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I love the small scale restaurant / brewery / shop scene (in the small streets with small buildings)

In the building we’re staying in the stairs, landings and elevator are all small - too small for real accessibility - but the layout is very simple

The travel distance is short and the occupant load is very low with 1 unit per floor. I’ll have to go up to the top to see what kind of smoke control system is used.

Bike share system (Though this is the only one we’ve seen so far)

Lots of 10’ to 15’ wide buildings. Steel moment frame. Minimal envelope compared to Vancouver.

All of BC’s population would fit in this photo

A bit taller than the CN tower

Light show

There’s actually a lot of bike share - it’s just more compact / hidden.

5 storey elementary school with ball park / playground on the roof and city park adjacent. Large central daylit stair.

@juliaboyledavidson.bsky.social is every bit as excited about small footprint single stair buildings (or so she tells me)

Lovely meandering ride on the Luup share bike to see the Mineral House

Just a tad larger than Vancouver’s city hall

No, really, this municipal building is massive

Shibuya crossing (early in the day so not too much ped traffic)… but definitely feels like a triumph of shoes over engines. Actually the whole city is like that. Less car traffic than Vancouver.

The cooling system is the size of an apartment building

Too hazy outside for a view of Fuji-san but this is a decent consolation prize

Which reminds me… vancouver could use more walk up gin distilleries using perfume bottles to smell the different botanicals (Let’s fix those uptight zoning and license rules)

So much fun riding the electric share bikes through the quiet winding mesh of residential streets, alleys and roads. I could spend all day just meandering across the city. (Also the built in phone holder is critical for navigating if you want to get somewhere specific)

Fire dept tucked under a large apt building. Medium size trucks. Not in a rush to rescue people from the thousands of single stair buildings nearby.

Forest Bathing takes on more significance when you’re in a place without a lot of distributed greenery. I’d love to see a combo of Tokyo small lot density with more courtyards or street trees.

Bike parking garage! Stairs/ramps are a challenge but the grade is shallow and this has a ramp for rolling downhill, and a small motorized conveyor belt for coming back up.

Micro whisky bars in tiny alleys. 🥃🍻