Part 3-Working at Takano Landscape Planning

There was an earthquake last night, just minor vibrations, apparently an effect of the haiti earthquake. 

My new name here is Daniella-San.

I work in an old school house in the village of Otofuke. The house still functions as a community center so there are always farmers coming in and walking around the office, sometimes with their animals, and on Thursday's the Otofuke band practices in the music room, which makes for a pretty absurd workplace. As well as a music room, the house has a big gym where people play badminton and volleyball sometimes, a kitchen with the world's biggest rice cooker, and the main office which is where the old classrooms were. 

It's very cold here. All the buildings in Hokkaido (north island of Japan) are not insulated and have no central heating, so all heat comes from kerosine space heaters. There are only three in the house, two in the office and one in the kitchen, so if people have to leave the rooms, they usually have to use any other room, or change rooms, they usually run, or at least walk at a very brisk pace. Every 20 minutes of so people have to leave their desks and head to one of the heaters to defrost for a bit. 

Landscape Architecture Rant . . . . . . 

I work with only 4 other people here, the firm has other branches, and I was told more people are needed in the cities. One of the projects that the firm is working on is designing a light festival in a nearby city, all the lanterns are to be constructed out of snow, and we are also designing the interiors, and selecting all the furniture to be used etc. The design process here seems a lot more holistic. It seems that the title of landscape architecture here does not define what projects the professionals can take on, so much as describes the professional's expertise and commitment at connecting people to the landscape and the natural environment. There is a much wider range of what the firm designs, from festivals to parks to whole communities. They also take local material use to a whole new level, trying to use unprocessed stones and other building material, instead of standardized pavers etc. They also believe that to create a space that will be enduring, cherished, and hence taken care of by the users, they must encourage as much democratic participation by the potential users as possible; in the design process as well as utilizing people in the construction of the site.