alex and inga have moved to tsukuba, not far from tokyo but far enough.
there they live in rooms without heating, instruction manual on how to use a toilet and coin showers.
they say sakura house appear as luxury, something I have difficulties believe.
tokyo is not the same without "the partysisters"...
I have experienced and survived my first and second earthquake.
the first one took place while being at the office, nobody except me paid any attention to it.
the others had pretty much the same reaction to earthquakes as to cochroaches, just subtract the toxic glue remover.
they said it was a small one, but you could definitely feel the ground moving. personally, I thought it was high class sci-fi. It felt very unnatural. the second one was almost nothing, and not worth mentioning..but you could feel it.
today I had my first, (and last..I`m sure of) day as a model.
early this morning I took the jr-line to naka-meguro, there I met koji, the brother of yoko who I met at pecha kucha night. he`s a photographer and t-shirt designer. the pictures looked awful.
by awful I mean veryvery bad...sunday mornings is for sure not my best moment in front of a camera.
inga would probably say I looked like a meatball, and she would not be lying.
to night I went to tokyo metropolitan government office, they have a free elevator up to the 45th floor.
I love skyscrapers. I love tokyo by night, it looks so artificial.
I love deserted places, most likely because there are people everywhere.
søndag 13. april 2008
mandag 7. april 2008
crane house
usually when it rains, people`s shoes get wet.
but in this town, people somehow manage to stay dry even though it`s pouring down.
don`t get it, what`s the trick?
last week I had the most relaxing, longest and coldest day at work ever. the day started at 6 am at shibuya crossing.
a professional "photomaker" was taking pictures of crane house in kaurisawa, close to nagano.
the only problem was that the owner had furnished the place with a huge,huge,huge sofa. a detail tsukamoto san wasn`t to happy about. therefore pe (the architect), guillaume, daniel (students of tsukamoto san) and I (bottom of the hierarchy) went to the house so that we could move the sofa whenever the photographer changed motive.
when the photographer, edmund arrived together with his wife and hyperactive son, cosmo, pe left for a meeting in a neighbouring town. this meeting was supposed to end at 19 pm...sure thing.
crane house is basically all glas, and some of the windows weigh 300 kg, pretty transparent piece of house. still we only had to move the sofa once..the entire day...15 holy hours. edmund was done around 18 pm, when the twilight ended, then he packed his funky cameras and went off. then it got dark, and no sun to supply some heat to this open structure. we hadn`t eaten since the snow white sandwich at lunchtime...the hours began to feel like years.
the only entertainment was a super wide widescreen..and 5 japanese channels.
1. talkshow
2. news
3. baseball
4. highschool baseball
5. a program where two guys and a girl eat, a lot. each dish is ten times as big as a regular one, and they eat as fast as they can. one of the guys ate 6 kg of icecream..at the end he was so cold he could hardly sit without vibrate off the chair.
we decided for channel 5. I think we watched 2000 kg of food during those hours, on an empty stomach.
at 20 pm it was freezing as well. I was wearing all my extra clothes, a blanket, some cushions and ovenmittens.
at midnight pe came back from the meeting, and we headed for town and food. after eating and drinking beers, poor pe (he didn`t drink) had to drive us back to tokyo, a three hour ride.
but in this town, people somehow manage to stay dry even though it`s pouring down.
don`t get it, what`s the trick?
last week I had the most relaxing, longest and coldest day at work ever. the day started at 6 am at shibuya crossing.
a professional "photomaker" was taking pictures of crane house in kaurisawa, close to nagano.
the only problem was that the owner had furnished the place with a huge,huge,huge sofa. a detail tsukamoto san wasn`t to happy about. therefore pe (the architect), guillaume, daniel (students of tsukamoto san) and I (bottom of the hierarchy) went to the house so that we could move the sofa whenever the photographer changed motive.
when the photographer, edmund arrived together with his wife and hyperactive son, cosmo, pe left for a meeting in a neighbouring town. this meeting was supposed to end at 19 pm...sure thing.
crane house is basically all glas, and some of the windows weigh 300 kg, pretty transparent piece of house. still we only had to move the sofa once..the entire day...15 holy hours. edmund was done around 18 pm, when the twilight ended, then he packed his funky cameras and went off. then it got dark, and no sun to supply some heat to this open structure. we hadn`t eaten since the snow white sandwich at lunchtime...the hours began to feel like years.
the only entertainment was a super wide widescreen..and 5 japanese channels.
1. talkshow
2. news
3. baseball
4. highschool baseball
5. a program where two guys and a girl eat, a lot. each dish is ten times as big as a regular one, and they eat as fast as they can. one of the guys ate 6 kg of icecream..at the end he was so cold he could hardly sit without vibrate off the chair.
we decided for channel 5. I think we watched 2000 kg of food during those hours, on an empty stomach.
at 20 pm it was freezing as well. I was wearing all my extra clothes, a blanket, some cushions and ovenmittens.
at midnight pe came back from the meeting, and we headed for town and food. after eating and drinking beers, poor pe (he didn`t drink) had to drive us back to tokyo, a three hour ride.
onsdag 2. april 2008
April 1st
yesterday I read my first japanese word!
I understood all the graphic characters, and the word was; ...calorie.
It was written in katakana, the characters they use when they write "imported" words.
the second (and third) word I read was;...coca cola.
my preffered literature is a can of diet coke.
another thing I did yesterday, was pay my ticket to beijing.
the guy who sold me the ticket was kind of strange..the same guy as last time, with the "little danger flights".
I had to withdraw money from a 7-11, and he insisted on keeping me company, even though I`m perfectly capable of handling a ATM myself, all he talked about was buying me dinner at an italian restaurant, the negotiation he would soon perform so that I got a discount on my ticket, the japanese lessons for free he could give me, and he wanted to know if norwegian boys are as quiet as japanese boys. when we got back to the office, he managed by hardcore and extremely silent negotiation to get me a 5000 yen discount. thanks!
next time I checked my hotmail, I had recieved no more than 4 mails from my travelagent, wondering if we could be really good friends and if I would go on a date, I could forget my wallet at home.
and when I checked my phone, he`d called 7 times...
so I guess this was the package;
one return ticket to beijing
5000 yen discount
one slightly annoying/stalking travelagent
oh lord.
even though it was April 1st, it actually did happened.
I read my first word...and bought a ticket...promise.
I understood all the graphic characters, and the word was; ...calorie.
It was written in katakana, the characters they use when they write "imported" words.
the second (and third) word I read was;...coca cola.
my preffered literature is a can of diet coke.
another thing I did yesterday, was pay my ticket to beijing.
the guy who sold me the ticket was kind of strange..the same guy as last time, with the "little danger flights".
I had to withdraw money from a 7-11, and he insisted on keeping me company, even though I`m perfectly capable of handling a ATM myself, all he talked about was buying me dinner at an italian restaurant, the negotiation he would soon perform so that I got a discount on my ticket, the japanese lessons for free he could give me, and he wanted to know if norwegian boys are as quiet as japanese boys. when we got back to the office, he managed by hardcore and extremely silent negotiation to get me a 5000 yen discount. thanks!
next time I checked my hotmail, I had recieved no more than 4 mails from my travelagent, wondering if we could be really good friends and if I would go on a date, I could forget my wallet at home.
and when I checked my phone, he`d called 7 times...
so I guess this was the package;
one return ticket to beijing
5000 yen discount
one slightly annoying/stalking travelagent
oh lord.
even though it was April 1st, it actually did happened.
I read my first word...and bought a ticket...promise.
søndag 30. mars 2008
conversations
scenario 1;
genji, former intern at bow-wow, and me.
outside the restaurant we usually eat dinner when we work late.
waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
me; ok, people the light turned green..lets go.
genji; in japan we say the light turn blue.
me; but the color is green...
genji; yes, but we say blue.
scenario 2;
satoh; employee at H.I.S; highest international standard travelagency, and me.
satoh; ok, going to beijing..china?
me; yes..china
satoh; let me see..one minute
me; ok
satoh; ok, we have flight. it is unknown carrier, if chinese...little danger...hihi
me; little danger?
satoh; yes, not so safe.
me:....ok...
satoh leans over the table
satoh; but I give you secret, this flight...JAL, safe...japanese...you know?
me; yes..
I think I bought the ticket, but I`m not entirely sure.
scenario 3;
yesterday at a club in shibuya, plug
a guy I`ve met once before at a punk venue somewhere in tokyo, he always wear yellow raybans, and me.
guy; hi!
me; hi!
guy gives me his sunglasses, I put them on.
guy; hi!
me; hi!
guy; I like you.
genji, former intern at bow-wow, and me.
outside the restaurant we usually eat dinner when we work late.
waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
me; ok, people the light turned green..lets go.
genji; in japan we say the light turn blue.
me; but the color is green...
genji; yes, but we say blue.
scenario 2;
satoh; employee at H.I.S; highest international standard travelagency, and me.
satoh; ok, going to beijing..china?
me; yes..china
satoh; let me see..one minute
me; ok
satoh; ok, we have flight. it is unknown carrier, if chinese...little danger...hihi
me; little danger?
satoh; yes, not so safe.
me:....ok...
satoh leans over the table
satoh; but I give you secret, this flight...JAL, safe...japanese...you know?
me; yes..
I think I bought the ticket, but I`m not entirely sure.
scenario 3;
yesterday at a club in shibuya, plug
a guy I`ve met once before at a punk venue somewhere in tokyo, he always wear yellow raybans, and me.
guy; hi!
me; hi!
guy gives me his sunglasses, I put them on.
guy; hi!
me; hi!
guy; I like you.
torsdag 27. mars 2008
pecha kucha
yesterday i left work earlier than usual and went to my first pecha kucha event ever, together with the norwegian crew.
I thought pecha kucha was a place where people presented architecture or a topic related to architecture, this was not the case. people presented all kinds of themes.
a rather hyperactive girl talked about her trip to cambodia, while speaking she sort off danced around.
not in a choreographed way, but more jumping and doing small steps. she spoke in both japanese and english, and I noticed that she danced more when she was japanese. my conclusion is that japanese affects your behaviour.
a japanese guy talked about public baths, from what I could comprehend from the slides, distgusting public baths with old soggy men present.
another guy had chosen food porn as subject...I think what he really wanted to talk about was ordinary porn.
every time a new slide came up, he said something like this:
meat, meat should be as red and juicy as possible...just as in ordinary porn.
close up, close ups give more flavor to the shoot...just as in ordinary porn.
sexy lighting, sexy lighting gives the food new and unexpected shapes...just as in ordinary porn.
moisture. moisture is sex...I love the word..just as in ordinary porn.
I bet he had this soundtrack and vision playing in his mind the hole lecture;
"the carpenter, vol. 3" scene 1, shoot 26;
hai, ich bin hr swart.
haben zie ein plumbingproblemen in da kitchen gehaben?
ja, hr swart.
ich has.
ich will habe ein look in das pipe, frau schindel
nada worriez, madame.
letz das stairs geclimbed.
then there was this guy from MAD, but he also spoke japanese..and I didn`t like his skyscrapers.
pretty much turned and squeezed torsos, voila!
but then there was a guy, he spoke english and he talked about themeparks!
hilarious themeparks! like; the jesus themepark, the stalinpark, the inflatable disasterpark, the fakeparispark etc.
this was probably the best feature during the three hours the event lasted. you should google it!
he also showed a picture from bonbon land in denmark. there they have a huge plastic elephant, with a slide coming out of its ass. he explained it as danish humour.
something absurd happened last night as well.
two girls came up to me and asked if I spoke english.
then one of them started to tell me about her brother and his career as a t-shirt designer,
the speech ended with the question;
will you consider being a model for him?
do you have a card?
( as a matter of fact I do! I made myself three businesscards!)
I gave her my card, and she gave me hers..le style de japon, and she would contact me to schedule where and when.
as if. a huge norwegian girl in tiny japanese t-shirts?
new subject;
lately I`ve been happy and I can`t explain why.
the odds are in the advantage of unhappy;
all my close friends and family are far far away
I`m totally bored at work
I`m not in love
I`m next to broke
I get the impression that my colleagues thinks I`m crazyweird
I talk maybe 10 % of the amount I`m used to..I don`t talk that much
maybe tokyo makes people happy, just by being tokyo.
today we ate lunch outside by the jr-tracks beneath cherry blossom trees.
sakura/hanami has arrived!!
weather report;
sunny and approximately 17 degrees celsius.
I thought pecha kucha was a place where people presented architecture or a topic related to architecture, this was not the case. people presented all kinds of themes.
a rather hyperactive girl talked about her trip to cambodia, while speaking she sort off danced around.
not in a choreographed way, but more jumping and doing small steps. she spoke in both japanese and english, and I noticed that she danced more when she was japanese. my conclusion is that japanese affects your behaviour.
a japanese guy talked about public baths, from what I could comprehend from the slides, distgusting public baths with old soggy men present.
another guy had chosen food porn as subject...I think what he really wanted to talk about was ordinary porn.
every time a new slide came up, he said something like this:
meat, meat should be as red and juicy as possible...just as in ordinary porn.
close up, close ups give more flavor to the shoot...just as in ordinary porn.
sexy lighting, sexy lighting gives the food new and unexpected shapes...just as in ordinary porn.
moisture. moisture is sex...I love the word..just as in ordinary porn.
I bet he had this soundtrack and vision playing in his mind the hole lecture;
"the carpenter, vol. 3" scene 1, shoot 26;
hai, ich bin hr swart.
haben zie ein plumbingproblemen in da kitchen gehaben?
ja, hr swart.
ich has.
ich will habe ein look in das pipe, frau schindel
nada worriez, madame.
letz das stairs geclimbed.
then there was this guy from MAD, but he also spoke japanese..and I didn`t like his skyscrapers.
pretty much turned and squeezed torsos, voila!
but then there was a guy, he spoke english and he talked about themeparks!
hilarious themeparks! like; the jesus themepark, the stalinpark, the inflatable disasterpark, the fakeparispark etc.
this was probably the best feature during the three hours the event lasted. you should google it!
he also showed a picture from bonbon land in denmark. there they have a huge plastic elephant, with a slide coming out of its ass. he explained it as danish humour.
something absurd happened last night as well.
two girls came up to me and asked if I spoke english.
then one of them started to tell me about her brother and his career as a t-shirt designer,
the speech ended with the question;
will you consider being a model for him?
do you have a card?
( as a matter of fact I do! I made myself three businesscards!)
I gave her my card, and she gave me hers..le style de japon, and she would contact me to schedule where and when.
as if. a huge norwegian girl in tiny japanese t-shirts?
new subject;
lately I`ve been happy and I can`t explain why.
the odds are in the advantage of unhappy;
all my close friends and family are far far away
I`m totally bored at work
I`m not in love
I`m next to broke
I get the impression that my colleagues thinks I`m crazyweird
I talk maybe 10 % of the amount I`m used to..I don`t talk that much
maybe tokyo makes people happy, just by being tokyo.
today we ate lunch outside by the jr-tracks beneath cherry blossom trees.
sakura/hanami has arrived!!
weather report;
sunny and approximately 17 degrees celsius.
mandag 24. mars 2008
burkapigeon
this is a pigeon in a burka.a topic that came up in a conversation around the lunchtable at NL_Architects.
I don`t remember why we talked about pigeons.
but I promised troels I would photoshop the image and here you have it.
a local yokohamian pigeon in a burka, not something you see everyday.
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