Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

Do you remember Clive?

He was working with us for about half a year since we opened this hostel.
http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/blog/2007/01/thank_you_clive.html

I knew that we had a guest whose name is Clive yesterday
but I didn't expect that it was that Clive:D

As he is living in Okinawa island now, he brought us some local fruits and sweets♪
These fruits we are holding is called dragon fruits.
It's gonna be our afternoon snack today☆

Thank you Clive and I'm happy to meet you again!
You are on the weblog as you were anticipating:P

Didn't you lose your weight?

Many examples of buildings that display Tokyo at the cutting-edge of architectural design can be found amongst its fashionable shopping districts. One such place is Omotesando, Tokyo’s famous four-lane, tree-lined boulevard that in recent years has become the city’s showplace for luxury brands and top architects, and it is easily accessible from Asakusa. Just take the Ginza line for a 30-minute train ride from Asakusa to Omote-sando. Below are three recently built buildings located on Omotesando or in neighboring Aoyama:

Toyo Ito’s Tod’s Omotesando Building:

Designed for the Italian footwear retailer, Tod`s is a slender, L-shaped building, it contains offices and a boutique. The 27,448-square-foot building is wrapped by a dramatic enclosure composed of angled concrete elements and glass plates.

Tadao Ando`s Omotesando Hills

Omotesando Hills shopping arcade's low-rise profile echoes the height of the zelkova trees along Omotesando, an approach reinforced by extensive use of rooftop gardens. Omotesando Hills contains a six-story atrium, reaching from the third basement floor through the three above-ground floors. It is enclosed by a spiral ramp that echoes the slope of the boulevard outside.

Takenaka Corporation`s Prada Aoyama Tokyo

Many examples of buildings that display Tokyo at the cutting-edge of architectural design can be found amongst its fashionable shopping districts. One such place is Omotesando, Tokyo’s famous four-lane, tree-lined boulevard that in recent years has become the city’s showplace for luxury brands and top architects, and it is easily accessible from Asakusa. Just take the Ginza line for a 30-minute train ride from Asakusa to Omote-sando. Below are three recently built buildings located on Omotesando or in neighboring Aoyama:

Toyo Ito’s Tod’s Omotesando Building:

Designed for the Italian footwear retailer, Tod`s is a slender, L-shaped building, it contains offices and a boutique. The 27,448-square-foot building is wrapped by a dramatic enclosure composed of angled concrete elements and glass plates.

Tadao Ando`s Omotesando Hills

Omotesando Hills shopping arcade's low-rise profile echoes the height of the zelkova trees along Omotesando, an approach reinforced by extensive use of rooftop gardens. Omotesando Hills contains a six-story atrium, reaching from the third basement floor through the three above-ground floors. It is enclosed by a spiral ramp that echoes the slope of the boulevard outside.

Takenaka Corporation`s Prada Aoyama Tokyo

Tokyo is a fascinating city for architecture lovers. Its ancient temples and shrines are complemented by many modern works. Works by famous architects such as Kenzo Tange, Tadao Ando, Kisho Kurokawa, Togo Murano,Taisei Kensetsu, and Shimizu Kensetsu can be found. Our location in Tokyo is ideal for exploring the many buildings of Tokyo further.

Close to Sakura Hostel Asakusa and a good starting point, for instance, is the Phillippe Starck designed Asahi Super Dry Hall (see picture). Asahi Super Dry was one of the most popular beers in Japan at the time it was designed, and is still found in vending machines everywhere. The resemblance to a tall foamy mug of beer is intentional. It's not hard to picture the Flame d'Or (golden flame) at the top as the foam being blown off a cold beer. Moreover, the building's black granite facade is punctuated by a grid of portholes that at night give the illusion of tiny bubbles of effervescent beer in a large mug.

Some interesting facts about the flame:
> The flame is 43 meters long.
> The flame is 14 meters tall.
> The flame is 12 meters wide.
> The flame weighs 360 tons.
> The flame was constructed by Kawasaki Heavy Industries
> Its popular nickname is `The Golden Poo` "O Gon No Unko."

Hi, this is my first entry. I've been in Japan now just over two months; since Sakura Hostel Asakusa opened. I'll try to use my blog to cover some of my experiences of living in Japan, and give you some ideas of things you could do while you stay here.

Last Sunday we visited Yoyogi Koen. This is a large park surrounding the Meiji Jingu shrine (Tokyo's largest). The park itself is pretty nice to walk through/picnic in, especially if the weather's good. But, alongside the park lots of young people perform their music, dance, etc., and this lasts quite a way towards Shibuya. On the way we also passed a festival showcasing India, and there were lots of stalls sending Indian food. In the same area we also passed a crowd gathered around a film crew. They were filming lots of Japanese guys dressed like Elvis, and then we saw Brittany Murphy, it appears she was filming a new film called the 'Ramen Girl', unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me to prove it!