The walkability of central Kamakura is defined by three north-south spines: The Komachi-Dori Shotengai (nighttime walk-through video) Car-free Hokoten every day from 4 pm to 7 pm (Sundays and holidays 10 am to 4 pm). Stretches 590 meters (1,940 feet) north from Kamakura Station (JR East and Enoshima/Enoden lines) to Hachimangu Shrine. The Onari-Dori Shotengai (daytime walk-through video) Car-free Hokoten every day from 4 pm … Continue reading Walking in Kamakura
Jiyugaoka is one of five major town centers in Tokyo’s Meguro ward (目黒区), which is one of the city’s most densely populated wards, with 49,000 people per square mile. The two train stations which intersect here boast combined daily boardings of approximately 150,000 passengers (CBRE data). This commercial nucleus features a tremendous number of storefronts, all within a 6 minute walk of Jiyugaoka Station: … Continue reading Walkable City – Jiyugaoka (自由が丘)
Japanese train stations support the growth of walkable commercial nodes. Continue reading Stations and Shotengai: Backbones of Walkability
For a very thorough and extremely well illustrated explanation of the advantages of narrow streets, please see these definitive posts by A.A. Price: Human-Scale Streets and Narrow Streets. A.A. Price’s posts demonstrate viscerally the aesthetic value of narrow streets. But how can we quantify this quality? First, we must look at what we mean by street width; does it refer to the width of the road itself, or the … Continue reading Narrow Streets Index
“…asked whether it was not all a dream… It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before…” ~Bernal Diaz del Castillo Today’s photo tour brings us to beautiful Kitano-cho (北野町) on the north edge of Kobe, where city meets mountain. Not only is it one of Japan’s most … Continue reading Kobe Photo Tour: Kitano-cho (北野町)
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