Beautifying Ugly Walls

A recent episode of TV Champion challenged some craftsmen to transform ugly concrete housing boundary walls into eye-pleasing works of art. Below are clips of the walls created by the three finalists:

—————

Entry #1: Dream Flower

Cost: 450,000 yen [about 4,170 U.S. dollars]
Description: Flower designs on the wall & pillars altered to appear as if they were made of stone.

—————

Entry #2: Spring Wind

Cost: 145,000 yen [about 1,340 U.S. dollars]
Description: This wall design is supposed to show cherry blossom pedals fluttering in a spring wind, with the gate pillars meant to be cherry trees.

—————

Entry #3: Dragon & Mt. Fuji

Cost: 360,000 yen [about 3,340 U.S. dollars]
Description: The wall is used a canvas for a painting/sculpture of a dragon flying through the air and some traditional Japanese scenery.

—————

Your favorite wall:

Oops

For a great deal and beautiful walls, then I would choose the dragon one. From far away and close-range (if you have a wide vision), the dragon design looks the best. The others look too plain, especially the petal one (unless it’s just not visible enough on video). Besides, I think the flower one is too expensive for such a plain design. In the end, considering the price and design, the dragon is definitely the best. On the other hand, all the prices are so steep just for walls. I would just buy wood, and hammer them down as a fence, but I’m cheap .
Oops

Actually, I would just buy paint.
http://www.rockinginhakata.com Deas

If you had to do something, it’s no contest. Number 3.
Chiablo

Although #3 is beautiful, it’s very impractical. I give it a month before vandals will have broken off all of the spines.
David

How about not building butt ugly cities in the first place. Japanese residential suburbs can be terrifying. Central Tokyo would look horrible as well if it wasn’t for all the bright lights and neon.

The Overthinker

Alex Kerr called Japanese cities the ugliest in the world, which shows you what an ass he is. They may be chaotic and utilitarian, form-follows-function rather than aesthetics, but there are no streets lined with burned-out cars, no collapsing tenements, no smoking piles of refuse picked over by starving children, no fetid rivulets of sewage running down the middle of narrow mud lanes between shacks thrown up from old packing crates, or any of the many things you will see in genuinely ugly cities. Japanese cities are the ugly of wealth – they are ugly like the billowy thighs of a fat first-world person bloated on pizza, not ugly like a diseased and scabrous third-world person covered in flies.

D-san

Poetic argument.

Beautifying Ugly Walls

Recent Comments

Further Reading

South Korean Government Demands That International Hydrographic Organization Use “East Sea”

Japanese Documentary About Sea Shepherd’s Protest Activities in Taiji (English Subtitles)

Babies Born on March 11th Receive Special Present

Washington Times Freelancer Slams Former Employer, Fails to Ethically Disclose Relationship?

Christopher Johnson Attempts to Silence Criticism of His “Gaijin Gulag” Article (Legal Threats!!!)

Tabloid Reports About Yu Darvish’s Love Life: Kirara Asuka & Miho Koga?

Does K-Pop Group KARA Have Ties to North Korea?

Tokyo Gate Bridge

Sara Errani Admits She Avoided Tennis Tournament in Tokyo: Feared Radiation

Chinese Workers Who Survived March 11th Tsunami Return to Tohoku

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Japan Blogs

Korea Blogs

Linkroll

Other Asia Blogs