Finally, we can see the sky from our apartment. Scaffolding and net for painting are gone.

 

やっと、マンションから空が見えます。再塗装のための足場もネットもなくなりました。

Seeing Tokyo through netting and scaffolding

ネッティングと足場を通して東京がまだ見えます。光が少なくなって、それに、ベランダの植物がないので寂しい。

Living in a construction site has been strange. There’s less light, there are no plants outside, and there’s a netting between us and the city.

Scaffolding covers our apartment building. It feels as if I am living behind a theater stage.

東京に戻ってきたとき、マンションの１０階の足場は舞台裏みたいです。

This is how the balcony and former view looked when I returned to Tokyo. The extremely tidy screen, modified for a typhoon in fall, and the constant stream of workers make me feel that I am living on a stage set.

Tokyo Station unwrapped and glowing at night

足場が取れて、きれいな東京駅が見えます。まだ入口と広場は工事中です。

The scaffolding has come down from the gorgeous red brick Tokyo Station after years of renovation. Still to come are the re-done entries and front plaza.

Tokyo Station peeking out from scaffolding

足場の上に、東京駅が見えます。東京駅はめずらしい明治の建物です。そして、最上級の交通機関の象徴でもあります。対照的に、新宿駅のほうがもっと人に使われますけれど、正面玄関がありません。修復終了のパーティーはあるのでしょうか？　２０１４年の１００周年の祝賀会に行きたいです。

I love how the very top of Tokyo Station is now visible above the scaffolding. An incredibly efficient urban transportation system makes Tokyo a green city free of auto dependence and isolation. In a city repeatedly destroyed by disasters and constantly in the process of being rebuilt, the 97 year old Tokyo Station is a rare public building from the Meiji era.

I am excited to see the restoration complete, and to experience the grandeur of this central node in Tokyo and Japan’s rail system. Shinjuku Station supports more people per day (over 2.5 million), but like much of Tokyo it is visually a non-place: three department stores from the 1960s through 1980s, sprawling underground passageways, and no particular front or main entrance.

Here’s what Tokyo Station looked like in 2007, courtesy of 663highland. Will there be a party when the project is complete? Or a centennial celebration?