Posts Tagged ‘vegetable’
22
Nov
Posted by palmsundae in Community, Corporations, Urban food, Walking and transit. Tagged: Agris Seijo, beginner, customer, empty, farm, garden, gate, neigbhor, noise, Odakyu, photograph, privacy, rail, rental, restricted, river, roof, Seijogakuenmae, Setagaya, station, store, track, train, Tsukushima, vegetable. 1 Comment
I visited Odakyu’s Agris Seijo rental farm in Seijogakuenmae in Setagaya and was prepared to be charmed by a community vegetable farm built by a rail company above their tracks. Three years ago, the Odakyu corporation rebuilt the station, undergrounded the railway, and used some of the new land to promote urban farming. But I left [...]
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1
Nov
Posted by palmsundae in Residences. Tagged: animal, city, ear, eggplant, fall, fox face, home, pumpkin, resemblance, season, tomato, vegetable, water. Leave a Comment
Fox face is a common fall plant that city residents bring into their homes. I was surprised that it does not require water, and will last two months. It is a fruit related to eggplant and tomato, and has the name “fox face” because of its resemblance to the animal. Some of the fruits have [...]
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14
Oct
Posted by palmsundae in Community, Governments, Residences, small streets, trees. Tagged: art, ashtray, bee, bench, board, bulletin, cat, children, clean, clock, crow, flower, fountain, garbage, hive, kids, neighborhood, park, play, playground, public, residential, rice, sad, sandbox, sign, slide, sponsor, telephone, toilet, traffic, trash, uninviting, unloved, usage, vegetable, volunteer, water. 2 Comments
I am struck by how poorly maintained and under-used many of the residential neighborhood parks are. This one, close to where I live, is large, has many mature trees facing the street, and has almost no usage. To call it uninviting and unloved would be an understatement.
The street side is almost promising. There is a [...]
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11
Oct
Posted by palmsundae in Residences, Urban food. Tagged: #18, balcony, bitter, friend, garden, melon, Morning glory, Okinawa, tough, trellis, twine, typhoon, vegetable. 1 Comment
Typhoon #18 last week knocked down our twine trellis. It’s a good thing that our friend warned us to prepare the garden for the gusty wind: bringing some plants inside, and placing others on the balcony floor closest to the building. We easily rehung the Okinawa morning glory, and I was amazed that this late-in-the-season [...]
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3
Oct
Posted by palmsundae in Urban food, heat island effect, small business. Tagged: agriculture, desert, Dubai, energy, farm, fertilizer, garden, hydrogel, Hymec, indoor, insecticide, lettuce, Mebiol, mobile, Mori Yuichi, roof, Skygel, slope, technology, tomato, vegetable, Waseda, water, 森有一. 2 Comments
I recently had the chance to meet Professor Mori Yuichi of Mebiol, an agriculture technology company in Kanagawa. This research professor at Waseda University started Mebiol in 1995 exploring first medical and then agriculture uses for hydrogels. I was intrigued by his Hymec system for indoor farming and Skygel for rooftop gardens.
Hymec looks like a [...]
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11
Sep
Posted by palmsundae in Nodai, TMG, biodiversity, heat island effect. Tagged: artificial, astro-turf, campus, chemical, daikon, dance, energy independence, enivornment, fertilizer, field, firework, grass, paving, pesticide, playing, storm run-off, Tokyo University of Agriculture, vegetable. Leave a Comment
University summer break extends through the end of September. I was a bit shocked to see the Tokyo University of Agriculture laying down astro-turf on a playing field close to the center of campus. Some artificial grass defenders might say that it reduces the amount of pesticide and fertilizer, and is somehow more environmental.
Still, I [...]
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10
Sep
Posted by palmsundae in Community, Urban food, Visionary, small business. Tagged: artisan, bird, cedar, coach, couples, 銀座農園, 表参道彩園, 飯村一樹, farmer, garden, Ginza Farm, Hirano, Iimura Kazuki, LOHAS, media, Nikkei, Omotesando Farm, real estate, roof, seedling, soil, space, vegetable, vine, waste, wood, work, work day, young, 杉. 1 Comment
On the first of September, Iimura Kazuki (飯村一樹) opened Omotesando Farm (表参道彩園), a roof-top garden rental space in a central upscale commercial and residential district. He is offering sixteen small plots at rents ranging from $170 to $250 per month (15,750 to 23,100 yen). Although community gardens exist in outer neighborhoods of Tokyo, Omotesando Farm [...]
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25
Aug
Posted by palmsundae in Community, Governments, Residences, Walking and transit, small streets, trees. Tagged: bench, bulletin, concrete, Dead space, fence, food, gardener, imagination, metal, newspaper, pavement, Shin Nakano, Tokyo Metro, triangle, vegetable. 1 Comment
Tokyo Green Space celebrates the ingenuity of people who create greenery in a city that is often poorly planned, dominated by concrete, and overly paved. However, it is worth pointing out the prevalence of dead spaces by design, often created by local governments and even Tokyo Metro.
Above is a nearly brand new elevator providing access [...]
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6
Aug
Posted by palmsundae in Corporations, Urban food, Visionary, biodiversity, trees. Tagged: aesthetics, agriculture, bee, biodiversity, birds, construction, eco-system, 鹿島, fruit, Kajima, kids, native plants, pollinate, school, vegetable, wildlife, Yamada Yuriyuki, 山田順之. Leave a Comment
Yamada Yuriyuki (山田順之) , a biodiversity specialist at Kajima, one of Japan’s largest construction companies, appears in a video on Japanese TV about Kajima’s beekeeping and biodiversity education work. Kajima has started a hive in one of their buildings, and is studying how and where bees travel.
Yamada-san makes the important point that “greening” is not just [...]
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20
May
Posted by palmsundae in Corporations, heat island effect. Tagged: destroying, developer, Dr Kennichi Ijiri, earthquake, environment, fire, global, green, green wall, heat island, high-rises, Mohri Garden, Mori Building, Mori Minoru, neighborhood, parks, public relations, rainfall capture, real estate, Residences, rice, roof, Roppongi Hill, safety, Space Medaka, Tokyo University, urban life, Urban New Deal Policy, vegetable, Vertical Garden City, wastewater recycling. 2 Comments
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 [...]
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