It’s a wrap for the 14th annual fresh pow adventure. (Here's a short video.) I’m now on a plane home. But let me tell you, “Japow" did not disappoint. We went for the powder and, without any exaggeration, it snowed every single day. I have never seen snow accumulate as fast as it does on Hokkaido. I now understand why after big storms some people need to leave their house via the second floor. The region gets that much snow in January and February.
Of course, we also got the chance to spend a number of days in Tokyo. When I first visited the city over 20 years ago, I absolutely loved it. And I feel the same way after this trip. Tokyo is up there for me — it’s one of my favorite cities. It’s obviously enormous, but it’s highly livable and it works, really well in fact. So here’s a list of some of the things — both small and big — that I admire about the place and that I think we should adopt back in Toronto.
Its reputation is, of course, true. Tokyo is a neat and clean city, especially given its scale. And everyone seems to be bought into it, because they don’t even have public garbage cans. I don’t exactly know how you instil this into the culture of a place, but I think it goes along with the overall pride they seem to take in their work and the commitment to quality. How you do anything is how you do everything.
Without fail, every time you sit down at a restaurant, the first thing you will receive is a moist towel to clean your hands. It’s a super simple and welcome gesture. Why not clean your hands before you eat?
Everything has a place. Receipts are handed over in trays. Restaurants have baskets at each table so you don’t have to put your bag on the floor. Hangers are provided so you don’t throw your jacket on the back of your chair. And the list goes on. It’s orderly and civilized.
Our toilets are in the stone ages. You’re not going to get yourself clean with just paper. You need a comfortable warm seat and highly adjustable jets of water. I never fully appreciated this need before the trip, but now I’m a true believer. It’s time for a new toilet.
Lots of people still wear masks in Japan, and across Asia. Unselfishly, people do this when they themselves are sick and want to protect others from their germs. It’s a practice that I had hoped would stick in the Western world following the pandemic. But it did not.
Convenience stores (7-11, Lawson, Seicomart, etc) are everywhere and they’re actually good. You can have a decent meal at any of them. We need to up our game. As North American cities relax their zoning to allow more small-scale retail in residential neighborhoods, I also hope that, generally, we see a stronger culture of “going to the corner store."
Tokyo cares deeply about art, architecture, design, and fashion. There’s a culture of investing in all of it, and you see it clearly across the city. I mean, look at their public toilets, many/most of which have been designed by a celebrated architect.
There’s also a high willingness to experiment and be playful with the built environment, including domestic architecture. Many people seem to design their homes around what they want, as opposed to what might broadly appeal to most people in the market. (This is a topic we’ve spoken about before.)
Alongside all of this, I find that there’s a cartoon quality to a lot of the aesthetics in Tokyo. You see this in the graphic design, the design of everyday objects, and, of course, all the actual cartoons and anime you see everywhere. It makes the city feel very playful at times.
Tokyo is very much a vertical city, as opposed to just a city with tall buildings. There are buildings all over the place with retail uses located on some hidden upper floor and where you need to queue for an elevator to access it. There’s no shortage of evidence to suggest that this “only works in Asia”, but maybe it could work in more places than we think. Oftentimes our land use policies limit the amount of commercial floor area in mixed-use zones. But why even bother? Let the market determine what’s viable.
Finally, and we talked about this last week, Tokyo is a city that is clearly oriented around rail. And it’s the only way that a city of this size could operate as beautifully as it does. This isn’t new information, but it remains my number one takeaway. Because Tokyo is an easier city to get around than Toronto. In fact, we found ourselves not wanting to take Ubers because rail was actually faster, cheaper, and more convenient. That’s a testament to the power and efficiency of rail.
What did I miss? Let me know in the comment section below.
One school of thought is that if you're not in the real estate business, and you're in some other business like fashion, then you probably shouldn't own a lot of your real estate. The general idea is that the opportunity cost of doing so is too great; it ties up a lot of capital, taking it away from the core business.
But then there's LVMH.
In 2023, the company spent €2.45 billion on real estate across the world, mostly for its retail stores. And then this week it was announced that, earlier this year, the company closed on the Villa Bagatelle in Cannes for €46.5 million. Supposedly this is one of the most expensive homes ever sold in the city.
LVMH plans to use the 12-suite villa for brand activations during events like the Cannes Film Festival, and then rent it out when they don't need it.
So clearly they are of a different school of thought. They are blending experiential marketing and real estate investing, which is an interesting approach. It also makes me wonder if this has something to do with the fact that Bernard Arnault started his career in real estate.
For more information on the Villa Bagatelle or to inquire about renting it for your next family vacation, go here.
When I first saw this picture of Louis Vuitton's flagship store in Manhattan I thought it was AI. That is where we are right now. When something looks wild, I just automatically assume it's fake. But alas, it's not fake. Louis Vuitton is renovating their flagship store at the corner of 57th Street and 5th Avenue and so, naturally, they decided to completely cover it with luggage facade wraps.
These wraps make the entire building look like six grey trunks stacked on top of each other and are a nod to a 19th century luggage design from the company. They even used real metal details throughout. Apparently the heaviest luggage handle weighs something like 5,000 pounds.
This is wild and remarkable in so many ways. The scale of it is remarkable. This is a 15 storey building concealed entirely by luggage trunks. It also speaks to the scale and dominance of New York as a city. Not every city can absorb a pile of giant luggage trunks and not bat an eye. But in New York, it's just another noteworthy thing within its relentless urban grid.
I also can't help but think of the work of architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. In 1972, they published a book called Learning from Las Vegas. And in it, they defined two types of contrasting buildings: decorated sheds and ducks. Decorated sheds are, as the name suggests, nondescript buildings. Think big box stores. These buildings get their specificity from signage and other ornament because, without this, they'd just be nondescript sheds.
Duck buildings are, on the other hand, buildings that take on a symbolic form. In other words, their shape and construction tell you what they're all about. The term duck comes from an actual building that looks like a duck, namely The Big Duck on Long Island. This is a building that was built in the 1930s to help promote the owner's duck farming business and is now on the US National Register of Historic Places.
The Big Duck is and was an actual building, whereas Louis Vuitton's trunks are just temporary construction wrap. So they're not exactly the same thing. Still, the similarities are there. Both were erected to promote their respectiveness businesses. And both tell you, through their form, what's meant to happen inside. So in this sense, Louis Vuitton has just created its own Big Duck.
Photo by Brad Dickson via Dezeen