Pedestrian overpass also passes under freeway in Shiodome

汐留の歩道橋です。高速道路のせいで、階段を登って、階段を下って、階段を登って、階段を下りなければなりません。なぜそんな道があるでしょうか。

This pedestrian overpass, which dips below the freeway in Shiodome, is a hot mess. I often wonder why city planners value pedestrians and bicyclists so much less than private vehicles and trucks. This is not how I’d like to walk to work from the station.

Tanuki says, Be a Good Neighbor

タヌキさんは仲よくしようと言っています。喧嘩より、どんなかたちでもいいから、愛情のほうがいいと思います。イラストは天才Luis Mendoさんのです。

Why fight over barren islands? Why dream of racial purity and long-gone patriarchy? Why resist the urge to get to know each other?

Another brilliant tanuki poster from Luis Mendo. In a time of rising conflict between Japan and its closest neighbors, tanuki offers his enormous balls as a physical bridge and shared space for international, inter-species, and multi-sexual dancing and frolicking.

It’s time for truth, reconciliation, and love!

Triangular building lacks greenery and adds odd pattern to Kabukicho

なぜこの緑の全くない建物に興味があるのかわかりません。三角形で、あき窓が面白い様式をします。歌舞伎町に。

I am not sure why I find this building so fascinating. It’s built on a triangular lot, and has no visible greenery. The middle of the facade is a staircase and hallways, covered in a wall used partly for signage. The five floors of open air, window cut-outs create an ornamental pattern.