Japan Research
[日本語]
Topics:
Urban Migration
Population Decline & the Migration of Rural Populations towards Large Urban Cities
Climate Change
Coastal Resilient Housing & Relocation of New Urban Centers
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Thoughts En Route
First thing first: I am not here to cause any problems, nor am I here to cause sudden change. These are all things that might happen over the next 10-20 years. So pardon me, if it seems too immediate. These outlined, are long term brainstorming solutions to problems.
The one thing I have noticed about people in corporate culture is that they are so invested in the appearance of being “professional.” But I can assure you, that when you have been working in the industry for over 10 years now…you can see right through the suit and white shirt architect attire.
My job is not a 9-5 job as an architect. It is a life pursuit, and occupation, that allows me to make change in the world.
When you work in the industry for 10 years, and follow it through the pandemic, where all professionalism falls apart, and the hopes of a small office laughs through the despair of the pandemic at moments when my cuckoo clock goes off during a Zoom meeting at 5pm- that is where you see where professionalism stands. A mask for uncertainty at a time when the industry can no longer support your future.
Corporate professionalism is but a small subculture, in the larger path of the contemporary Architect. A culture that keeps you from doing the things that truly matter as an architect. Which is creating work that provides meaning for our era- a time where the future is so uncertain.
The uncertainty of our era now, is not the same as during covid, but it is a long term stagnation, and a lack of progress in philosophy, and a movement towards individual isolation from technology and personalized entertainment, and a lack of mass awareness against these problems. This is what Francis Fukuyama talks about in his writing The End of History and the Last Man.
In New York during covid, when all this corporate professionalism dropped off. We opened the 9 acre park at Gotham Park in New York, a park that is adjacent to the highest pedestrian traffic area off of the Brooklyn Bridge, millions of people who are going to walk through this long swath of urban area every month. There will be friends and connections made, that I will never know. We are using Architecture, to combat these problems of social isolation in a time where public spaces to meet people eye to eye are scarce.
Because I’ve shifted to Japan, I’m starting from scratch. I think that it may take long time to do anything here, but I feel that the immediate work happens from speaking to people in Japanese every day. Strangers, all over the place- they need to know about the Japanese diaspora, and how there are people all over the world who are also Japanese, and how rare, in fact, it is to be Japanese.
And how in fact, returning to Japan after a very long 3 generations is perhaps the most Japanese thing you can do to help the country. I am leaving my home behind, to help my ancestral home now. We have a family history of reformers, and scholars, and I’m returning after learning everything I could from the West.
But also, you learn in a certain sense, how Japanese people are too proud sometimes. How they need to live in a place where society puts them down. Where the Japanese Man-Ojisan is not the top dog. Where you hide your Japanese-ness out of fear of being different.
I come from the opposite side of the spectrum, to a place where being Japanese, and being a man is such a priority, and so important for your success. The real challenge of being a Japanese man, and the most powerful, and strongest trait is- divine masculinity. How can you be a man, and uplift everyone around you; women, children, disabled people- all of the varieties of minorities.
How can you fight your instincts inside to simply dominate and compete- but truly, how can you evolve your humanity to a point where you are no longer an animal, fighting, reproducing, and surviving- and how can you be a real force for humanity, and change the cultural makeup of this country and world.
The only way to do it, is to educate- using philosophy, a Renaissance style education- searching constantly.
And I thought this morning, that out of all the people born in the year 1990, I am pretty sure I am very far along on my philosophical path. I am not sure how New York had been shaped by me, but it really shaped me. And now that I know that I have no fear of being professional or not.
I only know now, that living somewhere for 10 years can do something, and that I am going to be doing it every day in Japan, whether I am working explicitly on a project or not. Every moment is a project, and every moment is an opportunity.