Harajuku, A Blend of Modernity and Tradition March 1, 2010

Harajuku is actually quite close to Shibuya, you can quite easily walk to Harajuku from Shibuya. Harajuku is mostly a commercial area with stores targeted at young adults and teeenagers. The main stretch in Harajuku is lined with high end fashion stores many of which would be familiar with most people such as Gucci and Armani for example. The shops all have a very modern design and form a interesting mix of different architectural styles. Below is a view of a large intersection which kind demonstrates the look of the area.

View of stores in Harajuku

When I visited the area it was bustling with activity and the traffic was the busiest I saw while in Tokyo. The people walking around the area were all well dressed and quite stylish. I noticed that most people in Tokyo are always very well dressed it is hard to find people that looked disheveled or poorly dressed. Harajuku is also known as a meeting place for people that belong to Tokyo’s sub-cultures. These sub-cultures arise from a need to be unique and different, a way to rebel against a society that is sometimes quite conformist. They wear eclectic clothes and have unique hairdos. To me it is a fascinating phenomenon, people that take self expression to an extreme. As I was exploring the area a friend of mine stopped at this very modern looking chocolate shop.

A chocolate shop with a very nice design

I just loved the color of the walls, the yellow-orange color is very similar to the colour my room is painted. Combined with white it makes for a very attractive interior. I just love a bright splash of colour combined with the simple cleanness of white. The store had a beautiful wood floor, there is nothing like a nice wood floor. Everything else in the store had a similar modern sensibility. In stark contrast with consumerist and modernity of most of Harajuku is the Meiji Shrine. It is a shrine dedicated to the emperor Meiji who was the main force in the Meiji restoration which modernized Japan’s social and political structure in the latter half of the 19th century. The shrine sits at the middle of a large and beautiful park.

The Meiji-Jingu Shrine

Here is the main building of the Meiji Shrine with its beautiful flowing copper roof. The shrine is a very relaxing place, it is very quiet and peaceful compared to the hustle and bustle of the surrounding area. It is a place where you can easily get lost in your thoughts and kind of makes you contemplate life. It is a great place to go when you want to relax and get away from the rapid pace of life in Tokyo. Natural beauty is everywhere you look, the shrine seems to be in harmony with the forest around it.

The beauty of the Meiji-Jingu Shrine

The picture above is one of my favorite among the many pictures I took while I was in Japan. The colour of the pillars match the colour of the tree that stands above it. The picture to me represents the great respect for nature which is found in the Shinto religion and in Japanese society in general. In this case nature inspired the colours used in the construction of the shrine. Nature is truly a great inspiration for anybody in a design field, the colours found in nature are beautiful and when used in a design they make the design feel more real and have a more natural feel. The next area I will talk about is Ginza which is one of the older shopping areas in Japan and feature the Sony building and Nissan headquarters.

Japanese Inspiration in my Works February 22, 2010

This post kind of ties in to my last post about Shibuya. When I was in Shibuya I was with a group of people and some of them had decided to stop at a store and they set a time for the rest of us to meet them. The rest of us decided to wander through the HMV that was nearby. Since I like having and listening to some unique music, I decided to look for a cd from a Japanese band. With no real idea where to start I picked up a demo headset and listened to the different CDs available and ended up finding one that I liked. It was a band with a crazy name, the band was called “Fox Loco Phantom” and the album was “Chaotic Monster”. When I choose music it does not really matter to me if I don’t understand all the words, it is all about the sound for me, if the music sounds good then I like it. The band is a very new band from Tokyo and their sound was really interesting and sort of eclectic so naturally I bought it as I love that kind of thing .

During one of my previous semesters at Algonquin College I had and class in which we learned to use Adobe Illustrator which ended up being one of my favorite programs to use. My final assignment for that class was to redesign the cd case for a music album. In an effort to be unique and be able to design something with a very Japanese feel I chose to redesign the cd case for “Chaotic Monster”. My concept in the design was to use elements of the band and album name to create some Imagery. Below is the concept for the front of the case.

The concept for the front of the case

In the bottom-left corner is a fox mask and the phantom of a monster is seeping out of the hole in the mask. I used red, black, white and different shades of Grey as they match the feel of the music as well as the actual CD case design. So almost each word in the names of the band and album where illustrated literally which I think looks really good. The fox mask illustration was created from scratch and based of a picture I drew. For the monster I first drew the monster and then scanned it and traced it using illustrator. The monster was inspired by a book of Japanese prints that I bought some time ago in which one of the prints depicts a similar looking monster.  I knew also that the fox used to be seen as some kind of mischievous spirit and has a place in Japanese mythology and the Shinto religion. I think the mischievous nature of the fox meshed well with sometimes chaotic sound of some of the songs on the album.  Below is a picture I took of a small shrine part of a larger complex which I visited in the city of Kamakura which is about 2 hours south of Tokyo. There are two small statues of foxes on each side of the shrine.

Shrine with fox statues

When thinking up this design the image of this shrine popped into my mind and was one of the main reasons I chose the imagery of the Fox mask as well as he name of the band of course. The beauty of these places still inspires and has influence many of my other designs. I truly think that it helped find my own style and made it more concrete for me. I will probably be showing more of my own work in future posts and a photo of the final look of the cd case for which I got an mark of 98%.

Shibuya, the mecca of youth culture February 19, 2010

Shibuya is quite a lively area in Tokyo. It is the birth place of some of the Japanese sub-cultures, which being eccentric fascinate me. Shibuya is really the place where the young and fashionable hang-out. One of the buildings that best represents the area’s fashion focus is the Ichi-Maru-Kyuu or 109 Building. The company that owns the building is Tokyu and the name of the building can be said “to” for 10 and “kyu” for 9 creating Tokyu. It is kind of an amusing way to put your company name on a building, this show the playful creativity that seems to blossom in Japan.

Shibuya crossing a.k.a. "Hachiko crossing" and the 109 building

The 109 building is a fashion store aimed mostly at young women. It sits right near the Shibuya crossing which is a major intersection, it is the biggest ones I have ever seen. On a few of the building visible from within the intersection there are massive screens such as the one visible in the picture above. The crossing is nicknamed “Hachiko crossing”, this name comes from a real life story that happened in the area. There was a professor who had a dog which faithfully followed his master to Shibuya station every morning. When his master died, the dog would still go back to the station to wait for his beloved master. This story spread throughout Japan and the dog became a famous symbol of loyalty which is a very important value in Japanese society. The dog’s name was Hachiko and a statue of him still stands near the entrance to Shibuya station, now a popular meeting place.

Hachiko, the loyal dog

Beyond the Shibuya crossing there is Center-Gai, a narrow street that is well known for it’s clothing stores, music stores and arcades. I walked along this street and had one of the popular deserts that you can get from stands in Tokyo. This desert is crepes filled with a variety of different things such as wiped cream and cheesecake and is eaten much like an ice-cream cone. These crepes are quite good though pretty decadent, mine had quite a large piece of cheesecake in it. It is amazing to see just how many shops can fit on such a narrow road. Below is a picture of a small section of Center-Gai during the day.

A small section of Center-Gai

Center-Gai also has a few ramen shops along it’s length and I had a wonderful bowl of ramen in one of them. At the point where I was having dinner it was quite late and the area only seems to get busier the later it gets. Center-Gai looks completely different. The sheer amount of neon signs is staggering and it is almost as bright as day in some areas. I just love the view of a city at night, all the lights, all the activity. There is something mesmerizing about the colourful blinking lights that almost fill the sky. I always feel inspired when I see a city at night, it is like a city takes on a completely different look and that is very interesting. The picture below shows how busy Shibuya is, even a night.

Streets are busy especially at night in Shibuya

I think the next area I will write about will be Harajuku as it is very similar to Shibuya. This area feature many fashion stores as well as a very famous and historical shinto shrine. It is a strange mix of modern and traditional Japanese Culture.

Shinjuku, The Nerve Center of Tokyo February 12, 2010

Shinjuku is a major administrative and commercial area in Tokyo. Shinjuku’s skyline is dotted with some very impressive buildings. I visited Shinjuku at least three times during the time I was in Tokyo as it is quite a large area and it makes for some interesting pictures. When you take the subway to Shinjuku you get out at Shinjuku Station which is the largest subway station in Tokyo as well as being the busiest station in the world. All the main subway lines go through Shinjuku station as well as the JR train line. As I came out of the station I was greeted with a view of a stangely shaped building, it is nicknamed the cocoon building due to the crisscrossed supports that cover most of the building as you can see in the photo below.

View From Shinjuku Station

I really like the somewhat random looking structure it gives it an organic feel. I am really attracted by designs that seem inspired by natural structures. Interesting structures and  patterns occur in nature and they can be an incredible source of inspiration and look remarkable when incorporated into man-made structures. Though coccoon building is interesting, the most important and imposing building is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building which is also called Tochō for short. It is a truly massive building and towers over other buildings, it  is very fitting for major government building. The building has an observation deck from which you have an incredible view of the area.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

I went up to the observation around 10pm as the observation deck is open till quite late. I would highly suggest that people visit it at night as Shinjuku looks really beautiful at night. The streets of Shinjuku are lit up with thousands of signs and billboards and it is incredible to see it all from above. Streets seem like rivers of light and buildings resemble dark mountains, it is a fantastic sight. During the day and night the streets of Shinjuku are always bustling with activity. Even on the slightly rainy day on which I was there the activity did not die down.

The Streets of Shinjuku

Colourful signs and large screens are incredibly numerous in Shinjuku, the cacophony of bright colours is a bit overwhelming sometimes. I really love Shinjuku because I love lively area where you can walk among an incredible flow of humanity. Being amongst a large crowd always makes me feel more alive. The sound and constant activity do not bother me, they are a reality in a big city and I have always liked big cities. Shinjuku is truly a place of note in Tokyo and should not be missed when visiting the city. I will finish this post with one last pictures of a skyscraper which I enjoy due to its simple but attractive design.

The Triangle Building

The next area I will be writing about will be Shibuya, a very fashionable area which is incredibly popular among young adults. The area also has a very active nightlife and features one of the most know intersections in Tokyo “Hachiko crossing”.

Clever designs for those who like tea February 8, 2010

While I was in Tokyo I drank a lot of green tea, I absolutely love the stuff. Now I am a person that does not like coffee or tea very much, but green tea is just different for me. I just find very soothing and relaxing and just love its faint smell which kind of reminds me of algae or seaweed paper which I ate many times. I had the privilege of participating in a tea ceremony activity which is an interesting experience. The tea ceremony is a very ancient tradition in Japan having been practiced since the 9th century. We were ushered five at a time into this small room with tatami mats. In this room there were three older women dressed in beautiful kimonos who were tending the tea making equipment. We were explained the basic steps on how to do the ceremony. First we were presented with a plate of candies of which we picked one and placed it on a napkin. The pieces of candy were beautiful as you can see for yourself in the picture below, they have a very Japanese aesthetic.

Beautiful little candies

They were almost too nice to eat, supposedly the tea can upset you stomach if it is empty so we ate the candies. After-wards the tea is made, hot water is poured into a cup from a large pot then the tea powder is put in and is then mixed very thoroughly till the is a layer of foam in the cup. You are then given the cup at which point you turn it 180 degrees, the reason for the spinning of the cup is that you are presented the cup with the side you are supposed to drink from facing away from you. The spinning of the cup is a mark of respect and is an important part of tea ceremony etiquette. You then drink the tea slowly, the green foam has a very bitter taste and the tea is a bit thick. We were then offered the  change to try to mix a cup of green tea. I failed to mix the tea as I did not mix it fast enough to get it to foam. The picture below is me in my attempt to make a cup.

Me trying to make tea

In the end I quite enjoyed having participated in a Japanese tradition. While we are on the topic of tea, I was surfing the web and I found these cool and unique example of packaging for tea bags. My favorite being an origami tea bag depicting a bird, what can I say I am a sucker for anything Japanese. Tea bags aren’t the most interesting thing and I had not though of them as something that could have an interesting design but I was wrong. It is always wonderful to discover things that you had never though of, it is one of the many joys of life.

Akihabara, Eclectic Electric Town February 2, 2010

Akihabara (Akiba for short) is also known as Electric Town. It is and area known for being a bit strange. It is mainly known as an area where you can buy all kinds of electronic devices new and old, just about any consumer electronic device you can think off can be found in Akiba. They don’t only sell electronic devices they also sell all kinds of electronic components as well. There are hundreds of small electronics stores, some of them selling wares almost on the street.

Small shops along an alleyway

The other main thing Akiba is known for is being a mecca for Otaku, people who love Anime and Manga (Japanese animation and comic books). It is not uncommon to find people dressed as their favorite characters. Personally I love anime and manga and I enjoyed findind some of the anime series I am familiar with in these stores. It is this eccentricity that attracted me to the place and was one of the reasons I visited the area. Another thing found in the area are arcades, these arcades are targeted to many people with some of these arcades having area that are only for girls. In the arcade I entered many of the people there where young adults which was not exactly what I expected. The buildings in the area are extremely colourful and have large billboards depicting cartoon characters as well as adds for electronics companies.

The brightly coloured buildings of Akihabara

Along with the electronics shops area a variety of stores aimed towards Otaku which sell anime DVDs, manga and plastic figures depicting anime or manga characters for those truly obsessed with these things. One of the other strange things you can find in Akiba are maid cafés, which are obviously cafés but the unusual thing about them is that all the waitresses are dressed like maids and refer to customers as “master” and generally act cute, as you have probably guessed these are targeted at Otaku. Below is a picture of a girl dressed as a maid that was handing out flyers advertising a maid café.

Girl dressed as a maid

Personally i found this concept to be a bit eccentric however it is just a manifestation of the kind of playfullness that is you find when you immerse yourself in Japanese society. They seem to enjoy acting silly and seem to have no problems laughing at themselves which is something I admire about the Japanese and think people can learn from it. Some of the shops in the area are actually duty-free shops that offer a 10% discount to those who present a foreign passport, so if you are ever in Tokyo and want to buy some electronics at a discount Akiba is the place for you. Below is one of the most visible duty-free shops I saw in the area.

A duty-free shop in Akihabara

I was inspired by just trying to wrap my head around such a crazy looking area. It is just an explosion of bright colours, signs and billboards. It is a bunch of tiny shops stuck together in a seemingly random fashion. I guess I just enjoyed the playful use of color and the flurry of activity around me. It is definitely a place I recommend people to visit if only to see a place that is strange and unique. The next area I will write about is Shinjuku which is pretty much the nerve-center of Tokyo. The area features the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building as well as many other large skyscrapers with interesting designs.

Interesting Form February 1, 2010

Since I am in interactive multimedia I always look for interesting ideas for different website elements. I was looking around the web with Stumbleupon and I found some interesting code for creating a form. It is sometimes hard to figure out how to make a form that looks interesting. What is unique about the form is that the labels for each field are inside each field, when the field is clicked the label slides out of the form field and stays on the outside. I think that it is a very interesting way to deal with the labels. It would make a form stand out and and to the experience of filling out a form. A form in a website may not be the most interesting but it should not be neglected as it helps with people’s perception of you website. They will be more trusting of a form that seems to have had some thought put into it.

Here is the link for the tutorial on how to create the form http://www.csskarma.com/blog/sliding-labels/.

Odaiba, the future comes to life January 29, 2010

As I mentioned in my last post I will be writing about Odaiba. Odaiba is an area of Tokyo which is built an artificial island in the Tokyo Bay. The island is connected to the mainland by the rainbow bridge of which there is a picture in my first post. The style of the buildings in the area is definitely futuristic, it was developed in the 1990′s as a major commercial, residential and leisure area. I took the monorail that goes to Odaiba and also links to Haneda Airport. Just as you come off the monorail the first thing you see is the Tokyo TV building.

The Tokyo TV building

The building features a large sphere build near the top of the building as well as a center area made up of pillars and sky bridges linking both halves of the building. Again I love the combination of glass and metal, it is simply colored and just looks so futuristic. As you walk around Odaiba you see many other examples of futuristic architecture.

A pair of futuristic buildings

The gigantic building on the left has a hole in the middle of it with at the bottom a part of the building that resembles a large satellite dish which is interesting as the japanese text on the building reads “telecom center”. It is an a creative way to show the purpose of the building by it evoking a piece of telecommunication equipment.  The futuristic feel does not only extend to the building but also to the transport infrastructure.

The Tokyo Teleport pedestrian bridge

The picture above shows a suspention bridge which allows pedestrians to cross the large roadway below it. The bridge even has escalators to get up onto it. It is really a crazy looking sight with the single large pilar which sits as if it was going to tip over. When in such surrounding it is easy to let your imagination go and  just be inspired. Each building I have shown was relatively simple yet had details that made them very interesting. I like subtle little details that make you look at something twice. Subtility to me is very important in a design, be it a slight splash of color or an interesting pattern used effectively. These things really make a design pop.  In my next post about Tokyo I will write about an area called Akihabara. An area that is quite eclectic, strange and so very interesting.

Roppongi, futuristic urban design January 25, 2010

I will present one area of Tokyo at a  time making one or more  posts on each and I also want to make a post each week about quirky things I that make Japan unique, language tips, or interesting and inspiring that I discover on the web. Everyday in Japan I explored  different areas the massive city that is Tokyo and since I am a keen observer I saw many interesting things. The first area of Tokyo I am  going to write about is Roppongi.

Roppongi is an area of Tokyo where foreigners tend to go. The area is a place where people go at night since there are many clubs in the area. There are two main places of interest which I visited. These are the Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown building complexes. They are new developments and the concept behind them is that they combine offices with commercial and residential spaces. They are basically a mini city with all that is needed is found in one place: restaurants, a mall, convenience stores. It is quite an interesting urban concept, it is very convenient for those living there. The architecture of these building complexes is ultra modern inside and out.

The Roppongi Hills

This is a picture of the entrance to the mall in the Roppongi Hills complex. I really love the combination of metal and glass used in the construction. The way the glass is placed creates an interesting pattern of colors due to the way the light passes through the glass. The interior of the building is very nice as well using stones and wood and metal with lots of plants and water features. It is truly an example of excellent architectural design with interesting details. Though I liked the Roppongi Hills the Tokyo midtown was even nicer.

The Tokyo Midtown Complex

The combination of wood with the metal and glass are a really good looking combination. Even the lamps have a funky design and the exposed metal structure that supports a glass roof , visible in this photo  is an interesting detail. I can’t but find these building to be stirring, there seems to have been a lot of though put into their design which is something I try to do when I design a website, even small details can make all the difference. The combination of materials continues inside the building as well.

Inside the Tokyo Midtown

In this photo there are strings that are barely visible, these strings have small water droplets traveling along them that drop into a bowl like receptacle creating quite a unique fountain. It is these unique design details which stimulate my creativity. The next area I will write about Odaiba, an area of Tokyo built entirely on reclaimed land in the Tokyo bay and it features many buildings with futuristic designs as well as a monorail system.

Why I created this blog January 21, 2010

My name is Alexi, I am an interactive multimedia student. I thought I would start out my blog by explaining why I created it and what I intend to post in my blog.

As you may have figured out from the title of my blog is that I like Japan quite a bit and that it is probably going to be the subject of my blog. You would be right to some extent. I do want to share my experience of Japan but that is not the only thing I am passionate about. Japan to me is a great source of inspiration, the aesthetics of Japanese art and the futuristic architecture that is found there are things that I think about when I create a website or design. Japan is also my motivation for completing my college degree. So I will be posting about why I think Japan is inspiring as well as sharing then personal experiences of my trip there in the summer of 2008. I will share pictures, tips about learning the language and all the quirky things that make Japan unique. I hope to get more people interested in the place that passions me.

I did not want this to be a blog only about Japan as many of those exist already. Web design and illustrations are two of my other passions and I wanted to both share the designs and illustrations I created and share inspiring designs made by others that are sources of inspiration. I hope to inspire others by writing about my passions and inspirations.

In my next post I will probably share some of my experiences in Tokyo, Japan and write about why the city is so inspiring to me.

A photo to tide you guys over