can we talk about how sweet my day was??

as a class we went around and saw Maki buildings. (Maki is this big Japanese architect, my professor says the most famous Japanese architect and maybe top five important architects in the world. I think maybe he is exaggerating...but I know hardly anything.) Anyhow, Steele, my professor, and I basically made fun of the buildings all day. They lacked inspiration and interest. Apparently Maki is very conservative and has been quite successful theoretically (with writings, etc) but not necessarily architecturally, as far as I can tell. i think it was probably important to see some of his buildings though.
We went to visit his office also, which always makes me excited about architecture -- arch offices are so cool. They have some big projects going on, biggest of all is one of the four towers going up in NYC where the World Trade Center was. We also got to meet him, kind of, he's prettttty old.

what really made my day was finding the capsule tower. i'm prettty proud of myself for this one -- i had to look it up online because no one knew where it was and even our translator was unsure how to get there on the subway -- but i figured it out! it really wasn't THAT difficult, but the subway maps are very confusing. i think tokyo is sitting on an entire system of subways, there is actually no dirt for at least forty feet below the whole city. anyhow, this building is really important because it was the first one to actually use capsules, distinct pieces, in it. it totally revolutionized the way architects thought about space -- at least it added a new dimension. AND worst of all, it's slated to be torn down!! i had a small heart attack when i got out of the subway (finally) because there was a demolition site right there. it turned out to be just down a few blocks, thank goodness. it is...remarkable. how anyone could want to tear something so beautiful down is beyond me.
i was there for ten or fifteen minutes trying to take pictures and all the while the passerbys stared at me. they would look at me and then all look up trying to figure out what i could possibly be so interested in. i got a huge kick out of this. but it also makes me sad because i know people just walk by and think nothing of it. they obviously think so little that they have to look to see what i'm photographing!



i came back into the area i'm staying, akasaki, and went to a cheap ramen place my guidebook recommended. i ate some weeiiird stuff, let me tell you. it was, as the menu accurately described, funky. it had pork, boiled and chopped, and some onions that i wouldn't have known where onions if i hadn't read it. the meat came in three ways, a huge chunk, weird strips that i THINK were pork? and bacon like pieces. there was also a boiled egg. roe was an option, but i declined.
i tried all of it, but basically ended up eating the broth and the noodles. i'm glad i had real ramen, but it was odd. quite odd. the place was cool though.

i'm now doing laundry, in a very weird washing machine with detergent that i hope will not ruin all of my clothes. we'll see.

there are models staying in our hotel. they are very skinny.

i had a long talk about the city today with my professor because there are lots of things i've been curious about -- mainly about the lack of public spaces in the city. there are never benches to sit on and places to just hang out. rarely, anyway. he says the idea of public space is very western and so totally foreign to asia. they are very private here; you go to work and then you go home to be with your family. this idea makes many other things make sense. we also talked about how the cities are pretty ugly, which is ironic for people with such design sensibility, and he said he thinks that is a result of the privacy issue as well. there is little need to make your cities beautiful if you aren't really spending time in them. so individual homes are lovely, but the public cities are not. the trash can issue (noted below) also makes sense, if you are never outside except in transit you would never need to throw anything away.
i take western-ness for granted.

things i have maybe mentioned and maybe not:
1. every single man wears a suit to work. suits everywhere.
2. there are soooo many vending machines. vending machines with alcohol, cigarettes, meals.
3. no trash cans anywhere. none. weird for such clean cities (kyoto is cleaner than tokyo)

for now.

tokyo is uhmazing.