FIXES

PET plastic bottles form vegetable plots in West Tokyo.

It’s interesting to see a material that usually acts as a pest deterrent incorporated into the construction of the garden.

Materials: PET Bottles, Metal Straps
Location: Kokubunji, Tokyo

(Originally posted on Tokyo-DIY-Gardening.org)

Bouquets in milk cartons, on sale for 100 yen on the side of the Tamagawa Josui walkway in West Tokyo. Relaxed, honesty-box style informal florist makes a delightful addition to an afternoon stroll.

Materials: Milk Carton
Location: Kokubunji, Tokyo

(Originally posted on Tokyo-DIY-Gardening)

“No parking” sign + prevention fashioned out of breeze block, wire, metal grill and ubiquitous no-parking sign.

Materials: Wire, Breeze Block, Metal Grill, No Parking Sign
Location: Nagoya

Over 1/2 a meter ‘step up’ to the front door eased with concrete slabs.

Influence of the ‘flat plot at all costs’ ethic in full effect.

Materials: Concrete
Location: Nagoya

Judging from the bottles concreted into the ends of the breeze block planters, these trees have been here for decades.

They seem to have adapted their growth to the cramped residence while becoming large enough to provide a modicom of privacy and shade. Fresh pruning evidences ongoing care and attention.

I’m impressed that large plants could be grown in such an unforgiving, soil-less environment.

Materials: Breeze Blocks, Bottles
Location: Minami-ku, Nagoya

(Originally posted on Tokyo-DIY-Gardening.org)

Painted plate in inner-city residential street.

Materials: Paint
Location: Ueno, Tokyo

(Courtesy of Oyl in Tokyo (@oylmiller))

A line of bricks provides just enough space to add color to a bleak footpath.

Signs of life.

Materials: Brick
Location: Minami-ku, Nagoya

(Originally posted on Tokyo-DIY-Gardening)

Cut-off tyres guard against parking mishaps.

Materials: Tyres
Location: Nagoya

Curbside tiered garden constructed on a base of two step benches, secured with breeze blocks and wire.

While making delightful use of the only outdoor space on the cramped corner plot (molded right to the edge), this garden guides visitors to the desired approach to the front door and presumably cuts down on hit-and-run pamphlet deliveries.

Disintegrating polystyrene planters provide a colourful point of integration between the residence, plot and street.

Flexible, tiered, lithe.

This raised empty plot supports a host of edibles, in a garden constructed from pots, old metal shelving, rags, netting and all kinds of junk.

The dog has the run of the yard – kept in check with wire racks on the gate and a breeze block for stability.

Materials: Wire Rack, Breeze Block
Location: Nagoya

Easier access step created with breeze block and concrete.

Materials: Breeze Block, Concrete
Location: Nagoya

Clothes hangers stored outside on a piece of string hung from the rafters. Compact, convenient.

Materials: String
Location: Nagoya

Problematic barrier post made more visible by affixing an old traffic cone with wire.

Materials: Wire, Traffic Cone
Location: Nagoya

This circular planter in front of an apartment complex is constructed of traditional Japanese roofing tiles.

Light on the ground and easily dismantled yet with more presence and permanence than the usual plastic planter box.

I love the reuse of traditional housing materials in the grounds of one of the symbols of Japanese homogenous mass-produced housing. I wonder if the tiles came from a house that originally occupied the land (and if the owner now resides in one of the apartments).

Materials: Roof Tiles
Location: Nagoya

Quiet gardens nestle up against apartment complex walls and fences, far from the controls of the centre – in planters and planted directly in the earth.

These side spaces, edges – passage territories – are just the right mix of light, elbow room and ‘half-hiddenness’ to act as invitations to garden.

(see The Open City by Richard Sennett (PDF link) for a discussion of passage territories)

Materials: Pots
Location: Nagoya

Foam and duct tape create a safe + scratch free parking spot in a tight location.

(Note also how in the left-hand space storage trumps cars)

Materials: Duct Tape, Foam
Location: Nagoya

Apartment structure and door frame form two posts for a clothesline made of string right in front of the washing machine.

Materials: String
Location: Nagoya

This rambling garden along a strech of 4-lane residential road illustrates the blurred, conjunctive nature of Tokyo gardening (although this example is from Nagoya).

Pots, blocks, dirt and plants sit, stand on and burrow over and into each¹ other in a rich semi-autonomous mess. Compare this to the modular, constrained and connected formal gardens and green spaces of the financial district.

1. from Shelton (1999)

Materials: Pots
Location: Nagoya

Hand made sign notifying public toilet users of a shift in the toilet paper dispenser.
I love how the draft in pencil bears no relation to the final copy written in marker.

Materials: Marker, Paper
Location: Nagoya

Traditional, semi-decommissioned blackboard for leaving messages at the train station gets new life as a playground for idle hands.

Materials: Chalk
Location: Nagoya

Maintenance times; No smoking!; Be careful if you’re wearing sandals!; Hold the handrail!; and of course – No Walking! No Running! – just stand still…..don’t move…..

Materials: Laminated Paper
Location: Nagoya

Frugal hanging garden constructed from three types of wire and a metal ring that was once used to secured a roll-up canvas awning.
Simple, robust, flexible.

Materials: Wire, Metal Ring
Location: Nagoya

Ramshackle arrangement of pots mark the entrance to this shuttered store and workshop.

Location: Nagoya
Materials: Potplants