Small Japanese shops (1/300)

[Viator]

Corner tall building

As an extension to the previously built block of flats I made the corner building, based on sheets by the same author, slightly altered as usuall. It houses six flats and the small snack bar "Shark" on the first two floors (tables on the first floor & kitchen on the second floor). So, while waiting for the opening of the rāmen bar, I invite you for a sushi to the eatery.

[Viator]

The local post office (1)

"It’s been a year that many of us are eager to farewell. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought with it hardship, anxiety and isolation, but it has also helped us appreciate how intrinsically interdependent our lives are, and how much we miss our loved ones. That is why, this year, some people are returning to the waning Japanese tradition of sending new year’s cards, or nengajo (年賀状)."
Kirsty Kawano

In order to preserve this great tradition I had to launch at least two post offices before the Shōgatsu (December, 31st.)

The first of them which I finished is a Tagawa district post office, made from scratch (except the few pre-printed details) after the photo image found in the Internet. The height of the building was preserved while the width was slightly (and the depth significantly) reduced, however I tried to keep the architectural design of the original, including the walls textures & colors, the plinth, the stairs and a ramp for the disabled people. On the backside I made the second ramp for the trucks unloading and in the corner there is an electrical chamber with the separate doors, the electrical box outside and a hvac unit on the rooftop.

The simplified katakana "Te" syllable ("テ") was (and still is) a popular sign of the post offices. Since 2021 "JP" is often placed on the signboards, as the Japan Post once again changed the company structure together with the name (to Japan Post Holdings) and its logotype, but my diorama is meant to show the earlier period so there are none of them. The name of the office was painted with a "zero" gauge brush on the red paper by hand - it gives me much more fun than printing everything on the laser printer. I came up with the name of the Tagawa sub-district (aza / 字) myself (the same as with the name of the city earlier) - it could be a relic from the Edo period when my Nekomura was a small village yet.

I had no time to make one more red bike with a big red box on the rear bicycle rack (for a postman), so for the moment I placed some other generic cyclist next to the mailbox, but I obviously will made at least one postman later.

[Viator]

The local post office (2)

The second building was meant as the old town post office with the old-fasioned mailbox, and this is the mailbox which become a nightmare for me as a paper modeller. I tried few times to make it of the rolled paper tubes but the result was so disgusting that finally I used a 5.5 mm long piece of a toothpick, partially filed in the upper half to the slightly lesser diameter with all the details (a basement, a rectangular box, a round inlet and a semicircular little "hood" over it) made of paper, glued-in, painted red with light gray basement and white signs marked with the brush (acrylic paints).

The building decor and details were partially based on the Kawaramachi post office (Gifu city). The name of the aza district on a signboard means simply the central one, which dates back to the far gone times when the little Edo-styled district was really the most central and the most modern part of Nekomura.

[Philip]

How much larger is this project going to grow, Andrew?

[Viator]

Well, Philip, I am not sure myself... I have many ideas, occupations and hobbies (aside from my job) so I am rather hyperactive, sleeping some five hours a day, but I am anyway lacking of time to do everything I must do and I want to do. If I have enough time, perhaps I will fix all these buildings, cars and figures to the base some 60 cm wide and approximately 3 to 4 m long, but for the moment I am making and collecting loose items only. And, to be honest, I have no place at home to keep so big diorama...

[Don Boose]

I like all of these new buildings, and I especially like the tiny red pillar box.

Your calligraphy is outstanding!

Don

[Viator]

Thank you very much, Don!
The calligraphy was my hobby for the long time , especially connected to the mediaeval historical reenactment, so I have a rather trained hand (see exemplary images 1 to 4).
However when I begun to learn Japanese writing I proved rather not very talented student myself and after half a year of daily exercising still I didn't memorize much more than the kana syllabaries (images 5 & 6). Perhaps it is too late for me to really learn Japanese language at a communicative level. But of course I can learn writing kanji (although not reading) to be able to copy the original Japanese texts (images 7 & 8), the same as I can write, say, Old Church Slavonic (images 9 & 10).

[Don Boose]

This is really interesting. All your calligraphy is beautiful, and I can see the subtle influence of the Latin calligraphy on your kanji.

Thanks for sharing all this.

Don

[Viator]

You're welcome!

[Viator]

Three provincial / suburban buildings

This set of two- and three-storey small shops is a convertion of the set by Kingsway Models, the group of modellers who deal with architecture related to the mid-twentieeth century London Bus Transport. One of their model in 1/150 gauge is the set of the three suburban buildings in poor condition, built in the first half of 20th century, and I made an experiment by adapting their architectural design to the Japanese conditions. I hope the result is Japanese-scented enough and I feel it will harmonize with the camera shop as well as with the future planned bank building and with Driza-Bone and Levi's stores (designed by Takekawa Jun).

The original models are lacking back walls (they are simply open from the rear), so I added these walls to the side houses on the right and left and I made the traditional wooden wall to the middle one, roofed with a tiled roof, suggesting that this was an old building with the front wall replaced with the Western-styled facade somewhere in Taishō or early Shōwa, which was pretty common.

The original signboards were replaced with the floral shop Hanayoshi and the Gaijin Apartment Helper Agency (providing aid with accommodation for the foreigners non speaking Japanese) signboards - both brands and their logotypes are real ones. In the third building I placed the generic video (computer) games shop, adding the multiple commercial posters on the small billboards on the walls and on the one big on the rooftop.

The floral shop has few non-paper elements: the transparent canopy, the flowerpots and the flowers themselves, except the small light green plant to the left which was glued together from the 2.5 mm long paper leaves (making of was a real fun for me!).