"Buy Japan Tomorrow"

[Taro Toporific]

[katakori]

not really related, but somehow, it reminded me of it.
there is this HUGE billboard that features "MIJ" in big bold red letters, on omote sando, harajuku (on the construction area hiding the destruction of the old historical buildings).

it has a explanation text in english (and in japanese, below the english...) that basically says japanese people are great and that they are recognized as great worldwide, in many various fields, such as baseball and nobel prizes areas. and the conclusion is that japanese people should be proud to be japanese because their country may be kinda falling down economically, but its offspring is great!

sounds a bit north-korean to me... strange...

[Taro Toporific]

there is this HUGE billboard that features "MIJ" ...harajuku (on the construction area hiding the destruction of the old historical buildings).

This *WAS* my favorite place for a stroll.



Dojunkai Apartments--This complex was built in the mid-1920s following the Great Kanto Earthquake. Several such apartment complexes were built for the middle class, but few from that era remain. With their ivy-covered walls and clump of shady trees, the apartments look quite cozy]http://www-laep.ced.berkeley.edu/classes/la235/haraju313.jpg[/img]
http://www-laep.ced.berkeley.edu/classes/la235/harajuku.htm

Via jeansnow.net Tokyo Boy blog

Caption: May 15, 2003 Stickers / Some stickers on a sign near the Dojunkai apartments.

[katakori]

sorry i hijacked your post...

This *WAS* my favorite place for a stroll.

well, of course...
do you have any idea why they are destroying them?? instead of refurbishing them, i mean...
this place was a classic. everyone love this area and its old-fashioned romantic atmosphere. by just making it more modern on the inside, but keeping the surroundings, this complex could probably have been worth even more than the new glass-and-steel they probably plan to build there afterwards...

and what is it with this MIJ campaign...?

[American Oyaji]

Japanese destroy to build.

Building = money

[Taro Toporific]

and what is it with this MIJ campaign...?

Via the easterwood site

...a full page ad that was published in yesterday's Yomiuri Shinbun, sponsored by the hugely popular Japanese boy-band, and television mainstay, SMAP. "MIJ" stands for "Made in Japan," and the ad is a admonishment to Japanese to feel proud of themselves...

Read a FULL TRANSLATION of the MIJ propaganda ...

[Gaisaradatsuraku!]

Many fond memories of hand in hand walks down Omotesando....shopping and fastfood and giving the little lady a little payolla.... ahhhh....youth!

[Taro Toporific]

...do you have any idea why they are destroying them?? instead of refurbishing them, i mean?

That's just Japanese "BEAUTIFICATION".

http://www.japantoday.com/dbfiles/picture/doujyunkai.3D2.jpg
Japan Today/ Wednesday, June 18, 2003 at 08:00 JST
A giant poster of a girl upside down is one of 24 pictures exhibited ...surrounding the Dojunkai reconstruction site in Omotesando.

----------------------------

Actually, the Dojunkai Apts. Omotesando were falling apart:

concrete "rot" (spalling) caused by normal shoddy construction practices of Japan,
all the plumbing drains were only 1.25 inch (yuck),
the doors were all roku-shaku , under six foot,
the stair treads and risers were 1/2 the size required by present building code,
the wiring was a cruel joke,
etc, etc.

Rather than gut the place to a bare shell and combine two of each of the apts into one to meet current standards, they just are tearing it down to save money. Damn shame. They should have just left it up to the present occupants to figure out a way to deal with it---which was what was sucessfully happening for the past 20+ years.

--Taro, who as a young kid lost a lot of money doing historical reconstruction in Chicago with my dad

[Taro Toporific]

Many fond memories of hand in hand walks down Omotesando....shopping and fastfood and giving the little lady a little payolla.... ahhhh....youth!

It sounds like it's gonna be upscale "shopping and fastfood "...

Japan's maverick architect fashions new face for Tokyo
MSNBC - Aug 29
... the development planned for this prime Tokyo site is far from traditional -- a sleek concrete shopping and residential complex by one of Japan's most modern architects, Tadao Ando.
''Japan has no face to show the world,''

...Whether or not it becomes a world-famous landmark, his latest project, on a site the size of two soccer pitches among the designer stores of the fashionable Omotesando boulevard, will be Ando's most prominent work in the Japanese capital.
It will also perhaps be his most controversial.
Even in a country that sets little store by preserving old buildings, debate has raged for decades over the fate of a much-loved block of apartments, the Dojunkai, which had to be flattened to free the site for the new development..