My time has now ended in Tokyo, and I'm currently in Kyoto awaiting sunrise. Instead of a strictly chronological account, I'll just highlight a few things that have happened in the last weeks.
Edo-Tokyo Museum
The Edo-Tokyo museum is a dramatic piece of architecture that also contains a museum. The building sits on four legs and the giant hall that sits on top is accurately reflected in the shape of the exterior.
The main focus of the museum is to show visually and interactively the history of the city of Tokyo. It does this with real exhibits, replicas, giant replica buildings and models.In this way, it is actually one of most child friendly museums I have visited in Tokyo, although it is interesting for all ages.
Unlike museums like the Tokyo National museum, it isn't afraid to show replicas which means you get a slightly plastic, but more complete understanding of the story the museum is trying to tell, in contrast with other, authentic, but more piecemeal offerings by some.
On the same day, we went to akihabara, electronics district, home to a massive 9 story tall electronics store, many tiny electronic components stores, and arcades, maid cafes and gaming stores for the otaku crowd.
A night in Rappongi
The next weekend was Tokyo part two, and this time we took a look at the less child friendly areas of town, we went to rappongi for a night out. Rappongi is the closest thing that Tokyo has to Aiya Napa, with reps trying to encourage you into bars, drink my on the street, and a heap of Europeans. After a misstep into a tiny basement bar, we found outselves quite literally at home in hobgoblin, a British themed bar which was quintessential Wetherspoons; unfortunately, at ¥900 a beer , it didn't match the price.
The night ended up on the 5th floor of a tower, in V2 club, overlooking the city. A T. rex made an appearance at some point.
Odaiba
The next day, a Saturday, we went to an area called odaiba, for some lovely views over the Tokyo skyline. Odaiba is built completely on artificial land, and is in appearance and finish the epitome of Japanese perfection. It is also rather commercial and touristy, but no wonder when it offers such good views over Tokyo and the 'rainbow bridge'.
Capsule hotel
That night, we stayed in a capsule hotel. A uniquely Japanese phenomenon, designed mainly for busy salarymen on the move, it is the ultimate example of Japanese compact convenience. It was however hard to find one which would accommodate both men and women, as most are exclusively male, given the fact that capsules are unlocked and facilitates shared.
The capsule was actually bigger than I expected, there were only two rows vertically stacked, so it is actually just a well-equipped, more private bunk bed. The hotel itself though was very nice and of quite a premium finish.
Tokyo DisneySea
The reason we had stayed the night is because I had been convinced to go to Disneyland the next day.
I was purely there as an architecture and design critic however, and it was a vet interesting experience in that regard.
The place really needs a blog post of its own about all the design details and 'imagineering' but, briefly, it was surreal to visit such a detailed fiction world. The 'cracks' I n the pavement, the 'wear' on 'metal' ornaments, the period architecture Is all totally designed, nothing is left to chance. Which makes for a very strange experience, the eye when visiting real Venice or New York, can hunt for detail, it can genuinely discover new things, but to be half immersed in a fantasy land feels like being in a video game, there is nothing to see beyond what has been defined.
Having said that it is mostly a positive to see the lengths taken to achieve such goals, and in many cases the level of new and exciting design is a Product Design Engineers dream. Disneys 'imagineers' go to great lengths, blue sky thinking and pushing possibilities to the limit, and this is met with a strong backbone of investment. A carefully managed, painstakingly enforcesd brand image, met and exceeded with no expense spared, it's basically Apple for kids!
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