Yoyogi Park

This is fast becoming our regular haunt - I take the dogs to the dog run, watch Dino get scared and Enzo just saying hello to the people (not dogs), Stephen takes Nathan cycling. Nathan is doing really well on the big bike with training wheels. After all this we have lunch at Burger Arms this fantastic homemade burger joint across the road. All the IG dog owners go there for lunch it seems.

This week, for lunch, we walked over to the Sri Lankan festival at the event park. It was mainly food, tea and kittul stalls. The SL Government had flown over loads of people. It was huge and well turned out. The bad cultural performances also had an audience. I didnt know that there was such a large Singhalese population here. I learnt a few ties - Noritake has had a factory there for 40 years, they share the similar Buddhist beliefs, their love for tea. [A big aside: Jocelyn had some Oxfam jasmine tea which was Jasmine tea grown in Sri Lanka and it had a wonderful taste - almost mint like. Must get some!] Our favourite Sri Lankan restaurant, Ceylon Inn, had an enormous queue! Made me feel good we were going to one of the better SL restaurants in Japan.

On our way back we had to walk through the park again to get to the car. We walked leisurely - Stephen carrying Nathan and I had the dogs attached to my backpack while I steered trike and carried our shopping. I had my Japanese white wide brimmed hat on. We walked down towards the ponds and I found someone video taping me: did I look like one of the strange acitivites in Yoyogi? Does that make me fit in better? ??? I know E & D do attract lots of attention, me as well? But E & D are not special in Yoyogi - it is IG haven in there - every IG in the vicinity comes to the dog run. Its like no other dog needs exercise!. So why? how? I think the park was relatively empty and he needed something to talk about back home. ..

Paolo Soleri

The man who saw the future

In the 1970s, visionary architect Paolo Soleri built an extraordinary eco-city in the Arizona desert. Did it work? Steve Rose tracks down a guru who now finds himself back in demand

The round window in the Crafts III building at Arcosanti, the eco-city that Paolo Soleri built in the Arizona desert in the 1970s. Photograph: GE Kidder Smith/Corbis

Wind-bells tinkle and cypresses sway in the breeze. The sun casts sharp shadows across an undulating landscape. There are strange concrete forms everywhere: giant open vaults, painted half-domes with strange crests, an amphitheatre ringed by buildings with giant circular openings, little houses sunk into the hillside. Healthy-looking, vaguely hippy-ish people, young and old, stride about in dusty jeans and T-shirts. Beyond are the scrub-covered hills of the Sonoran desert. This not your typical American settlement. In fact, it's not your typical Earth settlement. For one thing, there are no cars or roads. Everything is connected by winding footpaths. Nor are there shops, billboards, or any other garish commercial intrusion. It looks like the set of a sci-fi movie designed by Le Corbusier. Round the next corner, you might expect to bump into Luke Skywalker, or Socrates, or a troupe of dancers doing Aquarius.

This is Arcosanti, 70 miles from Phoenix, Arizona. It's a curious taste of what an environmentally friendly US town could look like, but probably never will. It was designed by Paolo Soleri, an Italian-born architect, who originally came to Arizona to work for Frank Lloyd Wright, but soon set off on his own idiosyncratic path. Soleri is a genuine visionary architect. In the early 1970s, his designs and fantastical writings made him a big-hitter in architectural circles, up there with other postwar sci-fi modernists such as Buckminster Fuller. Then he all but disappeared, becoming, for the past 30 years, little more than an obscure curiosity. Yet today, as the world wakes up to the grim realities of climate change, peak oil and sustainability, Soleri's path looks less idiosyncratic. In fact, he's now something of a guru: in demand on the lecture circuit and, recently, offering sage advice in Leonardo DiCaprio's "how can we save the world?" documentary The 11th Hour.

Soleri invented "ecotecture" before the word even existed. In the 1960s, he derived a similar term, "arcology", to describe low-impact, environmentally oriented design. But Soleri's arcology went beyond mere architecture. He developed an entire philosophy of civilisation, laid out in his 1969 book, The City in the Image of Man. It is a wondrous tome, full of lucid rhetoric, almost impenetrable diagrams and spectacular drawings of "arcologies": fantasy cities of the future intricately rendered. Rather than inefficient, land-hungry, low-rise, car-dependent cities (like nearby Phoenix), Soleri's arcologies are dense, compact, car-free, and low-energy. Their gigantic structures leave nature unspoilt and readily accessible. Some are hundreds of metres high, designed to accommodate six million people; others are built on top of dams, or form artificial canyons, or float in the open sea.

Four decades on, Soleri is still happy to expound on the state and the fate of the city. He welcomes me to Arcosanti, then gets straight down to business, explaining what he tried to set up here by first rounding on his old mentor Frank Lloyd Wright for glamorising suburbia. This, says Soleri, actually leads to the breakdown of the city, as what he calls "the hermitage" begins: "Instead of people gathering to develop a culture, they want to escape from other people. Individuals believe they can reach a level of self-sufficiency that can isolate them - or their family - in an ideal place. Then they somehow expect the civilisation that has made them to serve them. It's a parasitic kind of life."

In the 1970s, Soleri's vision of an alternative drew hundreds of student volunteers from all over the world to build Arcosanti, a prototype arcology with a projected population of 5,000. They worked for free in the sweltering heat, sleeping outside and learning from the master - who, judging by the photos, was usually to be found in swimming trunks and a short-sleeved shirt, digging alongside them. "It was not a community for community's sake, eating tofu and giving each other back rubs," says Roger Tomalty, who oversaw construction. "It was the opposite of the hippy scene: a community of construction workers. If you were going to be here, you were going to work - harder than you'd ever worked in your life."

In the 1950s, Soleri built a base in Scottsdale, a desert town that has since been engulfed by Phoenix. He still lives there now. Named Cosanti, it was the prototype for Arcosanti: a complex of experimental, sculptural buildings born of low-energy construction methods such as "earthcasting": build a mound of earth, pour a layer of concrete over it, take away the earth and, hey presto, you've got a dome. Curiously, Soleri's main source of income was not architecture but windbells. Soleri wind-bells, cast from ceramic and bronze, still sell well. The windbell money, combined with lecture circuit cash, meant Soleri could buy the land for Arcosanti outright.

"It was very exciting," says Tomalty. "Paolo was central to everything. He was an unbelievably dynamic speaker. Everywhere he went, his energy was obvious. Through word of mouth, a steady stream of people came. We had to send people away in the end. The kitchen couldn't cook more than 1,000 meals a day." Many of these people are still here. Tomalty's wife, Mary, for example, is Soleri's assistant; there's Carri, who does the guided tours; and Sue, who manages the archive, which contains vast scroll paintings by Soleri, one chronicling the intellectual evolution of mankind. It's 170ft long. Here, too, are sketchbooks, masterplans, essays, photos and press cuttings. One clipping is from the Guardian, recording Soleri's 1973 visit to London. "It may all sound impossibly utopian," the reporter writes of his arcological doctrine, "but at least Soleri is having a try."

Unfortunately, Arcosanti doesn't seem to have got much further since. Only 3% of the original design has been built; the rest doesn't look likely to spring out of the desert any time soon. Arcosanti never quite achieved the critical mass it needed. Its population reached a peak of about 200 in the mid-1970s, but today is lower than 60. That 1970s idealism gave way to 1980s "me generation" priorities and people moved on to "proper jobs", Tomalty says. A regular flow of students still passes through, but they treat it more as a five-week work experience than an open-ended lifestyle experiment.

Soleri has slowed as well. Already in his 50s when he started Arcosanti, he is now 89, still fit and articulate, but that once hypnotic voice is now a hushed murmur, barely audible above the desert wind. "The main fault is me," he says when I ask him why Arcosanti has not been completed. "I don't have the gift of proselytising. For years and years, they responded to me like, 'That crazy guy, what is he doing out there?'"

Inevitably, the real reason for Arcosanti's incomplete state is money. Visionary he might be, but Soleri never seems too bothered with finance. Did he really expect to be able to build a city by selling wind-bells? Soleri laughs. "I was driven by emotions. I never sat down and said, 'What am I going to do now?' I was too busy." But, I ask, is it possible to build a utopia without money?

"Uh-oh," says Mary. Soleri mimes a curtain coming down and a bell chiming, as if the interview has ended. I've said the u-word, clearly in breach of house rules. But wouldn't Soleri describe himself as a utopian? "Oh Jesus!" he says, as if affronted that I've repeated the word. "Utopia is a pretty stupid notion. It says if any group anywhere develops some ideal condition, this condition is legitimate. And I say, 'Forget it!' If you are surrounded by all sorts of demeaning or painful conditions, then 'utopia' is just an arrogant notion that has no room for evolution."

But is Soleri guilty of a little arrogance himself? Utopian or not, his vision was never particularly practicable. Rather than addressing the problems of the existing urban realm, Soleri wants to build a new world, to his masterplan. This was always going to be a challenge, especially with limited cash.

The tragedy is that, judging by the buildings completed at Arcosanti, Soleri was a terrific architect. These are mostly bare-faced concrete, but they incorporate wood, murals, tiles and intricate details that lend them a homely, handbuilt quality, like the best of Le Corbusier's later work. They might have taken a long time to build, but they possess a spatial richness and geometric coherence that most modern boxes lack, both inside and out. And they are exemplary in their incorporation of simple, low-tech environmental principles.

Concrete apses are oriented to capture the heat and light of the low winter sun, yet also provide shade when it is at its highest in summer. And the roads, of course, are relegated to the perimeter. Later phases in Arcosanti's design would have called for 25-storey towers, transforming the village-like settlement into a dense city. They wouldn't be difficult to construct. If this was China, you could probably complete Arcosanti in about a year. But what exists there already is rather compelling - a persuasive alternative to current urbanism. In fact, it could represent the kind of sustainable, low-energy lives we are belatedly coming to realise we should have been living all along.

Rather than a "crazy guy" ranting in the wilderness, Soleri has proved to be a voice of reason. Nobody wanted to hear his diagnosis of the ills of US society, but it has been proved right - the car-centric, inefficient, horizontal suburban model has left us in poor shape to cope with climate-change problems. Yet Soleri is sceptical of new-found admirers of his philosophy. "They take a very shallow understanding of it," he says. In Soleri's view, we need to reformulate, rather than simply reform, our strategy for civilisation. His outlook is not hopeful. "Materialism is, by definition, the antithesis of green," he says. "We have this unstoppable, energetic, self-righteous drive that's innate in us, but which has been reoriented by limitless consumption. Per se, it doesn't have anything evil about it. It's a hindrance. But multiply that hindrance by billions, and you've got catastrophe."

Soleri long ago came to terms with the fact that Arcosanti will not be completed in his lifetime. What will happen after his death is up for debate. Some trustees of the Arcosanti Foundation want to see it completed to his original vision; others think it should be opened up to other architects, or even turned into a health spa to generate revenue. Soleri suggests it could be sold to a university or architectural research organisation. Whatever happens, Soleri's ideas could well be of benefit to future architects, if not as a wholesale solution, then at least as a source of inspiration.

Perhaps Soleri was simply too far ahead of his time. "I've put quite a lot of work into this," he says, looking out over his domain. "But there's no point in sitting and moaning".

· This article was amended on Friday August 29 2008 to correct spelling errors in two names.

Been away

There was nothing about Japan to post in the past month because I was on holiday!!!

We went to Malaysia and Australia to get away from the hot sun and find some playmates for Nathan!

A Japanese town goes to the extreme to save on waste

A town in south-eastern Japan has taken radical measures to eliminate all of its rubbish and declared itself a town of zero waste. Residents of Kamikatsu now have to compost all their kitchen scraps while all other rubbish has to be sorted into 34 separate recycling categories. The Katayamas are an ordinary couple in an extraordinary town that's declared war on waste. In Kamikatsu town, all kitchen scraps have to be composted at home. There are no bin collections. It's made families here more conscious to reduce the amount of food they waste. "It's a job," says this woman, "but it becomes part of the routine." Here is the rest of the routine - bringing all non-compostable waste to the Kamitkatsu Zero Waste Centre. The Katayamas and their neighbours have to sort their rubbish into 34 different categories. Yes, 34. Lighters and razors get their own bins. Then obviously, aluminium cans, batteries, styrofoam meat trays - washed, of course. Loo-roll holders, shampoo bottles - washed, bottle tops, can lids - washed - isn't this all a bit much? One of the organisers of the schemes says not.

NATSUKO MATSUOKA, ZERO WASTE CENTRE: When we separate to promote recycling, we separate many types of material - we can get very good stuff. Then we can get much economic value - that's why we separate 34 types.

Everyone here obeys the recycling policy but a recent survey showed that 40% of people don't really like it. That doesn't worry the town authorities. They think politicians everywhere should follow their lead. Anyone with anything resembling a vehicle has to take responsibility for their own waste. There are skips outside for large metal objects - paper mountains inside. The council say it saves them money and it is good for the environment. Is this a weird exception or is it the future for us all? The Mayor of Kamikatsu is urging the international community to follow his town's lead and make their towns zero waste.

Meguro Parasitological Museum

I visited this museum today - read all about it here: Nathan in Tokyo

Toxic Waste Plagues Bhopal

Toxic Waste Plagues Bhopal

Hundreds of tons of waste still languish on the old grounds of the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, nearly a quarter-century after a poison gas leak killed thousands and turned this ancient city into a notorious symbol of industrial disaster. Just beyond the factory wall is a blue-black open pit. Once the repository of chemical sludge from the pesticide plant, it is now a pond where slum children and dogs swim on hot afternoons. It has only heightened health risks for residents.

The old factory grounds, frozen in time, are an overgrown 11-acre forest of corroded tanks and pipes. The toxic remains have yet to be carted away. At least 3,000 people were killed on Dec. 3, 1984, after a tank inside the factory released 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas, killing those who inhaled it while they slept. Thousands more may have died later from the aftereffects, though the exact death toll remains unclear.

A guard on duty in the remains of the Union Carbide plant. No one has examined to what extent, over more than two decades, the toxic remains have seeped into the soil and water, except in desultory checks by a state environmental agency, which turned up pesticide residues in the neighborhood wells far exceeding permissible levels.


Fareeda Bi sitting with her two sons, Nawab, 8, in her lap, and Hassan, 12, in their home in the Arif Nagar slum near the factory. The boys have no muscle control and are barely able to stand. "There are more children like this in the neighborhood," she said, "who cannot walk, who cannot see." To compound the tragedy, there is no way to know to what extent the water is to blame. The government suspended long-term public health studies many years ago.

Me

My life can be divided in 2. In the middle was the most life changing event: getting married. This singular day which I dont give place enough importance for, whisked me away from my old life and though I try to keep in touch with it, has taken me far, far away from it.

I wont go into that precious first part of my life, it was the best 30 years one could ask for. Those were the discovery years, when I discovered all the parts of myself in my home. I think I got stuck.

So when Stephen proposed, I felt deep inside it was right. My parents approved. (I still don't know why?) We got married and he took me away.

We first lived in Bangkok. We were there for 6 months. Good time for me to adjust to not working anymore and adjusting to my new life. It was close enough to home so I kept going back, my grandmother who I was very close to passed away. I was glad I was there and around when it happened but I had moved on. So had she. I am so happy she stayed till then. I became who I am today because of my relationship to her. I shall never be dismissive of old people, I always respect and value them and rather spend time talking to them than anyone else. I will automatically gravitate to older people in a party if I have no friends.

Then we moved to Taiwan, I spent one and a half years there. I had my last fling with nightlife on my own and explored Taipei - its night clubs and shopping to as much as I was interested in.

In August 2001 Stephen's Dad passed away and that took us to Australia. We were there for 7 years. First we lived in Sydney for a few months before Stephen's job took us to Melbourne. We lived in a beautiful warehouse apartment - a dream couple house. I got to know Robert Nowak and his trumpet.

Then a crisis in Deloitte made Stephen make a stand and quit his job. We were in the middle of buying our house in Mallacoota. What should we do? We moved into the house of course. With no job, Stephen decided to help his mother out from Mallacoota. We immersed ourselves in the arts council and all its goings on. We discovered living in a 'rural' town living on a fixed budget but enjoyed it. Mallacoota became my family and my second home. We decided to get Enzo to force us not to move anymore - after all a dog can't move and likes familiarity and stability.

In the last 6 months we lived there, Stephen began working with his brother in Canberra. He expanded his responsibilities and we moved to Canberra. It was a good transition place from a rural town. Close enough to return to Mallacoota regularly and a town big enough with all the ammenities of a city life without the crowds and bustle. I seriously missed traffic lights (though there was only one between our home and my new work place. We decided Enzo was too needy and we got him a companion - Dino. Dino arrived by plane from Bacchus Marsh. I couldnt get over how cute he was in the airport, I was showing him off to all the passengers on our walk to the carpark. He was just THE cutest puppy by ANY standards. He was a tiny quivering puppy in the back seat all the way home. Wound his way into my heart.

I wiggled my toe in my old industry again - I got a job in a consulting company and discovered I could still work with my previous knowledge, the basics were all the same and I learnt more about sustainable heating and cooling. I was so happy and inspired. I was not too thrilled about getting pregnant, who could be cuter/ more loving than Dino? but then Stephen was looking at new jobs and decided to join IBM in Melbourne.

So we moved to Melbourne and thats where we had Nathan. We lived in South Melbourne but my obstetrician who was in the city had to have all his babies in the brand new Mercy hospital in Heidelberg, where Nathan is officially born. South Melbourne is the loveliest of neighbourhoods in Melbourne. Like a small village, we got to know most of our neughbours and parks. Dogs are a great way to make friends.

We loved Melbourne, it was easier to be in Victoria, sharing the same news as in Mallacoota. We still drove back there every 2 months or so. We have NO holiday destinations, just Mallacoota. We decided to buy a house and we found something we both liked in Clifton Hill. More centrally located and near all the schools in Kew. The house was across the road from the largest parkland closest to the city - Yarra Bend Park. We were here for almost 2 years.

Then Stephen got the opportunity to do some work in Japan. He was away a lot, but I didnt miss him as much in the new house. Him being away while I was alone with Nathan all day wasnt fun, but we survived it. I accused him of not getting to know his son! Oh no! So the solution to being together came when he was offered to work in Japan. I cannot say it was a difficult decision to make, it was more difficult getting our friends and family to accept our decision. But moving to Japan was a no brainer - it was the ultimate in expat posting, and we embraced it with 6 hands and 8 paws. Yes, we took both dogs.

And now we've been in Japan for 11 months. I have never been happier. Its a wonderful place to explore. Much more inspiring and envigorating than Australia. After 3 years of