Green Tokyo (11) – Statue Collection

Green Tokyo (11) - Statue Collection

This example, also found in our Taito neighborhood, is more notable for its eclectic stone decorations than for its plants, but green it is nonetheless! Tokyo’s roadsides are always good for a surprise.

Read Full Post »

Green Tokyo (10) – Roadside Jungle

Green Tokyo (10) - Roadside Jungle

What from far looks like a massive overgrown chunk of jungle on the side of a busy street actually turns out to consist of a collection of individual pots of all sizes. Many of the plants present I more think of as houseplants, a fact which probably contributes to the jungly appearance.
I am always amazed how Tokyo residents set up their own piece of jungle somewhere in public space. But if there’s one thing of which there is too little here in Tokyo, it’s green. So keep going, folks!

Read Full Post »

Green Tokyo (9) – Urban Farming

Green Tokyo (9) - Urban Farming

These people like to eat their home-grown vegetables. And they grow them with simplest means, from mere styrofoam boxes, making use of every bit of space under the stairs.
How about some fresh tomatoes or egg plants? Next to the window, bitter melons were climbing up in summer. I like the message this arrangement sends: with a little bit of good will, everyone can have fresh vegetables, even if you live in Tokyo, even if you don’t have a garden, and even if you don’t even have a decent pot.

Read Full Post »

Green Tokyo (8) – The Succulent Collection

Green Tokyo (8) - The Succulent Collection

Also this example of urban green in Taito City is a bit on the unusual side. At least for me, it was the first time to find a collection of cacti on the curbside. But I’m all for variety, as long as it’s green!

Read Full Post »

Green Tokyo (7) – Curbside Water Gardens

Green Tokyo (7) - Curbside Water Gardens

This collection of pots found in our neighborhood in Taito surprised me even more than usual: instead of just the usual flower pots, there are buckets full of water with all sorts of floating plants growing happily in them.

Read Full Post »

Green Tokyo (6) – Japanese Balcony Garden

Green Tokyo (6) - Japanese Balcony Garden

I was amused to find the standard elements of a formal Japanese garden (see especially the Japanese Maple in the center!) growing out from a balcony in my neighborhood in Taito! In an enormous town like Tokyo, you have to make do with what you got. Good thing these people decided not to renounce to their own Japanese garden.

Read Full Post »

Green Tokyo (5) – Mini Hanging Gardens

Green Tokyo (5) - Mini Hanging Gardens

I liked those cute little plants growing lushly down the window and the wall. They make this street corner look cheerful and serene.
In this Green Tokyo Series I introduce corners of Tokyo in which small patches of green make the concrete jungle more livable.
Recent research shows that people who can look at green plants and nature from their windows can deal better with their life problems. From most windows in Tokyo, no green can be seen. These small efforts of providing greenery by the residents themselves probably help everyone who sees them to preserve a bit of their sanity.

Read Full Post »

Green Tokyo (4) – Japanese Garden in a Corner

Green Tokyo (4) - Japanese Garden in a Corner

After posting some chaotic looking examples, this time we have a more formal example: a well-groomed mini Japanese garden, sporting many of the traditionally used plants, such as bamboo and Japanese maple. Since it’s next to a store-front, the gardening is probably not done without a certain economic interest, but it’s nice all the same.
During these hot summer days, the urban heat island effect is on my mind. More greenery in big cities would mitigate it, firstly by not getting heated up like the surrounding concrete, and secondly because plants evaporate water through their leaves which cools their immediate surroundings. While Tokyo luckily has big parks, residential streets often completely lack trees or green strips. Luckily, the residents themselves show some grass-roots efforts, however small!

Read Full Post »

Green Tokyo (3) – A little green can always squeeze in

Green Tokyo (3) - A little green can always squeeze in

This cluttered corner (again from our neighborhood in Taito) might seem very much at odds with the usual ideas one has of the perfectly groomed Japanese gardens and the austerity of Japanese esthetics. Yet in the streets of Tokyo, this sort of arrangement is far more common than the formal type. It seems that the important point is to have at least some plants growing, somehow and somewhere.
It definitely has its charm and adds a bit of a human touch to the concrete expanse of Tokyo.

Read Full Post »

Green Tokyo (2) – Ensemble with Wind Bell

Green Tokyo (2) - Ensemble with Wind Bell

In Tokyo’s concrete jungle, the green often has to content itself with small spaces to live. But live it does!
This is another example from our neighborhood in Taito.
I like how the wind bell gives this small collection of potted plants perched on top of an air conditioning unit a distinctly Japanese touch! It’s nice that the space taken by the air conditioning unit was turned into a platform to add some green to Tokyo’s streets.

Read Full Post »