To spare Owen and Mike from boring architecture touring, I decided to go see some of the sights that I wanted to see before they got here in case going to places just for the sake of looking at buildings didn’t intrigue them. So get ready for a heavy dose of architecture in this post. First stop was the fancy shopping district of Omote-sando.
1964 Olympic Stadium by Tange Kenzo
I don’t know too much about this building. But my tutor in Fukuoka told me that this would be a building worth visiting and he was right. It’s by renowned architect Tange Kenzo who is well respected and even admired by Tadao Ando, so I’m sure there’s something here I can learn from. It consists of two main structures and it is a short walk from Harajuku and Omote-sando Dori. I sort of happened on it and made no specific plans to see it but I was glad to have accidentally stumbled upon it. The site is mostly empty now but I even got to go inside the smaller stadium which was being used at the time for what looked like a high school or college basketball game. Got some great photos out of the visit and it was a fun building to see in person.
Daytime Architecture – Gaijin Smash
There’s a distinction for daytime and nighttime architecture because in my opinion, the same buildings by day and night look completely different altogether depending on when you see them. Ginally I get to see some buildings that I’ve wanted to see since I started learning about architecture. The great thing was a lot of them were all in one place, Omote-sando. There is Tod’s Building by Toyo Ito which we’ve been learning about since 1st Year in architecture. I made it a point to go inside all of them and experience the building for myself in person. The glass in the Tod’s building is so clean that at one point, I leaned in to peer outside one of the openings and sort of (gaijin) smashed my face into a pane of very clean glass. A kind (and self controlled) employee told me it was alright while keeping in his laughter and I swiftly exited with what little dignity I had left and to allow him to laugh at me without having to do it to my face. Of course, the famous Christian Dior building which was surprisingly simple, essentially only made up of slightly varied floor heights and veiled in white curtains around its all glass exterior. It’s not the fact that this was a new idea, but that it is well executed that makes this a good building. Other notable buildings include the H&M building by Jun Mistui & Associates, GYRE (Moma design store) by MVRDV and an awesome angled Audi Showroom Building by godonlyknows.
Nighttime Architecture
The street of Omote-sando lights up with florescent trees. The buildings beautifully illuminated are completely different than their daytime selves and people fill the streets of Harajuku. One giant curved façade of the Gold’s Gym building looks as if it has become the screen of a huge projection and on it is moving tidbits of holiday cheer. Other buildings like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tod are mesmerizing and are all interesting or beautiful in their own ways. Walking down Harajuku, I was approached by four black guys individually, one after another, trying to convince me to buy Timberlands or True Religions. For some reason, the only black people I see working in Japan are always selling American urban wear or clubs/bars/girls. I’m not being racist, it’s just my observation.
Other Sights and Sounds
A band which was highly advertised called Flumpool, a polka dotted Audi R8, sleek and sheik interiors of chrome, glass and matte black leather in Louis Vuitton, the Moma Design Shop, fish feet nibbling therapy and a gang of enthusiastic Santas. I might have to explain the fish feet nibbling thing a little. It’s a form of relaxation where you sit and dip your feet into a pool filled with fish that nibble off the dead skin off your feet. It was something so bizarre I was planning to try it but just never got around to it. I heard it tickles. The Santa gang thing was random and cool too.
Dinner with the Hsiao’s
My good friend (of 8 years now, wow) Jen Hsiao coincidentally happened to come to Tokyo with her family this night. So I met her at her hotel in Ikebukuro. She said she was going to be late and I arrived on time, so I decided to rest and ended up falling asleep. She woke me up and I bet I must have just looked like a bum to her family, sleeping alone in the hotel lobby, but oh well. I discretely joined her all-Taiwanese tour group for dinner and worked what little Mandarin I could. We ate a very Taiwanese meal at a nearby Chinese restaurant and I couldn’t help but eat three bowls of rice and other dishes. I didn’t want to seem like a pig, but I just missed Chinese food so much, I didn’t really care. They thought that I was a poor starving college student, which is not too far from the truth. Afterwards I took Jen and her older sister Emily out on the town because they only had about two days in Tokyo and they wanted to take advantage of every chance to see some of Tokyo’s nightlife. This was Christmas Eve however and even the streets of Shinjuku were a little sparse. They still enjoyed all the sights and sounds and we even stopped in a small izakaya for some yakitori. Emily went to get herself a cup of water and accidentally poured herself a glass of sake. She is not a heavy drinker and left the cup on the table hoping the bartender wouldn’t notice. Then a couple sitting next to her asked her if it was her cup and she had to embarrassingly admit she had poured out sake to the bartender. He seemed to understand and didn’t charge us for it. We made the last train home and I barely caught one of the last trains back to Jimbocho. Her family graciously invited me to spend Christmas Day with them at Disney Sea. I knew the next day would be fun and tiring, it was.
The beautiful Hsiao sisters.
Jen and me at Ikebukuro.
hmmm. i'd like to get to know those santas, haha.
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