K24Social Dive (Japanese)
Rooftop Ward -Rooftop Tour-
TokyoAlps（T.Shukunobe / A.Wake / A.Nakano / H.Hongo / A.Nonaka / S.Katsumata / Y.Kohchi+Rooftop Citizen ）
- Area
- Kanda・Yushima・Ueno・Kuramae
- Period
- 7/10, 11, 24, 25, 8/7, 14, 20, 28, 29 , 9/4, 5
- Hours
- -
- Others
＜Open Call Project SOCIAL DIVE＞
The rooftops of buildings in various parts of Tokyo make up a total area of 4,917 hectares (equivalent to Edogawa Ward!). The majority of them, however, are still unused. “Rooftop Opening” will negotiate with the owners of these rooftops to cultivate them and establish a new 24th ward of Tokyo, “Tokyo Rooftop Ward”, while conducting various art activities. We will create a new habitat for Tokyoites in both the real world and the virtual. Let’s climb the rooftop! Let’s climb Tokyo! Yes, where there is a rooftop, there is a way.
(As of June 2021)
1: Rooftop Opening
2: “Rooftop Radio Gymnastics”Rajioku”
3: Rooftop Opening Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rooftopopening
Current Activities
The event “Breathing Rooftop” was held at the Ginza Boeki Building in the center of Ginza, together with 42 participants. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, we set up distance circles on the rooftop where people could practice social distance, aiming to create a place where people could relax in safety. The project on this day also offered the chance to explore the rooftop as a place to perform music and display people’s “wishes” as wishballoons in an installation. Unfortunately, the wishballoon display was cancelled due to strong winds. Instead, the event contents were hastily changed to “rooftop calligraphy”, in which participants wrote their thoughts while listening to music on the rooftop. As the participants spent time in the unusual space of the rooftop through this event, we could sense the realization of our proposed “Tokyo Rooftop Ward”.
https://tb2020.jp/ongoing/rooftop_case02/
Artist
TokyoAlps（T.Shukunobe / A.Wake / A.Nakano / H.Hongo / A.Nonaka / S.Katsumata / Y.Kohchi+Rooftop Citizen ）
Tokyo Alps began its activities by likening the rooftops of Tokyo to mountains, and then setting out to climb them. It is composed of four members: a cameraman and designer who form the creative side, and an urban developer and international exchange organizer who represent the community development side. While hailing from diverse backgrounds that extend from regional Japan to Tokyo, each explores the rooftops—the sky frontier—as pioneers with their own original sense of the city.
http://tokyoalps.com/
Member
Takayuki Syukunobe
Photographer
Born in 1977 in Iwate Prefecture and raised in Aomori Prefecture. After graduating from Ishinomaki Senshu University, Takayuki Syukunobe became a comedian (sketches include “The day the dog cried meow”), then a salary man, and finally a freelance photographer. He has lived in Tokyo for 20 years, but continues to wonder how to associate with the city. He wishes to discover his own place and new scenery through the Rooftop Opening project. His hobby is going to izakaya (Japanese bars).
Akiko Wake
Art Director, UX Designer, Graphic Designer
Akiko Wake graduated with an MA in Visual Communication Design from the Graduate School of Art and Design at Musashino Art University. She went on to establish the design office “Future’s”. She has engaged in a wide range of branding designs, from the idea of creating concepts and future visions for corporate products and services, to the resulting design. Born and raised in Tokyo, Wake spent her junior and senior high school days in Jinbocho. From that experience, she came to think that the city needs empty, void spaces. As a designer, she works with advertising, handicraft and technology, including AI. She is exploring themes such as community formation and ways of being creative through childcare. In workshops that involve shaping design and encouraging collaborative creation, she is working to develop a “future map” that generates and visualizes future ideas. https://ftr-s.com/
Atsushi Nakano
Neighboring Language (LINGO) Learning ProgramOfficer, International Exchange Program Officer
In a globalized modern society, Atsushi Nakano thinks rooftops have the potential to become a 4th place connecting the diverse inhabitants of the city (as a place that is neither home nor workplace, school, pub nor café, it has a certain degree of freedom from existing social and cultural norms). After working as a Japanese teacher and in Japanese language education administration, he currently works for a foundation that nurtures the development of young people around the world through foreign language education and international exchange. His motto is “playful” and “meaningful” programming. In the Rooftop Opening project, he intends to lead workshops based on dialogue.
Horokazu Hongo
Tourism, Community building
Hirokazu Hongo is a city guide who loves the in-between spaces of the city. He joined Tokyo Alps after time spent working as an official while pursuing community activities in public spaces and waterfronts in his spare time. In Rooftop Opening, he is in charge of greeting local residents in his hometown of Chiyoda City. He is representative of Ochanomizu Sukima University, organizer of Mizbering Kanda Manseibashi, member of Yokohama Mizubeso Association, and representative of the Chiyoda Community Development Platform. He aims to achieve exciting and enjoyable grass roots community development by harnessing the energy of citizens. In recent years, he has experimented with a lifestyle split between two different locations: urban Tokyo and local Shonan. Building bonfires is his favorite activity, through which he hopes to connect people.