On the day before returning to Shanghai from my Japan trip last October, I had a day with varied activities. The first stop was Nishimachi, where I went to a Food Fair held at the school of my friend's daughters. It was a fundraiser where parents manned booths with foods from around the world. I enjoyed Indian food while meeting his family. There was a concert of Japanese Taiko drums played by the a large band of children, including my friend's two daughters. I recorded some segments and will attempt to post a video.
Across the street from the school is this residential tower. My friend told me the developer was the same company as that of Roppongi Hills and it was recently built.
After lunch I walked back to the metro station. I found a Baskins and Robbins ice cream store next to this flower shop. I tried some matcha green tea ice cream.
In Shibuya station I captured a photo of girls who like to wear fur on their feet. By the way, the girl on the left is doing something that culturally young women typically do here. When stopping at a light before crossing the street, they cross one foot in front of the other in an awkward stance. An architect colleague had observed this during his visit in 2003 and mentioned it to me as a curiosity. As I departed in the airport the next day, I saw an American woman with big thighs accompanied by her Japanese daughter in line in front of me. Maybe to teach her daughter the "stance" she would go into it while waiting, crossing one leg in front of the other. After a few minutes because of her body shape, she would fall out of balance. This repeated itself comically several times. But I digress.
My aim was to visit Kenzo Tange's magnificent Olympic Stadia of 1964.
But it was not possible to cross the street to get to it because a race of historic cars was starting.
I reached the stadia by crossing bridges. — Udo Kultermann in his book, Kenzo Tange: Works and Projects- has this to say,
"Together with a number of other important projects which Kenzo Tange carried out after 1959, the Olympic stadia in Tokyo can be regarded as the culmination of his career, designed in 1960 and built in 1964, on a par with the highest achievements of the Japanese tradition... The plan [of the larger stadium] is in the form of two semi-circles, slightly displaced in relation to one another, with their unconnecting ends elongated into points. The entrances are located in the concave sides. The roof is supported on two reinforced concrete pillars, and is made up of a system of steel cables onto which enameled steel plates are then soldered. The curving form of the roof serves to make it more resistant to wind, which can reach hurricane force in this region." You can read more about it here.
A map of the complex.
There was a BMW convention exhibit when I visited, replete with tents of fabric, which looked like they related to the tent shape of the stadium roof in some way.
Next I stopped in Shinagawa, which my friend recommended I visit. This was not on my list from the architecture blog that had helped me plan my visits, but it should have been. It appears to have been a huge corporate development. You reach the area called Shinagawa Commons by passing throug this massive concourse.
A map of the area.
A lipstick shaped building.
Looking at this giant covered esplanade, I saw a relationship to the architectural elements of the temples I saw in Kyoto, where a covered walkway would face a landscaped garden. Here the scale is different, but the inspiration source the same.
Entrance canopies beyond.
Details of the guard rails.
An interesting steel and glass cover to an exterior stair.
A look back at the covered walkway and the landscaped plaza below. My friend has lived in Japan for 20 years and observes that when this project was planned, the designers may not have taken into consideration sufficiently the effect the mass of buildings would have on the ecoclimate around it. The buildings seem to stop the trade winds from reaching lower scale neighborhoods further inland.
Details of steel and glass covered escalators and elevators, beautifully detailed.
A skylight suspended stair.
Next I headed to Shiodome, an area of new development with buildings by many international architects.
The tower beyond the station was designed by Richard Rogers.
The exo-skeleton truss on the outside of the building allows for column free floorplates inside. The elevator cores are placed to the side of the building.
I am not sure why people where queueing up at the base of the building. There are restaurants at the lowest level.
The buildings beyond included one by Jean Nouvel and another with a retail development by Jerde Partnership. My camera battery ran out, so I was not able to click away.
My friend joined me at this point and we headed to Godaiba, an area developed in land reclaimed from the ocean. We passed by the Tokyo International Exhibit Hall. Hundreds of Japanese men and women dressed in dark suits were coming out of a job fair convention. My friend explained that this was a yearly custom of young professionals. In this area we found one of the few "everything for one yen" stores, where we bought envelopes, note pads, candies and such. He explained that rents in most places in Tokyo are high and such a store cannot support itself elsewhere, but rents here where not as high.
Our final visit was to the local public bath, made to look like it was located in the place a hundred years ago, despite that this area was the ocean floor a few years ago. Entire families with their children where at this place during our visit. One changed into uber-traditional Japanese robes, then separated by gender to go into bath areas with various showers, hot tubs, saunas, rock pools, etc. Afterwards, everybody regrouped into the disneyesque food area where there was live music entertainment and food kiosks with all kinds of food offered.
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