Keeping in mind I haven't yet been to Tokyo...
(1) Brutalism really took hold here!
(2) The art deco influence is apparent from time to time, often only in parts, those parts often being stained glass.
(3) The Mondrian-style painted building we saw from a train was cool (not sure where we were).
(4) I get the impression that, for the most part, the aesthetic value of the exterior of a building is not enormously important - apart from the garden. Even the older/older-style buildings are not particularly interesting from the outside, although more appealing than many modern buildings. There are a few notable exceptions to all of this.
(5) Brutalism rates a second mention here.
(6) Many modern homes look like kit homes. There is a significant degree of uniformity.
(7) That said, to my eye, the town planning often seems a bit higgledy-piggledy in terms of building placement, both as to where buildings are placed (tall and ugly apartment blocks amongst much lower, often more traditional-style housing) and orientation vis-a-vis other buildings (at odd angles, windows overlooking gardens, etc).
(8) GARDENS! Many people have a garden, if only pots on a balcony or the street. They are often food gardens. (In the more rural areas, there are large vegie gardens, and everyone seems to have their own rice paddy, if only a small one.)
5 comments:
talking about higgedly piddedly buildings, wait until you try to find an address by the number ... as i said.... d.
oh yes, we know. Thus ending up in one restaurant when searching for another ;)
Even the taxi drivers, following Japanese instructions from a native Japanese speaker, do that. (They go by landmarks, not addresses). Also if you feel like being amused, ask a friendly Japanese resident to help you decipher a map.
Ha, yes. I described our first full day in Kyoto in an earlier post. Our map didn't show all the smaller streets around the second temple, and it was further from the subway than we had expected. We stopped someone to ask for directions - got a rapid stream of Japanese and pointing in response. We used Google maps instead. It took us in a slightly different direction.
On the way back, we decided to take a cab. I showed the driver our house marked on map. He took a couple of glimpses at traffic lights, then handed it back to me - and drove us straight there. It wasn't a straightforward location (although not too far from a major intersection).
good to see that it hasn't changed in xx years.
Also amused that the text to type to prove I am not a robot consists of photos of house-numbers on buildings.
love d.
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