International Project - Graffiti

TOKYO STATION- AN EXTENSIVE AND EXPENSIVE STATION

Tokyo Station is a train station located in the Marunouchi business district of Tokyo, near the Imperial Palace grounds and the Ginza commercial district. It is the starting point and terminus for most of Japan's Shinkansen lines and is also served by many local and regional commuter lines of Japan Railways and is connected to the Tokyo Subway.
Although Tokyo Station is the main intercity rail terminal in Tokyo, it is only the second-largest railway station in the city: Shinjuku Station is larger, and both Shinjuku and Ikebukuro Station handle more passengers. Tokyo Station does hold the distinction of being the highest revenue-earning station in Japan, with ¥247m ($2.13m US) in ticket sales in 2005.
Tokyo Station was opened in 1914. The main station facade on the western side of the station is brick-built and was fashioned after Amsterdam's main station. The main station consists of 10 platforms, serving 20 tracks, raised above street level running in a north-south direction. The whole complex is linked by an extensive system of underground passageways which merge with surrounding commercial buildings and shopping centers.

Information due thanks and copyrighted to Wikipedia

Tokyo Station and Art

Short video taken of how an artist views Tokyo Station.
Drawing from the outside of Tokyo Station.
Drawing of an inside column of Tokyo Station.

A Photo taken of Tokyo Station from an old postcard.

Comments on the Readings::::::::::::

THE STATION:::::::
I thought this statement was interesting, "One might say that it is only the preparatory substance of the package itself is only the pass, the ticket which permits departure". In a sense it is true, all we need to is buy a ticket and we can go anywhere.

CENTER-CITY, EMPTY CENTER::::
In this article the author talks about how the cities in the west are full but Tokyo is crowded but in the middle it is simple, and empty. This reminds me of the Japanese traditional way of thinking, like in the Japanese home the garden is its center. In Tokyo or other cities you will find them oddly serene with Shinto shrines, random gardens, and so on and so forth. And this sentence sums up what I feel about walking in Japan, "you must orient yourself in it not by bok, by address, but by walking, by sight, by habit, by experience; here every discovery is intense and fragile, it can be repeated or recovered only by memory of; the trace it has left in you: to visit a place for the first time is thereby to begin to write it: the address not being written, it must establish its own writing". My teacher handed me a handmade map that looked like it was created in a art program like photoshop. It was simple, and had no names, only the most biggest places. Several fieldtrips worth, I have had to randomly try to find somewhere complicated and the only way to find it was asking, "Doku desu ka" multiple times until I found it.

Oral history

Oral History about 9/11. Used as an example for making oral history projects.
http://www.sonicmemorial.org/sonic/public/index.html

http://www.korsakow.net/

The site we will use for narratives as an example!

FUJI SAN BEAUTY

Hiking Fuji-san

"A wise man climbs Mt. Fuji once. Only a fool climbs it twice."

This weekend four others and I took on the opportunity to hike Mt.Fuji, also known as Fuji-san. Many of our friends said the weather would be bad, but I chose not to listen and to make plans for our trip. It ended up to be the perfect weekend for the climb. It was beautiful. It was sunny.

We started out from Shinjuku station, taking a train to Otsuki and then transferring to Kawaguchi. We then took a bus up the 5th station. I was told at information it would take us 6 hours to climb to the 8th station (where we were staying). It took us 5 1/2 hours. We took small very minute breaks (maybe 5 minutes at most). We stayed at the Tamoekan Hut, going to sleep around 8:30 PM. We woke up at 1:30 AM and began hiking again in the dark. With only a flashlight and our tired brain, we hiked up some pretty steep rocks. We then arrived at the summit around 4 AM. It was very cold up there so we all huddled next to each other. Around 5 AM the sun began rising. Words cannot describe the beauty of Mt.Fuji and the clouds and atmosphere. The hiking was amazing also. It was not an easy climb but it was a good feeling to do the climb. I loved climbing Mt.Fuji and would do it again. But to avoid the being a fool, I'd have to climb it one more time. Descending was harder than ascending. Ascending all you were worrying about was time and then the hard part was the air getting thinner and the temperature getting colder. The descent was sort of steep and the whole time you had to put your feet out to stop you from sliding or walking into someone. By the end the muscles were sore from the descent.
But overall I cannot live the experience through pictures. It was just too amazing to understand!

If you open your eyes.....

If you open your eyes to what is around you, you will find that you dont need to look at all to find some very picturesque things. My suggestion is to take a break from the traditional "sightseeing" and maybe just take a look at the local things in your area. My friend and I did this around his area of Japan and look what we found! Soon, I will do the same in my area and I will try to update my blogger.