anita in seoul: October 2011

Shibuya: Busiest Intersection in the World

Let's do the Shibuya Scramble!

I took this from the Starbucks across the street from the Shibuya subway station.

Here's a short clip that shows you how the madness is on the street:

Tokyo: Architecture Role Call

In wrapping up my posts for Japan, Tokyo was by far the finale. First, I eat what may be the best sushi of my life, and then in the course of two days, I see so much architecture by so many designers that I look up to, it's so crazy. I must admit, I was architectured out. I guess it's always the case with too much of a good thing.

It's too bad a lot of these buildings' charm lies on the inside, which we didn't not get to experience in most of them. We went to a lot of the big fashion streets; it seemed like we were doing the ultimate window shopping, but hunting for buildings, not necessarily clothes (not that we could afford anything there anyway, seeing as Omotesando Street is like Fifth Avenue compacted together).

Nakagin Capsule Tower (Kisho Kurokawa)

This was the first capsule tower that was designed, built, and still in use today as an apartment. The capsules were made to be moveable and restackable, but they never were reconfigured from their initial placement.

Next, we headed to the shopping streets, Ginza.

Small pictures, clockwise from left: 1) Hermes (Renzo Piano), 2) Mikimoto (Toyo Ito), 3) Burberry (?), 4) Tiffany & Co. (Kengo Kuma)

National Museum of Western Art. My first Le Corbusier building!!

The last of the Ando projects: (Left) International Library of Children's Literature; addition to old library from 1929; (right) Omotesando Hills Shopping Mall.

What was a furniture store is now a classy underwear store (Tadao Ando)

Trust me, there's some architecture under there. Don't let Hello Kitty fool you. (Kazuyo Sejima)

My favorite: Tod's (SANAA)


Last, but not least, the Prada Aoyama Store (Herzog & Demeuron).

We were greeted by a suited doorman, walked around on their white plush carpets (in squishy wet shoes from the rain), took some illegal photos, and rolled out. They hated us.

...and yes, of course I used the bathroom. They even have diamond-shaped trashcans...

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Tokyo: Tsukiji Fish Market

Sushi for breakfast? YES, please.

Okay, foodies, wake up. I know I've been posting my head off about architecture lately, but now I am going to redeem myself.

We arrived in Tokyo October 20th, and decided that that famous fish market was our first destination. At this point we were architecture-ed out. We weren't hardcore enough to wake up and get to Tsukiji Fish Market at 5am to see the tuna auction, but we did wake up in time to get a spot in like for sushi for breakfast.

During the ~2 hour wait, I meandered through the fish market ---

At 9am, the craziness has started to die down. Fish are being packed and shipped.

What's crazy is, although there's fish everywhere, the place smelled surprisingly un-fishy. As if the fish was so fresh, it wasn't fishy. I was expecting the smell when you walk by NYC Chinatown, where the sidewalks are washed with fish guts.

This crab didn't stand a chance. Poor thing, battered alive, still moving.

I head back to our spot in line at Sushi Dai, which is supposedly the best-kept secret at Tsukiji. It's not in the American tourist books (it may be in the chinese ones...) but he heard of it through word of mouth, the best way to get delicious food. When you see japanese businessmen with their luggage waiting in line, you know it's worth the wait.

The velvet ropes...for only a part of the line; the rest wrapped around the block.

FINALLY! We got in! Higher wooden ledge is your "plate" where they place the sushi.

Now, let me just say, before I came to Asia, I absolutely HATED sushi. I hated the fishy aftertaste, the idea of eating raw fish, everything... I know, a very un-asian characteristic (along with no skill for playing any musical instrument). But then I discovered how delicious tuna was. And then, I went to Tsukiji.

I documented in sequence each delicious morsel, but can't remember exactly which fish was what. Here's what I remember:

1) Tuna (fatty)
2) Yellowtail?
3) ?

4) Spanish mackerel

5) Tuna (lean)

6) ?

[breathe]

7) tekkamacki - tuna rolls

8) tamago - sweet egg custard

9) japanese eel

When I ate the last one, the eel, my tastebuds were very happy. I literally left there smiling, it was so damn good.

What a way to take Tokyo by storm!

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The Japan Chronicles: Yokohama

[disclaimer: sorry for all of the delays of posts! It's been a busy week getting back in gear with school and studio, but I've found some time to get a couple more posts out. Thanks for being patient!]

[October 20, 2011] Enroute to Tokyo, we stopped at Yokohama to see a few sites.

Mt. Fuji from the train

We went to see the Yokohama Ferry Terminal by FOA, built in 2002. What's interesting about this project is that it seems to want to be an extension of the land rather than an object that was pier-like. Some things that failed in my mind were the handrails on the roof deck that were truly eyesores that interrupted the flowing wooden surfaces.

Aerial view

View of Yokohama by the terminal

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Last Night in Kyoto

We went to Gion in search for chopsticks and geisha, both of which we did not find. But we did find a beautiful part of Japan that we had been waiting to find since the beginning of this trip -- a place that genuinely felt like Japan.