Slow

Right now work is stagnant. We just shipped a presentation out the door this morning and my boss forgot to tell me what to do for the afternoon. So with no work I spent my time trying to look busy online and reading the few architecture books I could find in English. My head hurts from just trying to stay active. This sucks.

This weekend will be spent in preparation for the upcoming dormitory festival on the 12th. The people at the dorm are diligently working away for what I`m promised will be a very important event. Each area of the dorm is being transformed with some installation both practical and art practice. I`m supposed to be helping with one of them but my group hasn`t been very communicative about meeting times and it just keeps falling through. This weekend is sure to be a serious work time though because its the last. I`ll post some photos from the festival on flickr once its over.

This month is the beginning of the monsoon season here with rain expected nearly every day. I saw a patch of blue sky on my way to work yesterday morning and was so surprised. I realized I hadn`t seen blue sky in probably a week. It gets dark around 7 and by the time I leave work I don`t really notice anyway.

Tonight I`m going to a lecture by a very famous Japanese architect, Toyo Ito and probably the world most innovative engineer, Cecil Balmond. I think at least half of it should be in English so I should be able to understand part of it. Hopefully its translated. It will be interesting to see how many people show up for a public architecture lecture. Given their notoriety it will probably be well attended.

I think the novelty of Japan is beginning to wear off. Things that seemed new and strange at first are begining to seem routine and even a little annoying. My lack of access to basic things because of the language and cultural barrier has made me start to be a little reclusive. I should try to be more social, but it`s hard.

Yesterday I went to Himeji, a city along the ocean with a very old castle. The entire structure was made from wood timbers and covered in plaster to protect it. The castle really blew my mind in the amount of craft and skill necessary to make such beautiful joints. The building was made sometime around 1333 but contains vents for natural ventilation, carefully crafted wooden sliding doors and fine joinery. The most luxurious room in the castle was outfitted with tatami mats and fine cedar wood. By comparison to European castles from the same time period with ornament and tapestry everywhere, this castle seems refined and simple.

I've started to figure out the train system, not completely but it seems less daunting than when I first arrived. Next month there is a two day festival at the dorm that happens every year. Everyone is involved in a project to either organize or build something. I'm working with a group who is making a long table that will be planted with grass and plants. The idea is that people sit around the table and eat and drink on a natural setting. I'm not sure how great it will be, but it might be fun to help these kids make it if for no other reason than I'll get to know them better.

Today for lunch I went to the store down the street to get some quick food. I bought spaghetti and heated it up in the microwave. To my surprise, the pasta sauce was actually just ketchup. Needless to say, it didn't really taste like paster, but it looked like it.

Next weekend I hope to go to Tokyo or Hiroshima. The train is pretty expensive. One way to Tokyo will be around $150 and the same to Hiroshima. Having a train pass is less expensive but its only good for a limited number of days and it would expire before I would get my monies worth. Just the price of seeing things I guess.

Shopping and Work in Japan

As far as a consumer culture, I think Japan is our equal. As far as getting around to these stores it seems that the subway serves many building directly without having to go outside. For instance, where I work I just get off the subway and take an elevator into my office. The same holds true for many shopping areas. There are giant underground department stores, food markets, and shopping malls all directly connected to the train station. These lead into brightly lit cluttered shopping streets that are overloaded with insane gamming arcades, cafes, manga comic shops, and junk shops. It sort of feels like a carnival. After I get off of work and take the subway to the Umeda stop where the department stores are its sometimes hard to see the floor in a constant sea of people. One thing seems to flow into another and signs point to abstract loactions in a sea of florecent lights. There are thousands of stores underground. After returning to the relativly quiet area around the dormitory Im happy to be away from the madness.

Takenaka corporation is located in an older 1950s building that seems like it could use some rennovation. The office space is very typical with low drop ceiling and cubicals alla business. There are roughly 500 people at the Osaka Main office and 8,000 people in the company worldwide. The Osaka office along completes roughly 2,000 buildings a year, 300 of which are new construction. Needless to say they are a giant orgainzation, very heirarchical and maybe a little bit sluggish. As with any organization doing this much work, some of it is good, some of it is just plain borring.

Impressions

Everything here is different, not totally different but just enough to make the everyday seem weird. Last night I walked around the neighborhood where my dormitory is in and managed to find this "river" called the Aishyma River which leads to the ocean. It was overgrown with weeds and plants but there were still fifty or so people there walking their dogs and engaging in activities that you would do in a park setting. I followed this along the water to a larger park that has a small beach and ocean access. The parks are few and far between in what is otherwise very densely developed area. Any open space seems to be at a premium. On the way home I came across a small dumpling restaurant and stumbled through ordering a simple meal which was delicious. I never really know what I'm ordering so I'm lucky that I like Japanese food and I like to try new things. I might be able to learn a little Japanese with time, but it's a very difficult language. However, people seem very friendly and willing to help me figure things out. The streets have no names and people seem to get around by remembering buildings or relative locations to other things. It seems crazy, I don't know how they can figure out where they're going. It makes maps some what useless.

Today I road my bike back down to this area and met up with some other people who live at the dorm. We fished but didn't really catch anything. Last night I went out with some guys from the dorm to a club in Kobe where there are supposed to be a lot of Americans called Sonic. What they didn't tell me is that the train doesn't run past 1 am and starts back up at 5 am. The bars close at 5am so we stayed out until the club closed and made it back to the dormitory around 5:30. It was a pretty crazy night.

I finally got a cell phone today with the help of my friend Shiro who speaks very good English and who I've been hanging out with quite a bit. He and another guy named Ryo have been showing me around and helping me figure out things that would be difficult to do if you didn't speak Japanese. I met another guy named Mizunu who is also really into traveling to look at architecture. This morning we went up into the mountains to look at a Tadao Ando building I wanted to see.

So far I've eaten a lot of interesting food. I've had really good sushi with raw octopus, fish eggs, thistle, and squid. I've eaten some udon noodle and have been drinking coffee out of little cans you buy at the convenience store called Family Mart. The neighborhood I'm in doesn't have that many restaurants since it is a commuter community but Kobe is only a few train stops away

Tomorrow is my first day at work. I'll write another post soon to tell you about it.