Best present ever, from Hiyoko in the Netherlands

ベルギーの友達が買った種を分けてくれました。わざわざ郵便で送ってくれました。特別なキュウリやヒマワリやエンドウ。どれも植木鉢で育てやすいです。サイズが小さいものばかりです。キツネのイラストと手紙と説明書のついた小さな封筒が素敵です。ヒヨコさん、ありがとうございます！

The best present I have received in a long time. This gorgeous letter, with an illustrated, fox character, and five types of seeds selected, in Belgium, to do well in flowerpots. They include mini sunflowers, mini cucumber, micro pea, rice beans, and micro basil.

Recently, a young friend was perplexed by the very concept of a stationery store. “What? Don’t you just send by phone and e-stickers?,” he asked. Some things must be analog.

Thank you, Hiyoko! The seeds are already srpouting.

Swan boats of Ueno at sunset

日没に、上野の白鳥の船は、なつかしい感じがします。

These swan boats at sunset on the Ueno pond are wonderfully retro and analog.

Dogwoods turning red in early November

I have noticed this past week that dogwoods (ハナミズキ) are some of Tokyo’s earliest fall foliage. Today, this lane of dogwoods near the Higashi Koenji Metro station are fully red. Ginko and zelkovia will turn yellow and red weeks later. I love this colorful moment, and noticing how different trees turn colors and lose their leaves in sequence.

These photos were taken with an iPhone and filtered with the nostalgia-inducing effects of Instagram, which is suddenly all the rage with design and techies in Japan, the US, and Europe. Instagram is geared around public sharing, but what I like about this free app is that it improves the generally poor quality of iPhone photos by distressing the images and creating the illusions of analog imagery and the photos of our parents or grandparents.

Low res and low quality images suddenly look cool and meaningful. Instagram’s effects are particularly suited for documenting the temporality of fall foliage, while obscuring specific year, decade, and context of this annual spectacle.

ここの話, Koko no hanashi: Talking about Here

The incredibly prolific, creative, and productive Chris Berthelsen has launched a new public project, called ここの話, Koko no hanashi: Talking about Here. It’s an amazing, low tech and also analog project that creates community dialogue about public, publicly visible, and abandoned urban spaces. He’s prototyped it this week in western Tokyo, and you can read about it online and follow its progress through Twitter and a mailing list.

Talking about Here relies on a simple framework: placing a laminated sign and a simple question, like “Why can’t we use this park at night,” to invite neighbors to discuss very local spaces that are shared, visible, or under-utilized. People can respond using the QR code, or by simply writing in the notebook that is attached to the sign with a pen. Responses will be collated on a stripped down blog specific to each location.

The five initial locations are an interesting mix: a bleak park in front of a factory (run-down, official), a friendly neighborhood park which has been declared a ‘night no-go zone’ (well-kept, official), a park under an elevated freeway (run-down, secluded, official), an abandoned car in an apartment complex parking lot (illegal use), and a deserted house on a school route (run-down, private property).

The prototype just went up this week, and there are many questions: Will the signs be taken down? Will officials contact Chris to question his actions? Will neighbors use the QR code or notebooks to record their feeling and memories? Will neighbors be interested to read what other neighbors record?

I am always amazed at Chris’ imagination and ability to make things happen, with low fidelity tools and a bit of daring. We have worked together in creating the Tokyo DIY Gardening project, including the blog and collaborative mapping workshop last August at 3331 Arts Chiyoda. I believe he’s now got four projects launched in his spare time, all of which are shared freely online.

I have asked Chris if I can participate in Phase 2 of this project. I already have a few places in mind: a beautiful abandoned wood house with a garden that is minimally maintained by a neighbor, a pedestrian path that is heavily used and sitting above an old creek, my neighbors’ fruit trees. It might be interesting to ask property owners if they would like to have a sign that seeks comments about their public gardens. I wonder what the reaction will be?