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!