below the buzzing metropolis of tokyo in the depths of a high rise building is a microcosm of an agricultural revolution. in a facility staffed by former freeters looking for a source of lasting employment, there are six rooms dedicated the the seeding, germination, and successful growth of various vegetables. why is this anything exciting, you might ask?
while for the last century large scale indoor cultivation has been commonly practiced around the world and indoor greenhouses and grow rooms are used by people as varied as researchers to marijuana growers, what is interesting about this experiment is the intent and unintended consquences. pasona o2, unlike its counterparts has among it goals the employment of that portion of disaffected japanese youth. in addition it is a live testing of the marginal transformation of land to capital in an urban environment.
while at first this may seem unexciting, to me it is intriguing for two reasons. first of all it is an introduction to a field of steady work for moderately educated youth to introduce themselves to both industrial and agricultural technology. while these are seemingly dying arts they are also heavily subsidized industries and thus a safe bet. secondly, while the proprietors may not see this as the future of farming, it was an object of debate in an environmental economics class in which i once enrolled. in an area where land prices are high and the soil quality is poor enough that it must be continually augmented by expensive fertilizers, there could conceivably be a situation, provided a cheap source of electricity, where hydroponic gardens in skyscapers could be the source of food to a nation and the nations to which it exports.
hat tip to pruned
This is really interesting. I’ve always had a soft spot in my hard, harsh heart for the idea of bringing in nature and natural environments into the workplace.
I also like the idea of biowalls (for an example and explanation: http://livebuilding.queensu.ca/green_features/biowall).
It just… makes sense, ya know?
Copying from FG again?
Hey, Chas. We don’t go over to FG and complain every time you folks post something after it appears here, so why don’t you just go back to your little gaijin ghetto and resume feeling sorry for yourselves over there.
You know, I’ve always felt that when the name FG was given to that site, someone forgot the “Up” in the middle.
Doesn’t much resemble your two short lines of text, Chas.
Maybe it just seems that way, but every Chuck & Charlie I’ve ever known who called himself Chas turned out to have his pretentious head stuck up his know-nothing behind.
Provided a cheap source of electricity, indeed! That was my first thought, is that you can’t get more efficient that putting things out under the sun.
There are several solutions - solar + batteries is one. Chanelling rooftop light to the basement using fiber optics is another.
Also, hydroponics is interesting, but a better solution is feeding garbage to worms, which is a good source of fertilizer in the organic food trade. And worms like the underground, so that seems like a good pairing for underground gardens.
OK, how about a little reality check here.
The following is the entire text of a post on the FG forum by “Charles,” who I assume is one and the same as our local “Chas”:
That’s it.
Now you can judge for yourself whether esotericlarity “copied” anything from the FG forum.
This is not the first time that people from FG have come in here and claimed that because they quoted something from a publicly available news source that they somehow had some “right” to the source. That any and all quotes dated later than the FG quote were stolen from FG.
This notion that before someone can quote from a publicly available news source they must track down and credit every other blog and forum that has quoted it to date would be ludicrous were it not totally insane.
Needless to say, none of the contributors in the FG forums ever follow the strict protocol they want everyone else to follow.
exactly diamondback - i haven’t sighted a single one of my poems over at FG.
Why not Chas?.
remora
Actually, now that you mention it, z7q2, yeah. I thought the Japanese excelled at using the building roofs (rooves?) for other than “put big air circulation box h-e-r-e”.
Here’s what they’re going on the to of the Vancouver Public Library (done by ol’ Moishe Safdie, the guy who did Habitat for Expo ‘67 - that apartment building that looked like gently knocked-about blocks):
http://www.architecture.uwaterloo.ca/faculty_projects/terri/sustain_casestudies/vpl_greenroof.html
Unfortunately, the roof isn’t actually open to the public.
More info n’e'ah :::channelling Cartman::::
http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/buildsmart/greenroofs.htm
I also recently caught a segment on some show about bringing in natural light through what’s essentially ‘roof straws’. I couldn’t believe how much light was given off.
My colleagues and I are going to try for tomatoes this year in our office windows. Herbs will do well, I’m sure. But tomotoes always seem to be the litmus test of a good gardener (and I am most certainly not).
Damned. I want tomato plants like those in the picture.
Looks like I hit a nerve.
I wasn’t aware that your crew of otaku spend their time scanning obscure Landscape Architecture blogs for Japan-related topics. Certainly nothing I could say as a former Landscape Architect could be more relevant than the secondhand observations of someone who read the web page I posted. Perhaps it is too much to expect that people credit their source, even though I always do.
Sticking with green-ish things, I was reading this:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKT10204120080120
I wonder if those wave-energy generated farms would be a better idea since, in theory, you can lower the pontoons that usually sit on the waves into the water to a depth that a typhoon wouldn’t have that much effect.
Huh. Maybe I should do a bit more research on it.
Screw it. I’m going to watch this ‘Rome’ series I just downloaded two-season’s worth of. I’m hoping for much manly men walking around in Roman wear and Kevin McKidd looking delish… .
Yes, Chas, you hit a nerve, the one that is hit any time someone say something idiotic.
That fact that you posted a link on a forum does not make you the source of the information.
well betty woo if you want tomatoes like that it is relatively easy to do if you know what you’re doing. I’ve done it myself
heres my instructions to do it the cheap shoestring way. first you need
1. one five gallon plastic bucket (for each plant)
2. rope
3. foam
4. cheese cloth
5. a hole cutter
6. miracle grow potting soil (or a mixture of dirt and peat moss)
7. a big bag of fertilizer (preferably bat guano)
8. baby tomato plants
first you cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket (about 1.5 inches in diameter) for the tomato plant to grow out of. then cut a piece of foam the size of the circumference of the bucket with a slit just large enough to stretch around the baby plant. this foam will have the dual purpose of holding the dirt in the upside down bucket and being soft enough for the plant stem to grow.
now you take the baby plant out of the its pot and wrap the cheesecloth around the root/dirt ball and then stretch the foam around its base. now put the plant into the bucket and its top through the hole. now is the time to hang the bucket from a secure surface and dump the dirt mixed with fertilizer into the bucket. let it hang in the sun or in a green house with artificial light, water daily and fertilize ever other week. Voila
or you could just buy this and skip the whole assembly part
http://www.cleanairgardening.com/totuupdotofl.html
to clear up the confusion here i did not get the link from fuckedgaijin nor did i plagarize his work. merely typed the work “tokyo” into the reddit search bar and restricted my results to this week. here is the link.
http://reddit.com/search?q=tokyo&t=week
there you go. no need to search around obscure architecture websites when someone else interested in did it for me and posted it on a user news website. there was no need to use your website for a source.
moreover i had never even seen you blog before diamond back mentioned the letters fg and i typed them into a google search. after finding “your story” i couldn’t understand why you would compare it to mine, its all of two lines, and a bud joke.
http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=FG&btnG=Google+Search
you’re right the posters here are overreacting. there’s no need to defend me. you’re own idiocy and ignorance of the internet are the best arguments against you.
sincerely,
esotericlarity
P.S.
a warning against using cum laudes and bona fides as an argument in blog posts.
nobody gives a f*ck if you say you are an architect, a doctor, a lawyer, have an IQ of 160, or a ten inch dick. you are an anonymous poster. for all we know you’re some forty year old loser living in his mother’s basement who hasn’t bathed in six months. and so could i for that matter. so no one is impressed when you start pulling accomplishments out of your ass.
“I wasn’t aware…” [Chas on February 19th, 2008]
Well, yeah. We all sort of guessed that, but it’s always nice to get confirmation from the horse’s
Eso,
It’s not so much that we see any need to defend you.
I, for one, lack no confidence in your ability to fend off the likes of Chas.
It’s just common courtesy to respond positively and with enthusiasm when someone walks into the room wearing a dayglo orange KICK ME banner.
there’s no need to defend me
Apparently not!
Isn’t “landscape architect” just some hifaluten word for “gardner?”
do I have to write a poem (remku) for underground gardening?..and then go over to that third ranking place (FG) and inflict it on those philistines?
your
(proto-poet)
remora.
well Mr. Pink - ass no questions and you’ll get told no..
*by the the way when is your interview coming up ?*
remora
rem,
We are currently in the midst of intense discussions with Mr. Pink’s lawyers concerning his interview fee. They are holding out for a signing bonus, lump sum payment, and linking rights for the next 50 years (which, the word is, they are secretly trying to sell to FG).
I’ve tried calling Mr. Pink directly to ask him to be reasonable, but he always ends up screaming “Greed is good!” and hanging up.
Stay tuna-ed.
No Money, No Honey — Beeeyitch!
esotericlarity wrote: “you are an anonymous poster. for all we know you’re some forty year old loser living in his mother’s basement who hasn’t bathed in six months.”
What’s being British got to do with it?
;-P
Thanks for the tomato post. We’re pretty lucky in that we’re on a floor with a patio (not that we use it except for the smokers). Unfortunately, we face north.
Your method sounds intriguing however and I may just make everyone help me do something like that with a few test plants.
moh ching mae-chung (my clumsy attempt at cantonese)..
no money/no life..my two lads haven’t discovered the connection yet, between Money and Honey..but if JAPUNDIT continues ..as I really hope it does (and Osamu) get’s on here as “remora-Junior”..which is on the cards ..I couldn’t think of better introduction to the world of …growing up!
*At least he will be in good company - Mr.Pink*
remora
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