08.10.08
Posted in Friends, Japanese, Outings tagged atom bomb, Hiroshima, Ishikawa, Kanazawa University, Komura, Nagasaki, Noomi, Ogoya, radioactivity, 小村, 広島, 放射能, 石川, 野美市, 長崎, 尾小屋 at 15:07 by krause
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August 6th and August 9th are not and should not be forgotten, although this year they are left in the shadows of the Olympics. 63 years later, the artifacts collected in the cities are still somewhat radioactive, not to mention the suffering of individual people and the collective devastation of the nation. Estimates of direct casualties range from 90,000 to 140,000 according to Wikipedia. Some estimates state up to 200,000 had died by 1950, due to cancer and other long-term effects. The building on the left is the 原爆ドーム Genbaku Dome, Hiroshima Peace Memorial, a former industrial exhibition hall. |
I had the opportunity to visit 金沢大学自然計測応用研究センター, 低レベル放射能研究施設 尾小屋地下測定施設 (尾小屋鉱山トンネル) Kanazawa University’s Ogoya Underground Laboratory of Low Level Radioactivity （ＬＬＲＬ） in Noomi shi, Ishikawa ken （野美市 石川県） with Professor Komura 小村先生 and his wife Komura san 小村さん.
At the time, Professor Komura was measuring radiation of a men’s pocket watch found after the Hiroshima A-bomb had been dropped.
Nature here is subtropical, like a jungle, and the road to the entrance is small. Neareby there is a mining and railroad museum. The temperature was around 40 centigrades, but inside the tunnel it’s so cold one needs a jacket.
Previously there was a copper ore mine, now the tunnel hosts a laboratory 300 meters inside the mountain. The tonnes of stone covering the tunnel makes Ogoya lab one of the most sensitive radioactivity labs in the world. Stone blocks cosmic radiation to its minimum and makes it possible to reach more exact results in measuring low levels of radioactivity found in, for example, items found in Hiroshima after the nuclear bomb was dropped.
An ore mine 100 years old, there used to be little artificial light. Now as there is electricity, wallｓ begin to get color from moss and other growth. Also pretty stalagtites grow from the ceiling, which is dripping water.
300 meters in, there is a small construction site trailer-like cubicle where the detector and other instruments are. The tunnel is damp, slippery, badly lit, wearing a helmet is mandatory, the lab, only a few square meters, is very crowded but the computers are state-of-the-art. What an interesting contrast.
Being a professor does not mean your work is purely white collar. Professor Komura needs to put in place and remove 300 kg of lead blocks every time he needs to measure the radioactivity level of an object.
Whether Japan’s history as the only nation being attacked with atom bombs has impacted the radioactivity research in the country, I don’t know. I do know that Ogoya lab is one of the most sensitive labs in the world, and that they have a world wide cooperative network. I have never met a person who has been to the Antarctic before, but professor Komura has – measuring radioctivity, of course.
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08.09.08
Posted in F-Design, J-Design tagged Dome house, Futuro at 13:56 by krause
We have Matti Suuronen’s Futuro, designed 1968. Now the Japanese strike back with the styrofoam home Dome.
Futuro village:
Dome village:
There are interesting dome houses, spherical, round and even revolving houses around the globe (pun intended), not to mention all sorts of traditional habitats like huts (Africa, Celtic etc.), teepees, Sami fur kota teepees, yurts, and of course, igloos. This dome house in Hakui, Nooto hantoo (Nooto peninsula, Japan) was photographed by me in 2006.
Recently, the Futuro sold at Christie’s for €140,000 (¥23,200,000 or $210,600). The production has been discontinued, so the only way to acquire one is to buy a second hand Futuro.
A brand new Dome will sell at 3 million yen (under $30,000 or €18,100), but there are more expensive extended homes / public building solutions.
Futuro will arrive at your door step fully assembled. Only “legs” or supports and plumming, electricity etc. will need to be completed after transportation.
The Dome modules are assembled in a fraction of the time required to build a traditional house. The modules can be lifted by two or three people, and once the modules are snapped into place, the house is covered with plaster, painted, and customized.
Karaoke place in Suijin no mori.
Futuro will blend into the Finnish lake side landscape perfectly (?):
Interior of Futuro:
The interior is more versatile than in Futuro, which is always the same size, and not very spacious: The Dome can be used as a sauna, shop, bar, office, hotel etc. in addition to just being a home.
Some videos of Dome.
The Finnish Futuro and Japanese Dome are not the only round, dome etc. shaped or spherical houses. There are lots of ufos around. As this is not a blog dealing with architecture, here are links to non-Japanese and non-Finnish round houses.
Dymaxion
Sunspace Homes
Bulle“ à 6 coques
Kugelhaus
And a blog with unusual living solutions:
Flatrock
And you can always search for “dome home” or “dome house” “round house” “rotating house” “spinning house” or “revolving house” – lots of interesting images there.
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08.03.08
Posted in Japanese, Outings tagged flea market, recycling, secondhand at 18:12 by krause
In Japan people do not see value on used, second hand, or especially old things, unless it is antique. Much to my surprise, I spotted some Japanese women behind a “counter” at Hietalahti. I purchased red ヘアカーラー(hea kaaraa), or hair curlers at the flea market yesterday for 二ユーロ (ni yuuro) or, €2. In Japan, flea markets are not only rare, they are also free 
The Japanese often mispronounce “l” as an “r”, thus giving flea market a new meaning, free market. Oh well, sometimes it is free, as I came to notice. Also, oftentimes the Japanese part with their used stuff asking a considerably lower price for the item than would their Finnish counterparts. The idea in Japan seems to be getting rid of exess stuff. Here it is becoming more and more a living for a certain segment of people, and sfuff will cost 10, 20, or even 50 to 100 euro. I don´t care whether the item is new, old, mint, unused, used once, or something else. Asking loads of money for stuff at a flea market defeats the purpose, in my mind. Hey, once I drive this year’s model out of the car seller’s, I can’t ask for the same price I paid for it. That’s how it is. It is a fact I do not have the same selection to choose from, not the same range of sizes to choose from, I do not get a guarantee, I do not even know the seller’s name, in case I find out there is something wrong with the item, and I would need to exchange it, let alone it causes some kind of harm to the user. No refund, no nothing. And they think it is ok to ask for as much as for a new one? It isn’t. But, I guess it’s not stupid to ask, it’s stupid to pay.
Japan produces 50,441,000 tonnes of householdwaste annually (1992 figures) . This makes 411 kg per person, each year. For comparison, Finland produces (produced) 3,100,000 tonnes, with 624 kg per person, a year.
If you want to compare the figures with the GDP per capita, here is the list of Wikipedia. Finland, on 8th place, does not lag far behind with its income per capita, which is %27060, compared to Japan, %34180, on place 4. Both countries are in the sharp tip of the statistics.
Still, according to my experience, the Japanese throw away stuff far more than we do. Finland’s ugly stats are, sadly, explicable through Japan’s more advanced recycling system. All plastic is recycled, also in households, metal, glass etc. sorted and so on. BUT, in the garbage, you can still find, among the metal waste, a musical brass instrument or two, as good as new, in a case, clean, ready to be played. In Finland, it would be sold, not dumped. As I understand it, the Japanese in general, do not want secondhand anything. Used instruments, yikes. Last year’s model of blu-ray? Sorry, very undesirable.
Anyway, as I respect the attitude of getting rid of stuff contrasted with making as much money as possible (and maybe telling invented truths about stuff on sale) AND as I also take a liking in the good manners of the average Japanese: more sellers of Japanese origin to the Finnish flea markets! Free markets, solly.
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