A building designed by Toyo Ito at Omote Sando

Skyscraper in Tokyo part2

new buildings through the old wooden gate

After the typhoon has passed through Tokyo

The middle-sized typhoon attacked Tokyo through today's morning to evening. Fortunately, it didn't damage Tokyo so much because it passed over Tokyo very quickly.

On my way home from work, I often saw such broken cheap unmbrellas left on the trimmed low shrubberies along the streets. Typhoon often attacks Japan, especially from June to October and such umbrellas are very common in Tokyo.

The exhibition of "space morphing" by Migliore + Servetto Architetti Associati

This exhibition, space morphing, was held at Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Tokyo. The exhition features the 16 projects of Migliore + Servetto Architetti Associati, making temporary arhitecture all over the world. These works are quite cool and surprisingly the exhibition is brought by teo, Novara Daily Photo, who works at the architecture office.

Some of the projects in the exhibition were held in Tokyo and I would definitely go and see them if I knew them....

Old and New part3

Men eating ramen noodle on the street near a market

Sereno!

The colder, the hotter

This is vending machine on the street and the hot drinks, such as hot coffee, hot tea, hot cocoa, are replacing the cold ones. Winter is surely drawing near.

Here comes Nissan GT-R!

Excuse me for not being picture and I steel this image from TV.
GT-R has come back! I don't know about cars so much but this car have been very popular sports car in Japan. Unfortunately, the cars are stopped to make in 2002, but has come back!

This sports car will be coming at Tokyo Motor Show, started from October 26.

Old and New part2

Keep out!!

As is not unusual, some of grass carpets in Japanese parks are prohibited from entering in, mainly because walking on the grass will hurt the surface. We seem to be too much sensitive...

A vending machine on the street

Perhaps you may think that it is strange, but many vending machines also sell beer and other alcohols on the streets of Japan, though they are becoming less. People under twenty are prohibited from drinking alcohols but they can easily get them because there are such vending machines in Japan. Actually when I was high school student, I confess, I had bought beer by vending machines with some friends some times. Anyway, Japan seems to be peaceful.

The opening party of the exhibition on the history of Italian Fashion, seen through the coats of Max Mara

Today I went to the opening party of the exhibition on the history of Italian Fashion through the coats of Max Mara. Many coats of Max Mara, ranging from 50's to 00's, are exhibited to help know the history of Italian fashion. Their coats are both fashionable and industrial. I think Italians are quite good at making the bridge between their culture and the industrial products, like clothes, cars, stationery etc.

To teo,
Thank you very much for inviting us to the exhibition and party and I really enjoyed them!

People who read some magazine in a bookstore

A pachinko shop under railway

Louis Vuitton in Roppongi

A man sitting at the stand

There remain still such stands selling only magazines and newspapers near or inside big stations in Tokyo. Such news stands are less in Japan than in other countries. Because newspaper companies in Japan perform the service of delivering each home every morning and most homes used to take some papers. (The Yomiyuri news paper, the most popular newspaper, used to sell more than ten million copies only a day. But now because of Internet's prevalence, the service is becoming unpopular little by little.)

By the way, he looks sleepy because I guess he sits at the stand all the day. I'm also sleepy and it is time to go to bed....zzz

The art of eating ramen noodle??

This is a counter of a ramen shop and each seat is separated by wooden plates from the others to concentrate on appreciating the taste of this noodle, though it sounds quite funny and joking:-))



This is the noodle the shop serves and it is called Tonkotsu ramen, one of popular tastes in Japanese ramen, such as Miso ramen, soy sauce ramen. The soup is mainly made of the bone of pigs and taste better!!



To eat the ramen, we need to buy a ticket by a vending machine installed in front of the shop. Then, we enter the shop and just put them on the counter. The clerks get this ticket and serve food you ordered.

This shop is automatic-oriented and such style is still now very rare. But in the near future, robots will work at some restaurants to make sushi in Tokyo...

Tokyo from Roppongi Hills Tower

Thinner TV

This is a sign on the wall of Sony building in Ginza. The organic EL, Electro Luminescence, TV will be launched by Sony. Surprisingly, the thickness is only three mm, by far thinner than that of LCD.

Some day we will stick such TV to the wall, just like posters or paintings.

A opening restarant

Have a happy weekend!!

One of my happiest moments is to relax and read some books, surrounded with many books, sipping a cup of coffee. I also like the smell of the mixture of papers and ink on it.

Have a happy weekend:-))

A virtual car in a showroom

Coats!

It is becoming cool little by little in Tokyo and the season of coats is coming.

This exhibition, Max Mara, 55 Years of Italian Fashion, will be held at 52nd floor of Roppongi Hills Tower in a few weeks.

Personally I go to this building to read, write and study in the membership library at 49th floor of this building almost every day and saw this posters many times unconsciously.

Surprisingly, the exhibition is designed by a company which teo, Novara Daily Photo in Italy, works at. I saw his exhibition once. It was very cool and he is definitely so talented.

I hope the exhibition will be successful!!

Dream is land?

This signboard says 'Yume-no-shima', meaning Dream Island in English.( 'Yume' means 'dream', 'no' means 'of' and 'shima' means 'island'.) It located on the verge of Tokyo and near Disneyland in Chiba.

The landfill waste, 'residuum of dream', made this island and such land will be more in the near future in Tokyo....

By the way, I love the plastic name of 'dream island'. I think the officials name it 'dream land' just because it is located near Disneyland...

Tenugui shop in Ginza

I took this photo in front of a Tenugui, a Japanese hand-towel, shop near Kabuki theater in Ginza. The shop sells some tenuguis, printed with many kinds of patterns.

By the way, each Kabuki actor or family has their own pattern of tenugui. The one on the right side in the photo has grid pattern and belongs to Nakamura-ya, Nakamura family, consisting of Kanzaburo Nakamura and Kankuro Nakamura etc. The next on the left has round shape pattern and is the tenugui of Matushima-ya, consisting of Nizaemon Kataoka and Shutaro Kataoka etc.

Such tenuguis are not so high (about USD5) and better for souvenirs, I think.

The following web site shows you a lot of patterns, used on tenugui of Kabuki actors. (Japanese only)
http://sozai.dojian.com/monyo/monyo-data7.html

Theme Day, Cemetery / Tombstone

This photo was taken in the middle of Tokyo and well polished tombstones are arranged in a patch of the property of a Buddhist temple, dotting Tokyo. Today such tombstones are surrounded by a tall building in Tokyo. By the way, Tokyo looks modern but has still remained some old customs, for example, visiting our graves once or more in a year to show our respects for our ancestors.

More than 100 City Daily Photo blogs participate in this theme day. Do pay them a visit but remember that due to time difference you might not see the proper photo.

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