Revolving Window / Bringing Garbage to the World
April 16, 2025
Since ancient times, the Japanese have believed that there are spirits called "Tsukumogami" that reside in all things. In the Muromachi-era painting of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, the earth god appears as a monster living in pots and koto, teaching us the importance of taking good care of our belongings.
▼We want to keep our favorite ornaments and similar items with us for a long time. I also didn't want to throw away the shoes I've been wearing for many years, so I asked them to be repaired. Just wearing clean shoes makes you feel comfortable.
▼ "Mottainai" is used when you don't want to waste money. The late environmental activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai advocated for the word to be spread as a global language. Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban, considered the Nobel Prize of the architecture world, turned his attention to paper, a locally available building material that can be used to reduce waste. During the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995, paper tubes were used as partitions in evacuation centers. Ban also designed a separate pavilion with a marine theme at the 2005 Expo in Japan (Osaka-Kansai Expo), which opened on the 13th. The building consists of three interconnected domes of different sizes, made from materials such as bamboo and paper tubes. The spirit of “Mottainai” will once again spread from the Expo site to the world.
