Laminated A4 signs affixed with tape proclaim night use of the park prohibited, and encourage people to call the police emergency line if they see anyone suspicious.
The signs are ambiguously official, being layed out in generic Excel style and signed with a simple ‘Akishima City’ or ‘Akishima City Park Authority’ – they look like they could have been made by anyone. I removed one as a test, and it was replaced promptly. When I placed my own sign (as part of the kokonohanashi project) it was promptly removed. So it appears the signs are official, or at least part of a dedicated campaign.
Materials: Laminated Paper, Tape
Location: Akishima, Tokyo
Easy access for wheeled objects (shopping trolleys, bicycles, etc) created by placing a length of wood up the apartment complex steps. A piece of wood fixed to the lower end prevents slipping.
Materials: Wood
Location: Akishima, Tokyo
A bottle cap receptable (from recyclable PET bottles) attached to the apartment complex rubbish drop-off with a length of wire is a convenient community-use add-on.
Materials: Plastic Basket, Wire
Location: Akishima, Tokyo
The top of the rubbish drop-off point for this apartment complex has been transformed into a bright community flower garden. A lovely twist to the usually forboding and odorous gaping deadspace.
Location: Akishima, Tokyo
(Originally posted on Tokyo-DIY-Gardening)
Thanks to Tokyo design researcher Jan Lindenberg for this great find: Unusable public seating repurposed as rock garden at Mt. Takao, West Tokyo.
Materials: Public Bench
Location: Mt. Takao, Tokyo
On an innner-Sendagaya street lies this colourful curbside garden. Another lovely example of a local resident taking the time to brighten up a lonely curbside.
What made this particular garden stand out is the fact that it is composed entirely of plants still in their garden center pots and plastic containers.
One would imagine that the plants would grow better repotted directly into the ground, but perhaps the existing soil is of too-poor quality to allow this. An alternative explanation might be that this is the gardener’s compromise between a ‘potscape‘ and a full-blown regular garden – less intrusive than a whole lot of pots on the sidewalk, while still retaining the flexible, temporary feel of most Tokyo pot-plant gardens…..possibly repotting the plants felt like too much of a brash appropriation for the gardener involved….. (in the last image you can see one plant finally breaking (being set?) free of its contraints – I wonder how long it will last in the ‘real world’)
Any other ideas?
Materials: Potplants
Location: Sendagaya, Tokyo
(Originally posted on Tokyo-DIY-Gardening)
A railway sleeper positioned on top of two smaller pieces of wood forms an elegant and function bench in a Sendagaya park.
Materials: Railway Sleeper, Wood
Location: Sendagaya, Tokyo
A railway sleeper attached to two circular pieces of wood by a large building staple creates a simple, elegant and functional bench in a Sendagaya park.
Materials: Railway Sleeper, Wood, Building Staple
Location: Sendagaya, Tokyo
Sidewalk gardening space marked out in bamboo stakes and plastic twine.
Materials: Bamboo Stake, Plastic Twine
Location: Shibuya, Tokyo
Packing straps stabilze a pamphlet stand at a local railway station.
Materials: Packing Strap
Location: Akishima, Tokyo
A bicycle basket placed in the back of an apartment complex bicycle shed used to store (unwanted) odds and ends.
Materials: Bicycle Basket
Location: Akishima, Tokyo
Unneeded/Unused bike locks stored above ground, on the supports of the bike parking shed of an apartment complex.
Materials:
Location: Akishima, Tokyo
Yellow tape performs its ‘watch out!’ duty wrapped around a substantial concrete roadside planter.
Materials: Tape
Location: Akishima, Tokyo
Cigarette butt disposal unit constructed from used oil can, wire, wood, tape, and PET bottle. An open-bottomed (to prevent rainwater collecting in the bottom) receptacle is fashioned from a used oil can nailed/screwed to a wooden stake and painted red. The receptacle is attached to the signpost with duct tape or wire. A PET bottle filled with water is placed inside the receptacle for safe and semi-odorless cigarette butt disposal. To empty the disposal units (3 in the immediate vicinity) one has only to walk around, pick up the PET bottles, and pour the contents into the rubbish (or down the drain, or wherever…). Signage is made of laminated computer print-out.
Materials: Oil Can, Wire, Wood, Tape, PET bottle
Location: Nakano-Ku, Tokyo
