偶然

“Have you seen my rice field?”

June 13, 2014Culture, Residences, small business, small streets, Walking and transitappreciate, バケツ, bucket, 田んぼ, 畳屋のオーナー, 私たち, 稲, 途中, 育てています, 高円寺, friendly, garage, Haketa, Kanto Tour Guide, Koenji, rice field, Shibaura House, sidewalk, suginami, tatami mat, tour, 偶然, 変えよう, 家の畳, 杉並, 歩道palmsundae One comment

「私たちの田んぼを見ましたか」と聞かれました。畳屋のオーナーは歩道に置いたバケツで稲を育てています。Shibaura HouseのKanto Tour Guideの途中で偶然に会いました。家の畳を変えようかと考えています。

On Shibaura House’s Kanto Tour Guide in Suginami, we saw an open door and a man making tatami mats above the garage. The friendly proprietor of Haketa Tatami shop in Shin Koenji told us that his family has had this business in Suginami for decades, starting with his father. In addition to showing us his craftsmanship, he asked us whether we had seen his “rice field.” It’s in the white bucket, to the left of the shop sign.

I also learned that tatami mats should be changed every 3 or 4 years. Ours are coming up on 6 years, so maybe it’s time to order a new set?

Tokyo waterfront infrastructure at Tatsumi: the beautiful and the ugly

September 30, 2012Governments, parks, public space, trees, Walking and transit1960s, インフラ, beautiful, benefit, 生き残ります, 緑, Dead space, elevated, 雑草, 高速道路, freeway, informal greenspace, infrastructure, lack of attention, municipal, now mature, park, sports, swimming, tall, Tatsumi, trees, ugly, waterfront, 偶然, 公園, 同時, 存在, 東京湾, 不毛palmsundae Leave a comment

東京湾のあたりは５０年前に、高速道路と公園のようなインフラをたくさん作りました。全く使われていない不毛の空間ときれいな場所が同時に存在しています。雑草と偶然にできた緑の空間が生き残ります。

I often show images of the long cherry tree path that leads from Tatsumi’s subway to the municipal swimming pool. The 10 minute walk mixes all that’s both beautiful and dirty about 1960s infrastructure projects. There’s the amazing public sports facility, a now mature park with tall trees bordering the elevated freeway, and an odd mix of new construction, prior buildings, and informal green spaces that benefit from a lack of attention.