whitebait

time for a change

Whitebait is thinking of shifting my (depleted) energy to some other bloggy-type projects. Will update on this soon.

the week in review

hana bi II

web trends as tokyo train lines

Whitebait likes this mapping of web trends on to the existing Tokyo train map. Abstract and geographical spaces thoroughly mashed up.

It is produced by Information Architects Japan (and W. discovered it via Q-Taro). As IAJ note,

People who know Tokyo will still find lots of little hints and sarcastic comments hidden in there.

Some interesting things to note

1. Google has moved from Shibuya, a humming place for young people, to Shinjuku, a suspicious, messy, Yakuza-controlled, but still a pretty cool place to hang out (Golden Gaya).
2. Youtube has conquered Shibuya.
3. Microsoft has moved to Ikebukuro, if you know what I mean.
4. Yahoo is in Ueno, a nice place but nothing going on there.
5. Wikipedia now is in Shimbashi, the place for the square and hard-headed Salaryman, like the Wikipedia watchdogs.
6. The Chinese line runs parallel to the “share line” which starts with the main pirates…
7. Paper info designer Tufte is right below the Federated Media, right before joining with the interactive information design circle in a 90 degree angle.
8. “You” are in the Emperor’s palace, in the center of the network.

There is also a bigger, clickable version of the map.

kushi-age

On one of our first nights in Tokyo our friends took us to Hantei, a kushi-age restaurant in the rather nice old Nezu area (not so far from the University of Tokyo campus where the conference we presented at was taking place). Whitebait wasn't aware of kushi (skewer)-age (deep fry) food before so the whole event was a delightful surprise. Particulary as the restaurant itself is build around a beautiful old stone kura (storehouse), an essential technology for achieving the minimalist household aesthetic. As we left they even gave us some nice omiyage in the form of a book of postcards (including nice sketches) of the building.

male virgins(?) and the age of niche marketing

Bussing out to Narita airport on Sunday we passed a bunch of love hotels located on the side of the expressway. One of them proudly displayed its excellent name, 'Hotel First Wood', on its enormous billboard.

Hanabi I

shop names

Yesterday afternoon we went to the rather new and ritzy Tokyo shopping development, Shin-Marunouchi.

It's a rather beautifully fitted out development over 5-6 floors. The best bits include the basement floor of drool-inducing French-style bakeries and cake shops; the frequent views you get of the old Tokyo train station (a rare building in the city in terms of its age); and the exceptionally generous resting places filled with comfy sofas.

Some great shop names to be found in Shin-Marunouchi include:

• Theory
• Case Study shop
• The Duffer of St George
• Urban Research
• Les Mille Feuilles de Liberte

and my personal favourite ....

• Drastic the Baggage

soba

Headed out late afternoon yesterday on the Tozai line to Kichijoji, a favourite area in Tokyo that is rated highly by locals as an ideal area in which to live. Had an extremely late lunch at a soba place below the railway station that FrauleinDrDr and I had been too a few times before. It isn't anything fancy in terms of the setting - just the usual classic Japanese rustic decor that could probably do with a spruce up sometime soon.  One thing that is an absolute treat in Japan is going to restaurants that do the one dish in all its possible glories. As soon as we arrived we were served cold soba tea and little roasted pieces of broken soba noodles for nibbles.Whitebait ordered a setto consisting of vegetable tempura and cold soba noodles (zaru soba) that also came with a piece of wasabi root that you could grate yourself. Then he was brought a 'teapot' of the hot stock left over from the actual cooking of the noodles which you add to some sauce (not sure what) to make a delicious broth. Outstanding.

We followed that with a walk through the wonderful Inokashira Park - a rare green retreat in Tokyo, which has one of the worst percentages of parks to concrete and population in the world. One of the best features of the park was the unusual number of locals 'flying their freak flags high'. One old guy riding his cycle around the park had an inordinate amount of tinsel on his head. A runner passing by periodically emitted a loud and very strange whooping noise. And so on. Good to see.

Finished up with a nice walk back through the shopping streets at night as the commuters streamed back home.

still catching his breath

Tokyo.

Some writing coming soon.