Posts Tagged ‘Ginza’
29
Nov
Posted by palmsundae in Community, Corporations, Culture, Garden diplomacy, Global cities, Governments, Visionary, biodiversity, fellowship. Tagged: achievement, article, balance, bonsai, design, failure, firefly, Ginza, honeybee, innovation, Japan Times, livable cities, model, nature, op-ed, people, rebuild, rice, satoyama, urban. 2 Comments
The Japan Times published my op-ed article “Tokyo’s urban design role.” My argument is that Tokyo’s past urban design failures paradoxically make it a model for rebuilding existing cities and designing hundreds of emerging cities. In the context of climate change and global warming, livable cities can create a new balance between people and nature.
I [...]
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11
Nov
Posted by palmsundae in Community, Urban food, Visionary. Tagged: aigamo nouhou, あいがも農法, bamboo, bundle, carpenter, Chiba, children, 飯村一樹, Ginza, Ginza Farm, harvest, Hisano, Iimura, Iimura Kazuki, Omotesando Farm, raccoon, rice. Leave a Comment
On November 1, Ginza Farm celebrated the rice harvest. The event began at 9 am on a Sunday morning and drew a crowd including children, parents, bloggers, an actress in an upcoming movie about farming, and the carpenter Hisano who built the beautiful tanbo, tables and benches. Above entrepreneur Iimura san helps the kids hang [...]
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5
Oct
Posted by palmsundae in small business, small streets. Tagged: allley, brand, bric-a-brac, cobblestone, countryside, discovery, farm house, France, Ginza, global, landscape, metal, pastry, Patisserie Qu'il fait bon, pots, recycled, rust, shop, staged, styled, wood. Leave a Comment
Walking in Tokyo always provides new discoveries. In Ginza, where global brands are housed in tall ultra-contemporary mid-rises, there are still small alleys and two story buildings. I was astounded to stumble upon this bakery housed in what seems the perfect simulation of the French countryside.
When Japanese set out to evoke a foreign scene, it [...]
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28
Sep
Posted by palmsundae in Community, Global cities, Governments, Walking and transit, small streets, trees. Tagged: Akihabara, bike, borrowing, ciclovia, free, Ginza, Haneda, heaven, hokousha tengoku, Imperial Palace, Jane Martin, Oifuto, park, pedestrian, Plant*SF, public space, San Francisco, SF Streets Blog, Shinjuku, street, Sunday Streets, usable, 歩行者天国. Leave a Comment
For mature cities, creating green cities involves reclaiming unused and under-used spaces in crowded environments. For Tokyo, that largely means rooftops, walls and streets.
Japan introduced a successful concept called “pedestrian heaven” or hokousha tengoku (歩行者天国) in commercial districts including Ginza and Shinjuku. On weekends and holidays, small stretches of major roads are pedestrian-only. A similar [...]
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9
Sep
Posted by palmsundae in Uncategorized. Tagged: art, cabaret, Ginza, Ginza Farm, history, Nagai Kafū, Shiroi Bara, weblog244, White Roses. Leave a Comment
Leaving Ginza Farm, I spotted a famous Ginza institution, the Shiroi Bara or White Rose cafe in an ancient brick building. Between Ginza Farm and the undulating de Beers building on Kazutou Street, just off Chuo Street, the White Rose dates from 1931, the early rise of Ginza, and is associated with the writers Nagai [...]
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12
Aug
Posted by palmsundae in Urban food, Visionary, small business. Tagged: agricultural, Diane Cook, field, Ginza, green, Hakutsuru, Len Jenshel, National Geographic, nihonshu, rice, rooftop, sake, urban. Leave a Comment
This amazing photograph of Hakutsuru Sake rooftop rice field in Ginza comes from photographers Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, and appeared as part of National Geographic’s global green rooftop photo essay.
This is the third urban agricultural project in Ginza, in addition to the Ginza Honey Bee Project and the Ginza Farm.
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6
Aug
Posted by palmsundae in Community, Urban food, Visionary, small business, trees. Tagged: age, bee, beekeeper, deforestation, Edible, 銀座ミツバチプロジェクト, farmers, fear, flower, Ginza, Ginza Honey Bee Project, grass, Hamarikyu, hive, honey, honeycomb, Imperial Palace, kids, landscape, mama-san, office, pesticide, rice, roof, rooftop, sake, souvenir, Tsukudajima, World War II. 7 Comments
Last week the Ginza Honey Bee Project (銀座ミツバチプロジェクト) founders Takayasu Kazuo (高安和夫) and Tanaka Atsuo (田中淳夫) talked with me about their successful four year old honey-making project in the middle of Ginza, and showed me their rooftop hives.
We met in a unremarkable conference room in a nondescript office building behind Matsuya department store. A group [...]
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29
Jul
Posted by palmsundae in Community, Urban food, Visionary, small business. Tagged: accountant, bamboo, banner, Chuo Dori, De Beers, duckling, 銀座農園, 飯村一樹, 貸し農園, farm, field, food, Ginza, Ginza Farm, grow, Ibaraki, Iimura Kazuki, kids, market, mud, Nagashi Somen, Omotesando, Paul Smith, plot, rental, rice, roof, school, Shimoutsuba, Shizoka, Tanabata, tax, venture capital, Yanagi Dori. Leave a Comment
Last week I sat down with Iimura Kazuki (飯村一樹) at Ginza Farm, with a translator, and learned much more about his ideas for Ginza Farm, his background and his next project.
Iimura-san told me that he is very interested in urban farming in Japan and worldwide. His background has given him unique skills for pulling off [...]
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18
Jul
Posted by palmsundae in Residences, Urban food, small streets. Tagged: alley, gardener, Ginza, Ginza Farm, Mini, pot, restaurant, stand, support, watermelon, wooden. Leave a Comment
In a small Ginza alley, near Ginza Farm, I spotted this mini-watermelon growing in a pot outside a restaurant. What’s most delightful is that the gardener has carefully placed a wooden stand for support.
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