tokyo wonderland 05: whats in front of "front of the market" station

the tsukiji fish market is one of the highlights of tourism in tokyo. although ive never been to see the famous bidding as im terrible at waking up in the early morning, i believe its something worthy to check in this megalopolis.

however, its been discussed that the fish market will be relocated from tsukiji to toyosu for some years. today i read a report that the budget bill for the relocation was passed through the tokyo local government. this news really made me determine to go to see the bidding asap. at least i should start trying.

although the budget bill went though the local authority, there are still many groups that are opposing to the relocation. and there are also some people who are agree to relocate the market from tsukiji, but to somewhere else like harumi. 

as for me, i havent been so interested in this topic like what will happen to the fish market itself whether it will stay in tsukiji or be relocated to toyosu, or harumi. i know next to nothing about the issue. however, when i was cycling the other day to check the front line of tokyo's defense forces, i found something crystal clear. there is already a station called "Shijo-Mae(市場前）" meaning "front of the market" built in toyosu where the market is planned to be relocated. 

but what in front of this station are a massive construction site, a huge field without any trace of construction, and two bridges that are not even connected to any other roads. there is even no concrete building around there, let alone any markets lol

lets see what will be built in front of the "front of the market" station :)

tokyo wonderland 04: how tokyo defends itself from the evil neighbour

its been a while since the young techno-haired dude has become the ruler of our evil neighbor land. and lately, apparently, this evil neighbor is now undertaking a missile launch (or a satellite launch? if what it is saying is correct :S ). dull politicians of my nation are probably discussing what they should do if it launches or hopefully how they can prevent from its launching. right wing people are always claiming that japan should militarize in order to possess the deterrent capabilities. as for me, i dont know much about military issues and havent even worried about this evil nation that much. therefore, i always thought that this dull nation would never ever prepare for anything.

however, while i was cycling in tokyo the other day, i came to realize that tokyo is aware of the threat and therefore has equipped a great military super hero for itself.

i dont know much about this robot (or some might argue that this mobile suit gundam is not a robot). however, judging from its macho appearance, im confident that it is strong enough to maintain the peace in japan, and probably that in even the universe.

Sunday bake shop Hatsudai, who said Japanese are workaholics

it is often said that japanese are workaholics, and it is often very true. even i sometimes work like stereotypical japanese do. and i believe there are millions of people who are working not to betray the expectation of non-japanese images how japanese should work. millions of people are working day and night, weekdays and weekends.

today while i was wondering around the area i live, i found a shop exemplifying the antithesis of the formula. it is Sunday Bake Shop, an bakery opens only on sundays... a day a week, 4days a month, 50days a year!! what a beautiful way of living!!

if you know me personally, it might be easy to imagine that i went in without the slightest hesitation just like water down the drain. as i was checking what i should buy, friendly shop keepers explained what they had. actually, when i discovered the shop, i became very jealous of the way they worked but when i was surrounded with the wonderful smell of baking, my ugly sense of jealous vanished and what i felt was why i didnt come here earlier time of the day. they only had berry muffins that looked too healthy to be good cakes. but how could i fight against cakes in a bakery? i gave in in an instant and got one with a huge smile on my face.

needless to say, the muffin was heavenly.

tokyo after quake 4, one year has past

its been a year since the quake hit japan.

some might feel its already a year, and some might feel its still a year.

many citizens in this country has been thinking what they can do ever since, but its rather doubtful whether they could actually do what they have been thinking.

as for me, i feel its already a year since the quake.

already as long as a year has passed yet i still cannot figure out the answer ive been questioning to myself. what can i do, what should i do, what do i want to do, and what do i have to do? where? how? and for whom? i still dont have any clue even after a year.

today, tens of thousands of people gathered at hibiya park for the one year memorial and prayed for the victims. those who are left cannot waste this devastating casualty. we are responsible for designing better future for them.

while i was listening to speakers of the event, i got jealous as they knew the answers and they could actually make some actions.

in order to take that responsibility by myself as well, it is definitely needed to get my answers this year.

say do you remember niihaomaa in china 04: Thames Town, an interpretation of britain in shanghai

in big cities in china, it seems it has been getting remarkably popular to plan cities that are imitating images of cities of the West. during my stay in shanghai, a chinese friend of mine took me to one of them, the Thames Town. it is one of newly developed areas of 1city9towns initiatives by shanghai's planning commission from 2001 to accommodate about 10000 people. it is named after the Thames river and is inspired by british architectures and city design.

when i got to the thames town, i was surprised to see its unique function as a town. usually cities or towns function as places to live and work, and that generate some sort of vibe and energy. this is even more applicable in the case of cities in china, that people play games, cook, meet, eat and do whatever they want. however, in the case of the thames town, there were really nobody. although all the built environment were nicely furnished, nothing lively was going on. due to its emptiness, some articles i found even described it as "ghost town."

instead, it was used as a massive studio for brides and grooms. there were tens of couples making photo shoots everywhere around the town.

when i saw them photo shooting, i came to recall that chinese couple-friends of mine told me that it was really popular to take photo shoots at this sort of studios to make pre-wedding photo albums. when i heard the story and saw their albums, i really couldnt grasp the concept at all, because i couldnt imagine there would be this massive studio-like-towns in many big cities in china, and because nothing like this is happening in japan. obviously china offered me much more than i expected. seeing this town somehow made me re-realize that cities and towns have much more potentials than just offering accommodation and jobs.

the other finding about this area that interested me was its interpretation. it looked much like a british city or at least european city. this is what many of japanese developers should learn, since many of european-inspired towns in japan cannot really offer a bit of their originals.

what has tsunami left in northern part of japan

its been about 9months since the quakes and tsunamis hit in northern part of japan, and i still remember clearly the grotesque way of tsunami's eroding cities. it looked like mercury flowing or amoebas propagating. cars and even houses were swept away as if they were duck toys sweeping in the rivers. cities are the biggest creature made by humankind, but they didnt have any other choices but to be invaded, and people had no chance but to runaway or to surrender. thousands of precious lives were deprived and millions of people got grief stricken.

regardless of the amount of loss, it seems people there have been struggling to overcome the trial. since the catastrophe, disaster affected people have been working for the recovery of their cities and lifestyles together with various stakes. a tremendous number of people have been thinking what they can do and many actually have been participating in volunteer work. the numbers of companies and organizations have supported for the recovery by what they are good at. and millions of millions of financial supports were donated from all over the world even from our favorite neighbor of the great nation of kim jong-il. due to the supports, cities with no tsunami erosion has regained their ordinary lifestyle.

(in the city of ishinomaki)

(in front of the iwaki station at night)

however, as the government has been busy dealing with political games, the recovery of seriously wounded areas has been progressed at a snails pace. although it is obvious that it cannot allow to rebuild the same cities on the same ground and it hasnt reached to any conclusion what to do for the area, it is really irritating to see nothing has done yet.

it appears that most of rubble have been cleaned up already, but nothing else is happening yet. most of the affected areas had been shrinking even before the catastrophe hit, and this fact has made the restoration more difficult. it is meaningless to make cities recover by bouncing back to where they were before the tsunami, as many of them have lost their charms and attractions already. it is also pointless to make them bring back to the state that they were still growing, as the industrial structure has changed dramatically in a past few decades. i have still no clue what these areas should become like other than making them become super resilient and creative and making the former residents become happy. i hope something will bring hope to those who are in the deepest despair there as soon as possible. in order to do that, i should become more creative and productive so that i might be able to contribute at least a bit.

yuubari, the city of past-the city of future

in the middle of september, i made a brief stop in yuubari during my first trip to hokkaido. it had been one of the most attractive destinations for me for a few years since i had started researching shrinking cities.

yuubari started developing as a coal mining town in the latter half of the 19th century. when coal was the main resource for energy production, yuubari experienced a rapid growth and became one of the biggest coal mining towns in japan. however as the energy production started shifting from coal to oil, the city faced its sunset. the coal mining industry started fading away from the 1970s and the last mine stopped operating in 1990. since the city was heavily dependent on mining industry, its fall let labors to leave the city. after the sunset of the mining industry, the city shifted its economy to tourism oriented. however neither its vision, strategies, or operation were appropriately set, and the lack of sense of crisis oppressed city's finance. the fall of mining industry and following failure of measure for economic recovery ended up with municipal bankruptcy in 2007. now its population is about 10,600. this is 90% smaller than its peak in 1960. its aging rate is as high as 44%...

these are what ive learned from wikipedia.

in order to get to know the city, i stopped by at the coal mine museum and mining lifestyle museum, and this choice was a diamond. i could really learn the rise and fall of the city. what impressed me the most was the underground exhibition room which i could actually walk the former driftway. there were plenty of tools and machines displayed that were actually used back in the coal mining era. the museums were super rich in local cultural heritages and were much much much more absorbing than my expectation and shabby reputation. i could grasp the situation at once.

after the brief stop at the museums i headed to a former thermal power plant which was under the demolition work, because there was an opening of an art event. the venue (lets leave aside the event for the moment) was really fantastic. in the field of art, it has been popular to utilize old factories and garages as these buildings provide big spaces for artists to express. this trend could be found anywhere around the world, such as china. whats interesting about this venue is the story after the event finished. in the most cases, people in the art industry are utilizing abandoned spaces to renovate to use as galleries or workshops. on the other hand, this former thermal power plant will keep being demolished. the event was possible thanks to the collaboration with the company to demolish the power plant. i wondered how could the city of yuubari pay for the demolition but i failed to ask about it.

in these two tourist attractions(?), there were people (not many, but at least, some). however, while i was driving from the museums to the power plant, i remember there were only three people on the street although i was driving on the main (or only?) road of the city. i passed by plenty of shops but most (or all? i dont remember) of them were closed. i couldnt even buy a souvenir from the museums as even the gift shop was closed.

it can be said that yuubari is the city of past. it was once flourished as the main mining town of japan and was a dynamo for the economic growth of the nation. although now it has lost its hegemony, no one can deny its importance and contribution of the past.

at the same time, it can also be said that yuubari is the city of future. on one level or another, there are plenty of cities in japan (and even japan itself) having similar problems as yuubari has been facing, such as sunset of key industries, lack of vision and strategies, population emigration, high aging rate, and so on. from this view point, yuubari is the most advanced city in this country. cities have to learn from the story of yuubari for their future.

i went to visit yuubari to see the future of this country. however, yuubari showed its future as well. it is its people. i had a noodle for a lunch there and surprisingly the restaurant's keepers told me that they were not from yuubari but to move to there in recent years. if this sort of outsiders' pioneering spirits and yuubari's unique story can collaborate, they will surely bear a fruit in the future i believe.