Yodo River cityscape
Like many rivers running through Japanese cities, the Yodo River has parks running along much of its banks as part of a flood control system …
Author: Alexander Farrell
Under the bridge in Osaka
Of course, I know that trains are loud, but I didn’t expect it to be as loud as it was standing under these rail bridges along the Yodo River. This is …
UFO launch pad
Hiroshi Hara, the architect behind the Kyoto Tower, also designed the Umeda Sky Building. There is nothing else like it anywhere. Do you see …
Osaka Castle and white cherry blossoms
The company that hired me for my first job in Japan, as an English teacher, had schools across the country. They gave me two options for where …
Osaka Monorail and Ferris wheel
Japan, a country of around 125 million people, has all sorts of transportation: regular commuter trains, bullet trains, airplanes, expressways …
Drums under the Sky Building
Here under architect Hiroshi Hara’s representation of a UFO launch pad is another creative work. One Japanese blog from 2012 refers to this art installation …
Taking in the view
Along with projection mapping, the nighttime production of light and sound by Naked Flowers at Nijo Castle this year featured this wall used as …
Naked Flowers at the gate
Can a flower be naked? Could you dress a flower? I suppose anything’s possible. But that’s beside the point. Naked Flowers is a company …
Instagrammable cherry blossoms
Among other things, the smartphone and social media have dramatically altered life for teenagers, especially for girls. I can tell from …
Bare tree with flowers
Within the past decade, projection mapping has taken the nighttime illuminations scene by storm in Japan. Rather than static lights basically …
Winter lights at Kyoto Station
Kyoto Station is a place I keep revisiting because there’s always something new to discover there. And not just the seasonal decorations …
Perspective at Kyoto Station
I once heard that a student decided to count the torii gates at Fushimi Inari Grand Shrine. The paths up the mountain are covered with …