Forest house and Nakano Twin Towers on my walk to the station

中野駅までの静かな路地は、歩きやすいです。

The house with the orange vine, aka forest house, is where I think Totoro is hanging out with tanuki. This quiet alley rarely has cars, and it makes for a calm walk to the station.

Gorgeous mini-pomegranates match home’s Showa-era, crimson ceramic tiles

ミニ・ザクロが本当に素敵ですね。昨日のヒマワリと同じの庭ですが、家の側で育っています。

I don’t know if you can eat these mini-pomegranates but they are really stunning. This is just on the other side of the wall from the yellow sunflower image I posted yesterday. I love how this gardener maximizes space by extending out into the public realm. The road-side part of her garden also gets more sunshine.

Sunflower blooms next to the road, outside the gardener’s property

このコーナーは家と歩道の境目にありますが、近所の方のおかげでいつもきれいな花が咲いています。

This sunflower is blooming in a tiny mound of dirt outside a neighbor’s house. I love how she maintains this corner and always offers some seasonal color to the passers-by.

View across Tokyo towards Sky Tree as the sun drops lower

マンションの廊下から見えるスカイツリーの景色が大好きです。密度の濃い都市生活はワクワクさせてくれます。

I love this view of Tokyo from the window next to our elevator. Tokyo is at once dense and variegated, with a mix of two story residential buildings and ten story mid-rises, the towers of Higashi Nakano and Nakano Sakaue, and in the far distance, Sky Tree.

Maritime shipping company has been operating for decades in this pre-Bubble office

芝浦にある海運送会社です。バウハウスのような簡潔さがあるので、バブルの何年も前に建てられたと思います。濃い青色の陶器タイルは空に似合います。

The Bauhaus-like architectural simplicity and the decorative ceramic tiles mark this commercial building as product of postwar industry and trade, long before the excess of the Bubble. It’s lovely to see maritime companies that have done business for decades still exist along Tokyo’s waterfront.