Posts Tagged ‘green’

Wild parrots in Hiroo

Walking on a small street in Hiroo, in central Tokyo, we heard a strange noise and saw some people staring at a persimmon tree. On closer examination, we saw that there was a flock of wild green parrots gathered in this tree. The green on orange colors perched on a leaf-less tree is sublime.

I have [...]

Continue reading »

Balcony garden in early November

With cooler nights, fall is definitely upon us. I took these photos in the first week of November to document the passing of the seasons on our balcony garden. Above a dramatic sunset over Mt Fuji illuminates the very end of the morning glory green curtain. As you can see in the photo below, there [...]

Continue reading »

Marui department store brands itself with plants

Several months ago Marui opened up another department store in Shinjuku san chome, along with at least three other existing ones and retail competition that includes Isetan’s flagship across the street. It is interesting that one of its defining design themes is green space. If you arrive by Tokyo Metro, you can see strips of [...]

Continue reading »

Muza-chan’s photos of Tokyo green spaces

Muza-chan, a prolific Twitter user, blogger, and photographer from Bucharest, posted some great photographs she took of Tokyo green spaces. See more here.
 

Continue reading »

Omotesando moss

Omotesando is known for its parade of imported brands: Dior, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, etc. It also has an amazing canopy of zelkova trees (called keyaki or 欅 in Japanese). This photo taken on a rainy day earlier this week shows the trees covered in moss. Looking up from the busy sidewalk, you see many shades [...]

Continue reading »

Skyburb: High-rise suburban living in the city

From Inhabitat (click for more images), I read about a design concept for high-rise suburban living called Skyburb. It’s designed by Sydney architects Tzannes Associates to provide flexible, modular, and park-like vertical spaces in densely built areas. I am a bit skeptical about the idea of “introducing qualities of the suburbs into denser urban environments” [...]

Continue reading »

Hakutsuru Sake’s rooftop rice garden

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.

Continue reading »

Meeting Kobayashi Kenji (小林健二) at Sinajina (品品)

Yesterday I had the amazing fortune to meet Kobayashi Kenji (小林健二) at Sinajina (品品) in Jiyūgaoka, Setagaya-ku. Recognized as a leading Japanese green designer and bonsai innovator, Kobayashi-sensei has a vision for bring an appreciation of nature through caring for plants to a wide audience.
By making plants into attractive small objects, Kobayashi-sensei has succeeded in [...]

Continue reading »

Mori Building’s Vertical Garden City

Mori Minoru’s Mori Building is Tokyo’s largest urban real estate developer. His Vertical Garden City idea and Urban New Deal Policy are private enterprise visions for a re-made city that is at once more densely populated, more environmental and green, and more profitable for the largest developers. 
I had the intriguing experience of being invited to [...]

Continue reading »

Wisteria in apartment balcony

Leaving the JR Harajuko station on the way to a meeting with a green new media activist, I looked up at a concrete residential tower and saw this splendid wisteria flower explosion ten floors off the grounds. Many of the balconies have no plants, or just an odd plant or two. What amazes me about [...]

Continue reading »