035_homeless 01

To survive in Tokyo is tough. There are millions of inhabitants and the competition rate is high. A lot of people have failed to earn enough for their living and become homeless. There are several places in the city where you can spot the gathering of these urban nomads such as Ueno Park, some major subway stations or the promenade along Sumida River. The local government seems to accept that these people are still part of society and cannot just simply be removed. However, this issue has incubated many debates and design workshops in architectural schools worldwide.

034_fugu

Fugu in Japanese means puffer fish or blowfish and also a Japanese delicacy prepared from the raw meat of the fish. Since internal organs and skin of fugu are poisonous, only specially licensed chefs are allowed to sell the dish to the public. There are a number of edible species in the market. This one in the picture is called Torafugu or Tiger Blowfish.

033_the japanese are in the detail

To elaborate my previous post about neatness of the Japanese, I’ll follow up with this picture, which is self-explanation. By the way, the hedge is shaped like a pitch roof and the pitch line is so straight all the way.

032_tidiness

[Kyoto] My office (the office that I’m now working for) likes to work with Japanese contractors. We think they are very neat and organized. I once worked on a research with students from the University of Tokyo and I too felt that they were really systematic. In my opinion, people from this country are good at small, little details. This picture of a taxi queue in front of JR Kyoto station explains quite well. The alignment is almost perfect!

031_pedestrian city

Tokyo is one of the best cities in the world for walking. Motorists are considerate and kind to pedestrians and the city provides generous walkways almost everywhere. Look at the picture, the footpath is almost as big as the road itself.

030_formalism

We’ve heard a lot about the Japanese in term of their strict order and discipline. It could even be a little too much sometimes. I just hope that the military seating arrangement I found on this beach was unintentionally. It doesn’t feel relaxing at all sitting like that…

029_destinations at fingertip

If you complain taking subway rides in Tokyo is complicated and troublesome, take a look at this picture. Some people can make it without seeing!

028_space saver 01

We all know that Tokyo city is very dense. (Well, at least I’ve been telling you here.) People live in small houses or tiny rooms where space is for either mix-used or universal purpose. As a consequence, the Japanese are expert on space saving. There are significant numbers of book on how to design with limited space written by the Japanese. Now, this one is really cool. In patrol stations, everything is hung from above to free up the space on ground for car maneuvering. With nothing on the driveway, you don’t have to worry about parking angle and turning radius.

027_labyrinth city

Because of the complexity of Tokyo urban structure, it’s difficult for tourists or even Tokyoites themselves to obtain the entire image of the city by walking on streets. A better way is to use subway map as a guideline and stations as reference points for orientation. Taking subway rides in Tokyo is a real test for your planning skill and logical thinking. Most of the time, there are several ways to get to where you want to go. Some are cheaper, some take longer time and some get you closer to your final destination.

026_leave me alone 05

Can’t get enough of Japanese automatic machine? Check this out. With a 100-yen coin, you can get a shopping bag!

025_keitai city

The word keitai in Japanese is known for a cell phone. Almost everyone in the city has a cell phone (and yet there are public phones everywhere. In Singapore it’s really hard to find one). It’s become a part of everyday bustling urban life especially nowadays mobile phone also function as a personal entertaining device. The competition is high. New gadgets are often released with better functions and smaller size. The system of mobile phone in Japan (as well as Korea) is different from the rest of the world. That means you can’t use your phone brought in from your home country even though you have subscribed for global roaming service, anyway, with the exception of 3G phones

024_leave me alone 04

Tokyo is an automatic city. There are vending machines selling all kind of things everywhere. Think how we can find all these products in one place like 7-eleven or am/pm, by distributing them around the neighbourhood makes the district a convenience store itself where streets become shopping aisles, a kind of decentralised convenience store.

023_slim is beautiful

This building in Shibuya is probably one of the skinniest inhabitable structures on earth. No doubt that they would need an elevator for vertical circulation and the size of a staircase (of course for emergency exit) would be about the same as the width of the building itself. My gut feeling tells me that these elements must be at the back of the building. Anyways, I really appreciate the attempt to build in such tiny space and another extra 10 points go to the landscape work!

022_prada aoyama

When I first started this urbanomania blog series, I decided to try not to talk about architecture at all. But it’s a bit hard now since many of designer’s boutique flagship stores have become tourist attraction themselves instead of the things they sell and the choice of architect, as a selling point, is as important as the location of the store. Prada Aoyama is another catalyst that will transform the future of Aoyama area to a further step after the success of its neighbouring predecessor, Comme des Garcons.

021_super bowl

I think the Japanese eat quite a lot. The food here is served either in big portion or set meal. Try not to order big-sized noodles or extra-large curry rice just to show off to your girlfriend if you aren’t really confident with your stomach’s capacity because they are real huge! Remember the champion of hotdog eating competition, Kobayashi? He really trashed the American competitors next to him even though they were almost triple of his size. The ramen in the picture was extra-sized and only cost 900 yen. By the way, I finished everything in the bowl including the last drop of the soup and almost couldn’t walk after that. But you know what, a guy sitting few chairs away from me was eating the same thing with a bowl of rice and another side dish. He was almost half of my size only…

020_fastest food

The idea behind fast food is to provide quick service in preparing and serving meal for people who don’t have much time to waste for eating. But the irony is, in our modern society, we spend a lot of time in fast food restaurants. They have become our favourite places for waiting, meeting and killing time. The real busy people then end up having no place to sit and are forced to buy take away instead. In Japan, not to worry, there are ramen/ udon shops providing super quick service and the best part is there is no seat available. Yes, you need to stand and eat at the counter. Try it if you have a chance, this kind of shop is easily found on the platform of major train stations

019_leave me alone 03

This is one of the greatest Japanese innovations. Reasons?
1. I have Monday blue. Don’t wanna talk to anyone.
2. I have a sore throat. No voice.
3. I’m a tourist and can’t speak Japanese.
4. I’m a waiter and don’t know what the hell the guy on no.3 above is talking about.
5. Will I get a surprise when I later pay for my meal?
6. I’m the owner of the restaurant. Will my staffs cheat me on my money?

Bla bla bla…

How to use? Very simple. Pick the food you feel like eating then put money in (banknote acceptable and change provided!), after that the machine will issue you a coupon for you to pass to restaurant staff. There is no food coming out of the vending machine. Sorry.

018_leave me alone 02

Need some ice during your stay in a hotel in Japan? Don’t bother calling room service, just walk out to the corridor, there will be a room equipped with an ice-making machine. Take as much as you want, as many times as you wish without feeling guilty or seeing service staff with sulky face!

017_leave me alone 01

I found this service in most hotels I stayed in Japan, which is really good, I think. Normally you need to call hotel front desk to set a wake-up call. But if you are anti-social or would like to rely a bit more on yourself, this self-service alarm is fantastic.