CONGRATULATIONS to the Kyomachiya Innovators group in Japan!!!  

Today, the World Monuments Fund announced the 2010 Watch List and the machiya, traditional Japanese townhouses, was selected along with 92 other at risk cultural heritage sites from around the world.   The selection will play a critical role in the Kyomachiya Innovators’ mission to inform and teach the world about the cultural and historical value of the machiya. 

The last three weeks of August went by very quickly.  Anime scripwriter Dai Sato was in town along with Ryan Morris, his interpreter, for a couple of weeks to teach Anime Production/Scriptwriting to 25 high school students. Here are some summary videos of the classes he taught during those two weeks. Learn about 起承転結 (Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu) and 鳥獣戯画 (Cho-Ju-Gi-ga), Japan’s oldest manga. It is fascinating!

Also here is a link to Dai Sato speaking about how to create anime characters.

On the last day of the two weeks, the students divided into 5 groups presented their work at the auditorium. Here is a link to the 15 second previews that each group created. The preview was presented along with their story proposals. Dai told me later that he was intrigued that how all the groups had the notion of  fate/destiny embedded in their theme. He also thought that all story proposals dealt with the issues of coping with diversity and different values. He felt that groups made up of Japanese high school students would have come up with totally different theme and story ideas. Dai also had a chance to meet up with his old acquaintance, Justin Leach, also an IN member, who currently works at the Blue Sky Studios as a Senior Pipeline Engineer.  We paid a visit to Blue Sky in Connecticut and Dai was invited to speak about his work and the creative process to the storyboard department staff. Then we all took a tour of the studio.  Dai kept on saying how amazingly better the work environment is for creators like him in the U.S.  It was indeed a beautiful office space with huge windows overlooking a forest outside. There were ping pong tables and pinball machines, too.

Justin Leach and Dai Sato

During the last week of August, the Kyomachiya preservation group was in town after attending a symposium in Boston on historic preservation. The occasion was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of sister city between Boston and Kyoto. It was great to see Fusae Kojima again, a machiya owner and the President and Executive Director of Kyomachiya Revitalization Study Group. She was one of the panelists at the symposium we organized in collaboration with Kyoto Center for Community Collaboration (Machisen) last November at Japan Society. The symposium summary is featured in a new book titled Machiya Revival in Kyoto edited by Machisen. It just came out in July.  As part of the Innovators Network activities, we continue to support the Kyomachiya preservation group’s effort to gain further recognition abroad.

Last but not least, we have some newly edited videos of the Social Design Forum we organized with JIDPO (Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization) back in February.  I highly recommend that you watch Valerie Casey’s video on Design Thinking especially if you are a design student.

Masaaki Ikeda’s video, which touches on the history of  social design in Japan, is also quite interesting if you heard about Michael Linton, who had designed the LETS (Local Exchange Trading System).

(Fumiko)

Innovators Network member and anime scriptwriter Dai Sato was in New York to give a two-week summer immersion workshop for high school students at Japan Society.  Dai took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with Japan Society about his creative process.  In this video,   Dai muses about his “dream script,” discusses new features in Eden of the East, an anime series as of yet unreleased in the U.S., touches on the influence of authors Philip K. Dick and Haruki Murakami on his work, offers advice for future scriptwriters, and explains a few of the perception gaps between American and Japanese viewers regarding the TV series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. 

Dai’s scriptwriting credits also include Cowboy Bebop, Freedom, and Wolf’s Rain.

Innovators Network member Hiroshi Tasaka’s poetic The Five Laws to Foresee the Future: 12 Paradigm Shifts that will Happen in the Future of Human Society  (未来を予見する「5つの法則」) is out in English.  Tasaka-san’s philosophical insights into the future of work, life and society make for rivetting reading. For those who may have missed it, Tasaka-san gave a talk at a joint Japan Society- New School forum, “Beyond Web 2.0: How Technology will Change the World.” 

This wonderful video is based on a retreat we held in the Fall of 2007 titled Invigorating Communities, Designing for Inclusion. The video was created by BAYCAT Studio, where Innovators Network member Villy Wang serves as the President and CEO. Enjoy!

While on Miyakejima, we were introduced to a husband and wife team who own a small gift shop on the island.  They’ve endured quite a bit, including losing their home and first shop because of a volcano many years ago, only to have to leave Miyakejima after the 2000 volcano eruption for 4 1/2 years.  He and his wife returned however, and have opened a new shop.  After picking up a few gifts for friends and family back home, the gentleman agreed to sit down with us and share his story.

Before he evacuated, he had the foresight to bring his collection of photographs of Miyakejima.  An amateur photographer, he had taken beautiful photos of the island’s natural beauty, including sunsets, plants and the ocean, going back decades.  While in Tokyo, he had a number of photos printed as postcards, and sent them to many of his friends and neighbors from Miyakejima.  He made a special effort to send these postcards of home to many of the senior citzens.  Word spread about the postcards, and other residents requested to be on his mailing list.

The postcards helped this gentleman re-create his community in Tokyo, but in a completely different way.  Those who received his postcards told him that they waited in anticipation to receive the next card, and it played a tremendous role in keeping their spirits, and their hopes, high.  By the end of his time in Tokyo, he sent thousands and thousands of cards, at his own expense.

We were all so impressed with how what started as a simple gesture by just one person helped to create a real sense of community hundreds of miles from home and provided so many people with hope and happiness.

After the exchange program, the Learning from Disaster (see earlier posting below), finished, a small group had the priviledge of visiting Miyakejima.  After an overnight boatride, we spent a day and half visiting two schools, meeting with staff and members of the House of Wind (Kaze-no-Ie), visiting Ako port and meeting with fishermen, driving up the volcano to an observation area to look at the volcano’s damage up close, and meeting with citizens and local government officials.

Miyakejima is beautiful, and the damage from the 2000 volcano eruption, and an earlier eruption, caused great damage.  One of the things we were so impressed with was the great spirit and sense of hope expressed by everyone we met with, young and old.

Here are some photos from the visit.

The ship from Tokyo to Miyakejima

Fishermen unloading the day's catch

Junior high school students

The road up Miyakejima's volcano

Richard McCarthy presenting Mayor Hiroyasu Hirano with a market umbrella

House of Wind

Project Row Houses

I’m standing on the corner of Smith and Elgin, not far from Houston’s Third Ward. It’s May but with the heat and humidity it might as well be August, so I’m relieved when Tim Martinez pulls up, and I slip into his air-conditioned car.

Tim’s the Director of Development/PR at Project Row Houses (PRH), a neighborhood-based art and cultural organization located in Houston’s Northern Third Ward, one of the city’s oldest African-American communities.

PRH founder Rick Lowe, artist, community activist and member of the U.S.-Japan Innovators Network, was one of four Americans who participated in Invigorating Communities, Designing for Inclusion in November 2007. The two-day retreat in Kyoto brought together architects, urban planners, and leaders in culture and civil society from the United States and Japan to share ideas on urban revitalization, social inclusion, the role of arts and culture in stimulating local economies.

In Kyoto, Rick gave a compelling presentation on PRH, explaining how the organization was established on the site of 22 abandoned shotgun houses, on the principle that art and the community it creates can be the foundation for revitalizing depressed inner-city neighborhoods. This principle was is in part based on the philosophy of German artist Joseph Beuys (1921 – 1986) who coined the phrase “social sculpture,” which transformed the idea of sculpture as an art form into a social activity.

Business has brought me to Houston, and I am eager to see PRH for myself.

As Tim and I cross over Freeway 288 into the heart of the Third Ward, he explains how home owners there have successfully staved off the condo developers that seem to have overtaken much of the city. “People decided the Third Ward is not for sale,” he says.

The Third Ward was once a center of African American culture in Houston, with Dowling Street at its hub. We pass the Eldorado Ballroom, an unassuming art deco building that as a night club played host to the likes of BB King, Count Basie and numerous other blues and jazz luminaries until it closed in the 1970s. PRH renovated the ballroom and reopened it in 2003 and continues to make improvements.

We park in the shade under a large tree across the street from a row of white, single-storey wood buildings. These are some of the 22 row houses PRH uses for art installations and studios, as well as for their artist-in-residence program.  Seven of the buildings are used for PRH’s Young Mothers Residential Program, where single mothers 18-26 live in fully furnished updated row houses while receiving mentoring and finishing their education, Tim explains.

Crossing the street, we step into a two-story brick building, a former grocery store which now serves as PRH’s office. The first floor is used as gallery space.

Upstairs, I meet Cheryl Parker, PRH’s Executive Director. On this particular day, Rick Lowe is in Washington DC. He’s been invited to the White House to talk about the role of art in fostering community revitalization, Cheryl explains.

I ask Cheryl what of PRH’s current projects she find most exciting, and she immediately replies, “Home. Space. Place.” The exhibition, or “round” as she and Tim call it, comprises works by eight artists on the themes of home, identity, culture, struggles and perseverance, she says. PRH holds two major rounds a year, as well as a special program in the summer engaging local college students.

Tim and I step outside and in a few feet we are on the porch of the nearest shotgun house. Inside, I am amazed at how small it is.

The next several houses are being used as art installation spaces for “Home. Space. Place.” “It’s one house per artist,” Tim explains. “We want the artists to think of the houses as a blank canvass.”

In one house, the main space has been divided into several small rooms. The walls in one room have been papered over with red photocopies of a letter written by the artist’s grandmother, describing the effects of Hurricane Betsy fifty years ago.

In another room, the same artist, Rashida Ferdinand, has covered the walls with sand and broken glass, echoing the destruction brought by hurricanes.

In another house, artist Lisa Qualls has strung clothes lines draped with white linen from wall to wall. “The idea here was to collect clothes line stories from local people” Tim explains – stories relating to hanging washing out to dry.

In a third house, Cynthia Giachetti has created a ceramic quilt, reflecting the artist’s interest in preserving and protecting community.

We head back outside and Tim points out a series of new two-storey duplexes. Designed by Rice University architecture students, the clapboard houses echo the best qualities of shotgun houses and are being leased to families at affordable rates by Row House CDC, a spin-off from PRH which focuses on economic development in the Third Ward.

I ask Tim about future plans for expansion. “CDC is planning to do another development of duplexes about a mile away from here,” he says, as we make our way back to the office for a glass of water and much-needed respite from the heat.

Eight of the 24 families that have moved into the current duplexes include artists as family members, which has helped new-comers engage in the community. “They wanted to be here because they wanted to be part of the community,” he says.

Our tour complete, Tim is kind enough to give me a ride back to my hotel.

Note to anyone traveling to Houston: Home. Space. Place. continues through June 21.
(Daniel Rosenblum)

As part of Learning from Disaster: Miyakejima and New Orleans, we organized a number of meetings for the delegation from New Orleans. Over the next week or so, I will be writing about some of things we learned.

On the first day, we met with the Ward Chief for Sumida Ward and heard about the preventive measures the local government and citizens are taking regarding potential flooding, fires and earthquakes.

On the bank of the Sumida River

Despite the fact that the last major flood in the Sumida Ward of Tokyo took place in 1958, the local government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government take seriously the possibility of flooding. Two rivers flank Sumida Ward—the Sumida River on the east and the man-made Arakawa River on the west.

Part of the flood control system

The biggest problem is concentrated torrential rains that are contained to small areas. Even if the torrential rain doesn’t take place in Sumida Ward, it is vulnerable because water flows to Sumida Ward via the Sumida River. The result is overflowing sewage drain pipes.

Efforts are underway to separate the sewage system and the rain drainage systems, but to help alleviate the effects of rain, the Ward has developed a rain harvest system to lesson the load on the sewage system.

Neighborhood pump

The water is not potable, but can be used to wash cars and water gardens, for example. There are over 100 facilities to store rainwater large and small. Small efforts include homes in the neighborhood have pipes to collect the rainwater and facets that residents can go to in their neighborhoods to access the water.

Large efforts includes the National Sumo Stadium, which has one of the largest rainwater collection facilities. The rainwater collected here is stored underground and is used to flush the toilets in the stadium.

Betty returned from Tokyo. She told me that the symposium on April 18 had more than 200 people in the audience, who were very engaging and active in the Q & A session. She also visited Miyakejima along with ３ participants from New Orleans. We will be updating our blog with stories from the exchange.

There is a blog entry (in Japanese) by Eri Goto, a reporter for Asahi Newspaper, one of the leading newspapers in Japan. She wrote about the site visits, which were conducted prior to the symposium. Participants visited several places including Sumida ward, a below sea level area in Tokyo and Sanya area, which is a community of day-laborers.

(In Japanese)

政策プロジェクト部長のベティーが東京出張から戻ってきました。４月１８日に明治大学で行われた「災害に学ぶ」シンポジウムには２００人以上の人が集まり、質疑応答も盛り上がり興味深い内容だったとのことです。シンポジウム終了後、ベティーはニューオリンズからの参加者３人と三宅島を視察のために訪れました。今回の交流の様子は、今後写真やブログでご紹介させて頂きます。ご協力を頂いた皆様には厚く御礼申し上げます。

また朝日新聞の後藤絵里記者が、シンポジウムに先立ち、東京都内で２日間にわたり墨田区や山谷で行われた視察についてコラムを執筆しました。