Living Large in Tokyo

Americans love to complain about not having enough space, presumably to store all our crap and shift our increasing personal bulk around.  So how do we break the acquisition habit? Who do we look to for advice? There's nothing for it but tough love, people. Instead of living in homes, we may have to learn to live in communities comprised of tiny one-room spaces. I know, I don't care for the idea either. But a couple of books out now show how the professionals in Tokyo do it, and make it look good.

Tokyo: A Certain Style from publishing juggernaut Chronicle Books has been out for years, but I never get tired of poring through it.
Photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki zipped around Tokyo on a scooter, snapping shots of tiny urban dwellings. A Certain Style catalogs hundreds of cheerful, honest photographs of a Tokyo that is brimming with microapartments, single rooms with shared bathrooms, mini and modular everything, sinks that make do for everything, spaces packed floor to ceiling with electronics, books, clothes, light, remote controls, pictures, toys and cheer. Tsuzuki introduces each tiny pad with notes about the occupant(s), perhaps artists, students, young singles or professionals with children. His notes capture the spirit and ingenuity required not only to live within such small quarters, but the bustling city without. In a witty nod to the topic, Tokyo: A Certain Style small enough to fit in your hand. Perfect for that cramped apartment...

So Tokyo: A Certain Style shows how modern Japanese have cleverly compromised their lifestyles with the resources at hand. But what about intentionally designing environments to meet the limited amount of space available? Another book from Cocoro Books called Small House Tokyo describes how micro homes, or kyosho jutaku , are reshaping the way Japanese live and work, while at the same time at the forefront in urban design. In a city like Tokyo, where every square inch comes at a premium, innovative architects and designers are making the most of that concept and building beautiful structures full of purpose. Walls might be pitched at greater than 90 degrees or undulate like a wave. Rooves may not be flat. Floors may be a series of wide catwalks. Ambient light and clever storage solutions are huge considerations.

But small doesn't mean skimpy. These homes can be made of luxurious textures emulating nature, like glass, concrete and wood. Some have features any homeowner would covet, such as inner gardens, raised patios or open-plan living rooms. With over 150 full-color photographs of interiors and exteriors of some of the leading designs of the Japanese kyosho jutaku movement, Small House Tokyo is is house porn indeed.

Although the feeling of these two books is different, the message is the same: bigger isn't necessarily better. Peering at these books gives one a lot of perspective on the way we live. Their resources are shared; privacy is impossible; notions of space, both public and private are thoroughly different. They measure space in tatami mats. But at the same time, they create real, sustainable, liveable environments for themselves out of simple ingenuity. Sounds like the American way.

 

-AJ