A special project called "Pavilion Tokyo 2021," aimed at showcasing modern Japanese architecture and art, recently began at various locations in the capital and will run through Sept. 5 to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
Works by world-renowned Japanese architects and artists are on display near National Stadium in Shinjuku Ward and in other locations, with each encompassing the creator's unique perspective on Tokyo and Japan.
Among the eight individuals and one group participating in the event are architect Sou Fujimoto and artist Yayoi Kusama. Each designed a structure or art object under the theme of "the landscape of a new and free city."
Architect Terunobu Fujimori created a two-story wooden tea house in front of the stadium that he dubbed "Go-an." "The tea house is the origin of Japanese micro spaces," Fujimori said. "I want people to find new things in the landscape as they look at something enormous [the stadium] from something tiny [the tea house]," Fujimori said.
Artist Makoto Aida took his talents to the entrance of the ginkgo-lined avenue of Meiji Jingu shrine outer gardens, where he created a "Tokyo Castle" on the stone bases on each side , one of cardboard boxes and the other of blue tarps. Such materials have become essential items in evacuation shelters. during disasters.
"I thought about the natural disasters such as major earthquakes that have occurred over the past quarter-century," Aida said.
Is he suggesting something with these "castles" built on stone bases that were made during the Taisho era (1912-26) using old stones taken from the outer moat of the bygone Edo Castle?
Architect Teppei Fujiwara situated his "Street Garden Theater" in front of the former National Children's Castle in Shibuya Ward. Inspired by the "alley gardens" of potted plants lined up under the eaves of houses, Fujiwara assembled a complex timber frame to display about 300 pots of various plants, by which he seems to present a Tokyo of the near future that becomes more and more diverse.
Architect Kazuyo Sejima created a waterway she titled "Suimei" in the Hama Rikyu Gardens in Chuo Ward that brings to mind the winding streams seen in gardens of the Heian period (794-1185.)
Due to the pandemic, tourists from overseas cannot see these unique works conveying the charms of Japan. However, the event is significant in that it provides an opportunity for Japanese people to take a new look at Tokyo and Japan.
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