Rolling Niseko Summer Time

What to do when your International Driving License has expired? Hire some bikes and put the boy on the back! Good fun exploring Niseko style.

Fushimi Inari Taisha

10,000 of these bad boys up on a hill over 4kms, each one sponsored by a company in return for good luck / fortune, and only lasting 10 years. The Japanese have really nailed the modern day religion meets capitalism meets art installation meets park / tourist attraction. Truly incredible on so many levels.

http://inari.jp/

Kon's Cycles Kyoto

View Kyoto in a larger map


Visiting a city such as Kyoto is a visual treat on so many levels, and returning this year to get a bit more of the good stuff, I couldn't resist a return visit to Kon's cycles HQ, tucked away behind Nishiki market in the middle of town. Highlights included the custom graffiti track frame (top), the purple Tange wavey tubed complete bike (middle) and the slightly rusted 3Rensho frame and fork casually hanging from the ceiling. Drop by next time you're in Kyoto!

http://www.konscycle.com/shoplist/takoyakushi/

Snow Load

An important consideration for designing hooses in Hokkaido it would seem.

Sunny Hills

微熱山丘 南青山 SunnyHills, Tokyo, Japan, a photo by Ken Lee 2010 on Flickr.

Some nice Tokyo goodness by Kengo Kuma.

Via Flickr:
隈研吾, Kengo Kuma
2013/12/21 open

Keirin

So, with Kyoto and Niseko booked for just after CNY, I'm hoping this time I actually get to see some keirin racing. Perhaps I can pick up a cool keirin helmet for snowboarding also>!?! Nice interview and above image pulled from:

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2012/10/keirin-racing-in-japan-with-shane-perkins/

Turrellipse

Mmmm James Turrell- brings back memories of Chichu...

http://archidose.blogspot.hk/2013/09/james-turrell-inside-guggenheim.html

Serpentine '13

Forgive the dezeen obviousness, but this is pretty off the chart.

http://www.dezeen.com/2013/06/04/serpentine-gallery-pavilion-2013-by-sou-fujimoto/

Fuji San

You can never have too much Japanese property pron:

http://www.yatzer.com/2102_plus_residence_by_mount_fuji_architects_studio

Sugoroku

It's been a while since I put any shipping container related buildings up. Loving the idea that you can pick this up and drop it somewhere else when your lease expires:

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/daiken-met-architects-nawakenji-m-sugoroku-office/

Sky Tree vs. Shopping Bike

Well it doesn't get much more bikesandbuildings than this then does it? Would like to say it's my drawing. But, talent aside, I could never get so interested in such a sh*t bike. And I guess Tokyo sky tree is not my favorite building either. But a cool drawing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46520504@N07/5689347197/

Kengo Kuma

Anyone who read my Japan post will clearly have got the impression that I enjoyed the place. A lot. For someone living in a bit of a cultural desert, Japan was a real reminder of the importance of design and the process of really caring about something down to the last detail. Not that I've forgotten, but it's something that is easy to forget in the modern Chinese mentality of building big and fast.

Full of surprises and lots of great buildings beyond the guidebook, one nice little surprise on New Years Eve was this super cool Kengo Kuma designed Asakusa Town Hall. It's nice how in the process from model (image pilfered) to completion (image by me after a few Asahi), it really gained qualities rather than diluted down. I didn't even know it was a Kengo Kuma building until I got back here, but now it makes sense- timber slats, a quirky take on old meets new, and best of all with a public panoramic view of Tokyo on which to drink the sake you've snuck in using your pockets. Good times.

Japan

Kansai landing hi hi. Do you speak English? No no. Where did all the Chinese people go? Nice. Clean. Etiquette. Hello Nozomi! Osaka octopus balls cooked by Marvin Gay & things are looking good. iPhone arigato. Cat hat hard rockers are our new friends. Capsule hotel locker this locker that. Cosy space age 70's futurism. Smoking salaryman grease their hair naked in the basement. Shin-Osaka bullet. A bullet that lost a bit of steam headed for Naoshima. Shouldn't every tychoon have an Art Island?Hiro coffee in the basement of Hanyku the best I'll get. Hiro the best host. Imported walnuts in my pancake. Benesse House. Art. Proper Art. Andao- lots of. Island. Shopping bikes to the sound of Buddy Holly. Asahi. Brazilian girl at Kengo Kuma, not Toyota. Corinthians. Provincial Sushi. Sakae. Ferry again. Andao. Prolific. Giant Ball in a big space. Religious. Chi Chu. Monet. Breathtaking. Pause. Platonic form. Buried. Budget & Quantity Surveyors *ignore*. Only perfection will do. Pumpkin on the beach (sculpture not food) James Turrell x 2. Contemplate. Sensory. Light light. Light dark. Village box. Light I'm blind. Eyes adjust. Slowly. Kind of nice I don't understand Japanese. Elephant in the bath. Goodbye Naoshima- it's been off the tits.

Shinkansen 500kph blazing towards Kyoto. Hello temples, hello low rise city. It's been a while. Hotel Kanra. Small, perfectly formed. Fuck I spilt the tea. Cyprus bath. Black taps, but it works. Chair with the legs cut off. Ohhh a real bed! Christmas treat! Fake geisha tourist blah blah. Beef shabu shabu over the river wah wah. Jazz bar. Non accidental hipsters. Soju. Christmas day. Golden temple. I don't even like gold but god that's amazing. No one buys a tie from the vending machine at the bus stop. We forget to mention we don't eat Cod testees for Xmas dinner. You could feed a family of four for a week for less than these 10 courses. Sashimi melt. Mmm. Sakae bought by a Pachenko parlour owning Japanese buddha santa on Christmas Day. Cycling in the snow. Fake Andao. Hello B&B Keiko. A B&B that doesn't serve breakfast is a pretty good concept actually. Bakery items. Paper screen walls in minus 2? No visible fixings. How do you cook only an egg yoke and leave it runny? Imperial palace run. Kimono bargains. Mondrian saddle? I'll hold out for Tokyo. No, we don't have car parks like this.

 

Fuji framed in a Shinkansen window. Fuji wow pt.1. Gone so fast. Hello lake Kawaguchiko. Goodbye Mt. Fuji- lost in a descending cloud. Goodbye our budget. Onsen. Hot Onsen bath on the balcony of a room looking at a cloud. Leopard print blankets on a massage chair. Snow, lit up by a bonsai tree. Another 10 course kaseikai (or something) dinner. Kobe beef lightly sizzled in my butter. Melts in my mouth like butter. Scallop sashimi a bit fruity. Running in the snow. Japanese breakfast to beat all breakfasts.

Tokyo Shinjuku. Are all the buildings like this? Spaghetti subway. Help. Assistance required. 60 exits. Survive. London is a village compared to this. Hong Kong is a distilled idea of transport perfection. Hello homeikan. Ginza okonomoyaki from a mini pan for 35 years. I look a little bit like Beckham? Missed the boat. Annual review pt.1 in a deserted ferry terminal. Hello manga ferry / Jicoo floating bar. Hello hipsters! Goodbye money. Japanese breakfast losing its appeal. There are no lessons to be learned from the Vienese as far as coffee is concerned. Roppongi hills. Political manga porn Art with a capital A. Roosevelt is a giant pink cock. 12 year old girl destroys America! Japanese Bin Laden. Art. Globalism sucks. So does the rain. Prada by Hedgehog is almost as mind blowing as the prices. Omotesandu Hills (cash cow Andao) is dry. Dog boutique. Human baby or dog baby? Fixed gear hipster shop is shut. Shit. Shibuya shibuya shibuya. Sleep. May I kiss your husband at new year? Mini lorry, maximum market. Tsujiku fish fish fish. Sashimi will never be the same. I can now die happy. Stock up on mini Asahi & Sakae. Shinto shrine Asakusa NYE. A cross between a religious fairground and a Chinese railway station. New Year dash to pray. New Year's Day ghost town. Even McDonalds is shut. Mandarin Oriental cup of tea only ten quid on the 38th floor. The city and the view go on forever. Look West- is that mount Fuji? Fuji Wow part 2. Broken wallet part 238. Deserted town. Everything closed part 83. The cat cafe will have to wait. Shinjuku depression. Don't end like this! Park Hyatt screw the budget, at least it's open. Exiting the lift (who was that actor?) on the 41st floor and there she is. Mount Fuji silhouetted by an orange sunset picture postcard. I'm sorry sir, there are no window seats. Oh, hang on. Fuji wow pt.3. Wow wow wow. Stare. The blue darkens. The mini burgers disappear. Then Mt Fuji into the darkness. Annual review pt.2. Exposure. City Lights. Maxi wallet crippling Asahi. I don't care. Night walking YoYogi! Shibuya. Homeless people on the street. No! They are Apple store lucky bag customers. Space blankets. Retro futurism looks like this. Japan. Waiter replaced by vending machine. Soba noodle me up. Slurp. Towa Tei Tower Records. Shopping for music used to be like this, but without the J-Reggae. Tokyo station 2nd January. Where did all the people come from? No lockers. No last minute Tokyo anything. Plan B. Osaka here were come. Goodbye Fuji. Goodbye Nozomi. Hanyku hell, writing this. But my Hiro latte has teddy bear art on top. Last minute Mochi. Shinkansen Chopsticks. Goodbye Japan.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115536926035453826984/JAPAN?authuser=0&feat=directlink for more photos!