, as she may be asked to work in another country. They are all incredibly nice and I was so glad, because we ended up having a lot of fun together and teaching each other a lot about our different cultures and languages.
They took me to a part of Tokyo that was new to me: Asakusa. There, they took me to lunch at a Russian place that they have been to many times. It was an incredibly nice meal, with multiple courses. First I had a seafood salad, followed by a cold and sweet pumpkin soup and then the main course of a hamburg (which is a burger without the bun) with vegetables. Finally, we had tea or coffee and desert comprised of a caramel pudding and fruit. It was definitely one of the best meals I’ve had here. It was also very pleasant because as we grew more comfortable with each other, we started joking and talking about the differences between our cultures. Poor Yasu; he has only been studying English for a few months and already he has caught on very well, but he would be in the middle of asking me a question and then would have to ask his sister for a certain word, and I could tell it was a little frustrating for him. He was also a little self-conscious about his English at first, but he grew more relaxed as the day went on, which actually helped to improve his speech.
After lunch, we went briefly to a tourist spot, which was very crowded because it is Golden Week in Japan, meaning everyone is on vacation right now. There were many traditional Japanese street vendors lining the way towards the Sensoji Temple, with the Kaminarimon Gate marking its entrance. We did not stay long because it was very crowded, but the temple was very nice. It was actually somewhat unique to see the stands lining the walkway right in front of the temple, as it seems that they are usually pulled farther off the religious property. The temple itself looked very similar to many of the temples we have seen, with its wood structure painted red and white and its traditional tile roof becoming a dominant feature. What was unique about the Sensoji Temple was its ceiling. On the inside, there are large paintings done on the ceiling, above a large golden shrine for worship. We threw coins into the shrine and prayed. Kumi explained to me that some coins are better than others to throw. You should not throw a 10 yen coin, for example, because of multiple meanings of the word for 10. Usually, “ju” is used, but one can also use “to” (pronounced toe) which also means people. The word “yen” can also be read to mean relationships. So if you throw a 10 yen coin, it is implying that you will have difficulty with human relationships. I thought this was very interesting, and though it was a little difficult for her to explain to me, I’m very glad that Kumi took the time to help me understand.
After our sight-seeing, Emi invited me back to their house because Yoshio very much wanted to meet me. I was very happy to have been invited since I had really been looking forward to meeting them all, so we all took a taxi to their home in central Tokyo. Their neighborhood is very nice, though not exactly what I expected for downtown Tokyo, I must admit. It is quiet and cute, with little single family homes rather than the high-rise apartments one might expect. I’m sure that this was just their immediate area, but it was very nice to get to see a typical Japanese home in Tokyo.
When we entered the house, we were greeted by the barking of their dog, which they had warned me about. I met Yoshio and his wife, with the dog barking wildly in the background the entire time. They offered for me to give her a treat or two so that maybe she would calm down. I took one, set it on the ground and said “matte” which I guessed means wait. When I felt like she could take it, I said “yoshi”. She pounced on the treat, so I did the ritual again, trying to develop at least a mutual indifference. She also pounced on this treat, but after it was gone, she went right back to barking at me and actually bit me. Fortunately, she is a wiener dog…not very threatening. Her bite didn’t even break the skin and was actually somewhat pathetic. They took her into a different room after making sure that I was alright and apologizing profusely. They said that she barks and acts like that with every guest…I’m surprised that the dog is still alive or at least that they still have it.
Anyways, their mother (I feel terrible, but I don’t think I ever caught her name) served us iced lemon tea, which was delicious, and we all sat down and talked. I asked Yoshio how he had met my father and how long they had known each other. It is amazing that they have known each other for almost as long as I have been alive. They asked me what I had seen in Japan, and what my plans were for the rest of my time here. Yasu also showed me a youtube clip of the “Japanese Beyonce”. It was very funny. It is this female Japanese comedian who does impersonations. She studied Beyonce’s movements and dancing until she could imitate it almost perfectly. She lip-synchs the songs and does the movements to them and it is really funny. If you get a chance, go to youtube and search for Japanese Beyonce. After that, Yoshio said that he would like me to join them for dinner. Again, I was grateful for the invitation.
Yasu also asked me about places he should see in Kyoto since he was going there for a short trip the next day. I suggested Kiyomizudera, Sanjusangendo and Fushimi Inari, since they are all in the same area and he only had a day. I told him that he should try to see Katsura some time, but it seems like it takes a lot more time for citizens to be able to schedule a tour for some reason.
To give Yasu time to pack before dinner, Kumi, Emi and I walked around their area. We saw some shops and they told me that the area is becoming more of a sight-seeing and touristy area. They took me to this beautiful street, which is actually called Gravestone Street, because there is a cemetery that is cuts through. It was quite beautiful though, with large cherry blossom trees lining it. Unfortunately, the cherry blossom season is over, but I could imagine that the walk along that road would have been incredible about a month ago. At the end of the street we stopped briefly at a small temple. We passed by a few more on our walk, but it was past 5 pm so they were all closed. I’m glad I got to spend some time with just the girls because I think we got to know each other better. Emi invited me to an event this Saturday. It has something to do with candles and a gym…I think it is some sort of custom that she does as a hobby, but I am not exactly sure what to expect. I told her that I would do my best to go because it sounds very interesting. The three of us talked about boys and school and jobs and English, until finally, we headed to the Indian Curry restaurant where we would meet the rest of their family for dinner.
At the restaurant, they asked me to teach them some slang, so I did. I tried to keep it pretty harmless, but you all know I have a mouth on me lol. It made me laugh because Kumi was taking notes…it was pretty cute. She kept saying “I want to know, I want to know!” It was a lot of fun. Earlier at lunch, I taught them “screw it” as being equivalent to “forget it” and Kumi wrote down “Let’s screw it”…I told her that she probably would want to drop the “let’s”, as it implies something else lol. Before dinner, I tried to teach them some things that are a little more harmless like “I’m stoked” or something is sweet, or tight, or baller. Of course we all ended up laughing.
The rest of the family showed up and we ordered our curry. I was so excited because I love curry, especially Indian curry. I got a chicken masala curry, mostly because it sounded delicious and was also not very expensive, since this was the second meal of the day that they were treating me to. Emi had to leave a little early to go tutor junior high school students in English, which is her part-time job. Hopefully I’ll get to see her on Saturday. After dinner, Yasu and Kumi went with me all the way back to my hotel, which was not necessary but was very sweet of them. Before we left, I thanked Yoshio for his hospitality and told him that I was very glad to have met him. At the end of the night, I gave them all my email so hopefully I will get to see them all again before I have to leave. The entire day was just an amazing experience and I was astonished by their generosity and attention. They fed me, gave me a tour of their city, invited me into their home…it was just amazing. By the time the day was over, I felt bad, to be honest, because they had paid for everything, insisting when I even tried. It was very sweet, but if you know me, you also know that it makes me uncomfortable when other people pay for me, so of course, I felt bad. I will just have to try to return the favor before I leave, and if Emi does end up in California, I would like to show her the same generosity and welcoming that they have given me.
I got home at around 8 and did some work, but I have been having insomnia lately so I stayed up til 1 or 1:30 watching House. I’m all caught up now so hopefully that will be the end of that.
Today, we moved from the Toyoko Inn to the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center near Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. Check out was at 10, but we weren’t leaving the area until 1, since we couldn’t check in at the Youth Center until 3…kinda complicated huh? So Jeff, Blake and I wandered around for a while and then just hung out until 1, when we left for our new housing.
The National Olympic Memorial Youth Center is probably the worst place I have ever stayed lol. The rooms are only $11 a night. They are tiny and we have a communal bathroom and shower. None of this is too big of a deal to me, but there is also an issue with internet. We have to pay for the internet, $5 a day. It’s not too bad, because it’s still much cheaper than any other place, and I’m pretty sure I can deal with almost anything for a month. It is also somewhat difficult to get anywhere besides the park from our new “campus”. What’s nice about the place is that it is almost a campus. We have a classroom here every morning and there are restaurants and a gym and a pool…none of which are free or even cheap, but that’s ok. The major issues are the internet and all the rules. The front gate is locked at 11, which isn’t a huge issue because we can still use the service gate. The worst part is that the rooms are dirty. The comforter on my bed is…nasty to be honest. There’s crap all over the walls and dust in the corners of the ceiling…it’s pretty bad. Also, we are not allowed to have food or drink in our rooms, classrooms or lounge area. I’m just not really sure where I’m allowed to eat in this place lol. I think we may have the internet situation figured out, and if that’s the case I can definitely deal with being here for a month if it means I get to see Tokyo. Unfortunately, it also means that I won’t be able to be online as often, so I am writing my blogs in word, and then posting them when I can. I apologize to my faithful readers lol. Anyways, that’s it for now. Pretty much everyone in the group is really upset with the living situation, but I don’t think it’s really that big of a deal. Tomorrow we have class at 10 in the morning and I have no idea what’s in store after that. Jeff and I decided to work on our final project together, but I don’t think either one of us is that motivated to work too hard on it. We’ll see how it progresses. Hopefully we can make it out to the site tomorrow so Jeff and I can pick an area and a specific site/program. My plan is to keep it as simple as possible lol. More on Tokyo to come.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
In Tokyo
Sunday, May 3rd, 4:00 pm
I got into Tokyo late Friday night and was pretty much exhausted. We got back to Kyoto from Himeji at somewhere around 7 and our train to Tokyo was at 8. Jeff and I got the rest of our stuff out of our "storage apartment" and repacked some stuff. The train ride was uneventful, except for the issues involved with us moving all of our stuff.
We got to Tokyo at almost 11. We're staying at a hotel for a few days because it is Golden Week, which essentially means that nothing is open and nobody has work, so our dorms are not open. We each have our own room, which is nice.
Yesterday I didn't do much, just wandering around a little with Jeff and Carisa. I had to find a way to get money so I ended up being on the phone with my Dad and my bank for much longer than was necessary in order to put a pin on my credit card so I can use it at ATM's. At the end of the day yesterday, I literally had 300 yen on me, which is about $3. So I'm glad we were able to figure it out so I could go get some money today.
We went to dinner at Denny's last night, which is nothing like the Denny's in the US except that they have french toast. The food was really, really good. I was impressed, so much so that I recommended it to a few people today.
My life in Tokyo isn't that exciting so far because I'm trying to recover from our week long trip lol. I'll let you know when I start exploring a little more. Tomorrow I am meeting with Yoshio Kondo, a work associate of my dad's. He and his daughters are meeting up with me to show me around, and I'm pretty excited for it.
Last night, I watched The Dark Knight and worked on my photos (as should be obvious lol) and started my scrapbook. Kind of a boring Saturday night, but I was totally ok with it. We're meeting briefly tomorrow morning but then we're free to explore. Jeff and I are planning on going to Yoyogi Park when we move to our dorms, because it's much closer. I hear it's just a fun place to hang out, so that should be cool. Anyways, that's the update though not much has happened. More to come...
I got into Tokyo late Friday night and was pretty much exhausted. We got back to Kyoto from Himeji at somewhere around 7 and our train to Tokyo was at 8. Jeff and I got the rest of our stuff out of our "storage apartment" and repacked some stuff. The train ride was uneventful, except for the issues involved with us moving all of our stuff.
We got to Tokyo at almost 11. We're staying at a hotel for a few days because it is Golden Week, which essentially means that nothing is open and nobody has work, so our dorms are not open. We each have our own room, which is nice.
Yesterday I didn't do much, just wandering around a little with Jeff and Carisa. I had to find a way to get money so I ended up being on the phone with my Dad and my bank for much longer than was necessary in order to put a pin on my credit card so I can use it at ATM's. At the end of the day yesterday, I literally had 300 yen on me, which is about $3. So I'm glad we were able to figure it out so I could go get some money today.
We went to dinner at Denny's last night, which is nothing like the Denny's in the US except that they have french toast. The food was really, really good. I was impressed, so much so that I recommended it to a few people today.
My life in Tokyo isn't that exciting so far because I'm trying to recover from our week long trip lol. I'll let you know when I start exploring a little more. Tomorrow I am meeting with Yoshio Kondo, a work associate of my dad's. He and his daughters are meeting up with me to show me around, and I'm pretty excited for it.
Last night, I watched The Dark Knight and worked on my photos (as should be obvious lol) and started my scrapbook. Kind of a boring Saturday night, but I was totally ok with it. We're meeting briefly tomorrow morning but then we're free to explore. Jeff and I are planning on going to Yoyogi Park when we move to our dorms, because it's much closer. I hear it's just a fun place to hang out, so that should be cool. Anyways, that's the update though not much has happened. More to come...
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Naoshima, Fellonies and Himeji
Friday, May 1, 2009
Recap time!
Wednesday we got to Naoshima at around 11 am. The island itself is not that exciting...pretty ugly for an island actually. What makes it so special is the atmosphere that has been created on the island through art and architecture.
We all stayed at different parts of the Benesse House, which consists of The Oval, The Benesse House/Museum, and The Park; all designed by Tadao Ando. My room was in the museum with Carisa, Trudy and Karen. Our room was the biggest since it was for 4 people, and the whole hotel was really nice. Most of the group decided to get drunk up in The Oval and watch the sunset. Carisa and I weren't really feeling the dynamics of the group, so we just had a few people in our room to do the same sort of thing, but much more mellow. I think we're all pretty happy about that decision because the rest of the group ended up breaking into what was essentially an art exhibit.
The Benesse House has an exhibit called a cultural melting bath, which is essentially a hot tub mixed with art, in which the whole experience is supposed to be a major part of the artistic nature of the site. This is what everyone decided to break into to "go in the hot tub". Granted, everyone was pretty drunk, but we're all still pretty pissed off about it. Seems like we're all adults here, and we should definitely know better. It's just really disappointing that a group of designers can't even be trusted to recognize and respect art work and the values of a different culture. I for one am really disheartened and, to be honest, a little disgusted with people for their lack of foresight and consideration.
Thursday was supposed to be our day to explore the island, but because of the incidents of the night before, it was a little tainted. Eleven out of eighteen people took part in the incident, and they were very lucky that they got to see the Chichu Art Museum before they had to leave the island.
The Chichu Art Museum was also designed by Tadao Ando, and is set into one of the hills of Naoshima. It houses four works by Claude Monet, three sculptural/spatial pieces by James Turrell and another spatial piece by Walter De Maria. The building itself was amazing and the joint composition with the artists was incredible. This modern spatial and artistic experience had made it onto my list of the top five places I have visited in Japan. Within his design, Ando has once again captured space, form and light in a series of concrete boxes. The man is an absolute master, and we were all dumbstruck by his skillful planning and his knowledge of material and light. It is still astounding to think that he actually had this all pictured in his head, and he definitely knew how the space would feel.
Each of the three featured artists were given their own space. The Monet gallery was beautiful, with all the pieces featuring water lilies. They were set in a simple white and concrete box, with beautiful lighting that allowed the paintings to captivate the viewers. The most interesting thing about spatial art is that starts to interact with the architecture. The three Turrell works, entitled "Afrum, Pale Blue", "Open Field" and "Open Sky" are all elegantly worked into Ando's architecture. All three are based on light, optical illusion and space. The concept of actually interacting with the art piece is incredibly interesting to me, and actually applies to the last piece in the Chichu Museum as well: "Time/Timeless/No Time" by Walter De Maria. The piece was a room that consisted of stairs and a platform, all done in concrete. Within the room, a dark sphere has been seemingly balanced on the platform and surrounded by what essentially becomes white space. Wooden sculptures covered in gold leaf were places around the sphere and the whole design is bathed in natural light, which makes it so much more interesting because it changes throughout the day.
After the museum, those of us who had not "been voted off the island", as Don Choi said, went to the famous Art Houses of Naoshima. These are traditional old houses, in which art installations have been placed. There were strange but interesting. There were six in total but three of them really stood out to me. One was the Go'o Shrine installation by photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. It was stairs that looked like glass coming out of an old shrine and penetrating the ground. You could actually go into the basement and see the stairs coming down into the earth, after you pass through a very narrow hallway. Another was called Ishibashi, and had a room filled with paintings of waterfalls, reflected into a dark and polished wood floor, done by Hiroshi Senju. The last piece that was probably the most amazing experience unfortunately doesn't photograph well. It is a collaborative piece by Tadao Ando and James Turrell called Minamidera. Ando designed the architecture, but the light installation on the interior was by Turrell. The experience is quite incredible because you enter the house into complete darkness. You cannot see anything in front of you except pitch black, to the point where you literally run into walls if you are not careful. You are guided, partially by your hands on the walls and partially by the guide and the voices around you, onto a bench at the back of the room. You see absolutely nothing for a while, and then, faintly, you begin to see a light. Just a simple, orangish light in the left-hand corner. It is so faint that at times you think it has faded. Then, gradually, you start sensing something more before you even see it. Then, slowly, a blueish rectangle starts to appear in the middle of the far wall. After that, another simple light off to the right. Your eyes adjust from the point where you think you might either go blind or crazy, to where you feel like you might have night vision. All of a sudden, the lights are completely clear and you realize that you can see the people around you. As a group, you all get up and walk towards the back wall, curious to see what sort of trick has been played on you. You reach the back and find that it really is just simple, faint lights, reflecting and shining. A couple friends tried to take pictures of what they saw, but all the camera could see was black.
After we finished at the Art Houses, we headed back up the mountain via shuttle to see the Benesse House Museum and the Museum at the Benesse House Park. Both, again, were Ando designs. A few of the exhibits were very interesting, but nothing really compared to the buildings themselves for us. At 7 pm, we took the last ferry back to the mainland in Uno. From there, we took the train to Himeji.
Today was our one day in Himeji. We went to Himeji Castle, the Koko-en Garden, the Prefectural Museum of History and the Museum of Literature, by Tadao Ando. Again, the Ando buildings always seem to dominate, but the castle itself was interesting and the garden, though we have seen more inspiring gardens, was still very beautiful. There are a few things here in Himeji that I wouldn't mind seeing but we just don't have time. For example, there is a zoo and a "safari" where the animals are left to roam and you can go near them without a cage in between. Of course, these things are not exactly related to architecture, and so I guess it leaves me something to see if I ever get the chance to come back.
Now, we have about an hour before our bullet train back to Kyoto, where we will have an hour to get our stuff together before we get on another bullet train that will take us to Tokyo by a little after 10 tonight. I will try my best to catch up on pictures tonight so that you all can see the amazing things I've seen this week. Our first week-long trip is over. My feet are killing me, my shoulders must be as hard as rock, I probably lost like 5 lbs and I haven't had shin splints this bad since I was 5...but it was so, entirely worth it. The things I've seen this week are going to stick with me forever. For now, I'm just going to focus on catching my train and avoiding the swine flu. lol Next time, hopefully I'll have adventures in Tokyo to write about.
Recap time!
Wednesday we got to Naoshima at around 11 am. The island itself is not that exciting...pretty ugly for an island actually. What makes it so special is the atmosphere that has been created on the island through art and architecture.
We all stayed at different parts of the Benesse House, which consists of The Oval, The Benesse House/Museum, and The Park; all designed by Tadao Ando. My room was in the museum with Carisa, Trudy and Karen. Our room was the biggest since it was for 4 people, and the whole hotel was really nice. Most of the group decided to get drunk up in The Oval and watch the sunset. Carisa and I weren't really feeling the dynamics of the group, so we just had a few people in our room to do the same sort of thing, but much more mellow. I think we're all pretty happy about that decision because the rest of the group ended up breaking into what was essentially an art exhibit.
The Benesse House has an exhibit called a cultural melting bath, which is essentially a hot tub mixed with art, in which the whole experience is supposed to be a major part of the artistic nature of the site. This is what everyone decided to break into to "go in the hot tub". Granted, everyone was pretty drunk, but we're all still pretty pissed off about it. Seems like we're all adults here, and we should definitely know better. It's just really disappointing that a group of designers can't even be trusted to recognize and respect art work and the values of a different culture. I for one am really disheartened and, to be honest, a little disgusted with people for their lack of foresight and consideration.
Thursday was supposed to be our day to explore the island, but because of the incidents of the night before, it was a little tainted. Eleven out of eighteen people took part in the incident, and they were very lucky that they got to see the Chichu Art Museum before they had to leave the island.
The Chichu Art Museum was also designed by Tadao Ando, and is set into one of the hills of Naoshima. It houses four works by Claude Monet, three sculptural/spatial pieces by James Turrell and another spatial piece by Walter De Maria. The building itself was amazing and the joint composition with the artists was incredible. This modern spatial and artistic experience had made it onto my list of the top five places I have visited in Japan. Within his design, Ando has once again captured space, form and light in a series of concrete boxes. The man is an absolute master, and we were all dumbstruck by his skillful planning and his knowledge of material and light. It is still astounding to think that he actually had this all pictured in his head, and he definitely knew how the space would feel.
Each of the three featured artists were given their own space. The Monet gallery was beautiful, with all the pieces featuring water lilies. They were set in a simple white and concrete box, with beautiful lighting that allowed the paintings to captivate the viewers. The most interesting thing about spatial art is that starts to interact with the architecture. The three Turrell works, entitled "Afrum, Pale Blue", "Open Field" and "Open Sky" are all elegantly worked into Ando's architecture. All three are based on light, optical illusion and space. The concept of actually interacting with the art piece is incredibly interesting to me, and actually applies to the last piece in the Chichu Museum as well: "Time/Timeless/No Time" by Walter De Maria. The piece was a room that consisted of stairs and a platform, all done in concrete. Within the room, a dark sphere has been seemingly balanced on the platform and surrounded by what essentially becomes white space. Wooden sculptures covered in gold leaf were places around the sphere and the whole design is bathed in natural light, which makes it so much more interesting because it changes throughout the day.
After the museum, those of us who had not "been voted off the island", as Don Choi said, went to the famous Art Houses of Naoshima. These are traditional old houses, in which art installations have been placed. There were strange but interesting. There were six in total but three of them really stood out to me. One was the Go'o Shrine installation by photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. It was stairs that looked like glass coming out of an old shrine and penetrating the ground. You could actually go into the basement and see the stairs coming down into the earth, after you pass through a very narrow hallway. Another was called Ishibashi, and had a room filled with paintings of waterfalls, reflected into a dark and polished wood floor, done by Hiroshi Senju. The last piece that was probably the most amazing experience unfortunately doesn't photograph well. It is a collaborative piece by Tadao Ando and James Turrell called Minamidera. Ando designed the architecture, but the light installation on the interior was by Turrell. The experience is quite incredible because you enter the house into complete darkness. You cannot see anything in front of you except pitch black, to the point where you literally run into walls if you are not careful. You are guided, partially by your hands on the walls and partially by the guide and the voices around you, onto a bench at the back of the room. You see absolutely nothing for a while, and then, faintly, you begin to see a light. Just a simple, orangish light in the left-hand corner. It is so faint that at times you think it has faded. Then, gradually, you start sensing something more before you even see it. Then, slowly, a blueish rectangle starts to appear in the middle of the far wall. After that, another simple light off to the right. Your eyes adjust from the point where you think you might either go blind or crazy, to where you feel like you might have night vision. All of a sudden, the lights are completely clear and you realize that you can see the people around you. As a group, you all get up and walk towards the back wall, curious to see what sort of trick has been played on you. You reach the back and find that it really is just simple, faint lights, reflecting and shining. A couple friends tried to take pictures of what they saw, but all the camera could see was black.
After we finished at the Art Houses, we headed back up the mountain via shuttle to see the Benesse House Museum and the Museum at the Benesse House Park. Both, again, were Ando designs. A few of the exhibits were very interesting, but nothing really compared to the buildings themselves for us. At 7 pm, we took the last ferry back to the mainland in Uno. From there, we took the train to Himeji.
Today was our one day in Himeji. We went to Himeji Castle, the Koko-en Garden, the Prefectural Museum of History and the Museum of Literature, by Tadao Ando. Again, the Ando buildings always seem to dominate, but the castle itself was interesting and the garden, though we have seen more inspiring gardens, was still very beautiful. There are a few things here in Himeji that I wouldn't mind seeing but we just don't have time. For example, there is a zoo and a "safari" where the animals are left to roam and you can go near them without a cage in between. Of course, these things are not exactly related to architecture, and so I guess it leaves me something to see if I ever get the chance to come back.
Now, we have about an hour before our bullet train back to Kyoto, where we will have an hour to get our stuff together before we get on another bullet train that will take us to Tokyo by a little after 10 tonight. I will try my best to catch up on pictures tonight so that you all can see the amazing things I've seen this week. Our first week-long trip is over. My feet are killing me, my shoulders must be as hard as rock, I probably lost like 5 lbs and I haven't had shin splints this bad since I was 5...but it was so, entirely worth it. The things I've seen this week are going to stick with me forever. For now, I'm just going to focus on catching my train and avoiding the swine flu. lol Next time, hopefully I'll have adventures in Tokyo to write about.
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