small streets

Framed just right, this Tokyo house looks like it was magically transported from another place and another time

wood_house_nakano

木製の家は田舎らしいですね。実は、これは東京で見つけた廃墟となった家です。

This abandoned house is two houses from my Tokyo apartment. I am always amazed to see that it remains standing.

My favorite San Francisco sidewalk flowerpot garden

sidewalk_pot_piot_clintonpark

サンフランシスコで一番好きな歩道の庭が家の近くにあります。この庭のオーナーはランドスケープのプロです。壊れた植木鉢を使っているのがとても良いアイデアだと思います。

Just down the street from me in San Francisco lives a Swiss landscape designer. His sidewalk garden, and especially this broken pot planted with succulents, is my favorite.

The mailbox, buzzer and family name are all that’s left after Nakano demolition

IMG_2288

取り壊しの後には、メールボックスとブザーと表札しか残っていません。

This is the end of the demolition series. I took this photo with my iPhone as I was leaving Nakano for a trip to San Francisco on September 1. I am curious whether the mailbox will still be there later this week when I return.

Construction worker poses on top of truck, in front of his job site

nakano_demolition_teen_posing
 毎週、現場を通りかかると、同じ青年がいつも声をかけてくれました。仕事にとても誇りを持っているようでした。

For weeks, each time I passed the demolition site, the teenage worker would greet me. He seemed eager to pose for photographs. Here he is on top of the truck that hauls out metal scrap.

The same Western house, now deconstructed

nakano_demolition_70s_sideview

真夏に、洋風の家を取り壊しています。鉄骨構造と中庭が見えるようになりました。

In the heat of summer, the young workers dismantled the 1970s house seen in the last post. The demolition reveals the steel structure and large internal courtyard.

Western style home from the 1970s also getting scraped

nakano_demolition_secondhouse_detail

二番目に取り壊される家は洋風です。玄関の上に、古風な機械が置いてあります。

The second house seems somewhat more recent and more Western in style, with lots of fancy metal work and a mix of brick and concrete. During the demolition, archaic machines were perched above the front entry.

At the start, the demolition truck is still empty

demolition_nakano_start
取り壊しの初め、トラックは空っぽです。青いタイルの家も左隣の家ももうすぐ取り壊されます。

The houses to be demolished are the Showa-era one with blue roof tiles and the neighboring house on its left.