A final view of laundry machines roped to scaffolding

洗濯機が足場の上にあるのは可笑しいでしょう。地震のために、ロープでつないであります。

I am glad this 3 month re-painting job is done. There’s something surreal seeing the washing machines lifted outside the building while the foul-smelling balcony floor sealant was applied.

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。

Narrow staircase leads up the scaffolding

マンションの入り口の隣に、狭い足場の入り口もあります。

Next to the building’s front door, there is also now the entrance to the scaffolding. It’s narrow and partially hidden.

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.

Bamboo scaffolding for training pine tree

高円寺のお寺の入口には、素敵な松があります。竹の支えもきれいですね。

Now that’s a formal entrance to a Buddhist temple in Koenji!

Bus stop turns into lantern scaffolding for fall festival

お祭りのために、代々木のバス停は一時的に提灯をかざる場所になります。

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?