tokyo 3rd places, magical questions, catching up vs hanging out – curations #2
welcome to the second edition of this once-a-month experiment to curate content around community! (not quite sure what to call this yet, any suggestions?)
with these curations, i'm exploring this question: what new kinds of infrastructure (physical + social) can help humans pause, meaning-make, grow, and connect in transformative ways?
as a reminder, there are two sections:
PRAXIS – some resources that bridge the conceptual and the lived experience of community. a mix of theoretical frameworks, practices, and articles, and vibes, with some of my own thoughts sprinkled in.
before you dive in...
- 💻 open this issue on your web browser (not your phone) when you have a spacious chunk of time to leisurely browse through (i recommend at least 20mins)
- ☕ make yourself a cup of tea or coffee
- 🎵 play this song & let it set the mood while you read:
spaces
a moodboard of places that captivated my attention in some way. (many in tokyo this time!)
craft village nishikoyama
a community hub located in meguro, tokyo. features a collection of independent food stalls and shops housed in shipping containers. they promote craft, sustainability, and community. i've seen they hosts events like the "slow market," showcasing local artisans and organic produce.
shibaura house
a bright, open multipurpose space, designed by architect kazuyo sejima. it feels pretty well woven into the local community of the shibaura area, hosting a mix of cultural and creative events, mostly in japanese. i've been to two events there; the top-floor space is really good for screenings.
nakacho house
a beautifully preserved pre-war japanese home in senju, now run as a cultural salon by oto-machi senju no en. once the residence of a descendant of ishide kamonosuke yoshitane – a key figure in shaping the senju area – it now serves as a gathering space for locals, artists, and curious passersby.
nishi ogikubo
nishiogikubo is one of those rare tokyo neighbourhoods that still feels deeply personal and small-scale. i recently came across nishiogiology, a web-based research project exploring the area's foodways through the lens of livelihoods, livability, and liveliness, and now i’m even more curious to explore. what makes a neighbourhood a "good place" to live, work, and play? nishiogi seems to hold some answers.
the A.I.R. building
this is a building in nihonbashi; six-stories, designed for creative use, with studios, event spaces, and a café on the ground floor. hosts a mix of activities; during the day, it functions as a rental space for photography and work, while in the evenings, it transforms into a gathering spot with film screenings, live music, and even casual games of ping pong. in terms of multipurpose-ness, this is in the ballpark of my dream community space to be a part of in tokyo.
nakano himitsu kichi
randomly found this place this morning in my routine search for cool community spaces – hoping to visit soon! himitsukichi means "secret base". they say they're housed in an old private home where people from different backgrounds can gather and connect. it hosts a multicultural children's cafeteria called tanudon shokudo, along with workshops + other events. maybe we'll host a kizuna event here sometime :)
shibuya city botanical garden
super cool underrated spot run by the local city government. it’s a mix of urban greenery, a café, and an event space on the upper floor, where they host semi-regular events centered on plants and food. a rare pocket of calm in the middle of shibuya’s chaos!
渋三さくら際
a little seasonal activities popup i walked past recently in shibuya (incidentally, after visiting the botanical garden above – they were quite close by!) i like seeing urban sidewalks repurposed in this way for festivals. i think this one was an ikebana for kids typa thing.
merlin's place, NYC
"Merlins place is light on rules! We see ourselves as residents who are in charge of maintaining our space and sharing it with our friends. ...
Today, walk into one of our living rooms at any given moment and you might find people writing poetry, singing at the piano, choreographing light shows, and preparing lesson plans for the next course they're teaching.
Our apartment hosts 5-15 events a week and has become the hub for the ~40 people living at Fractal, and even served as the first classroom for a grassroots school called FractalU (substack) which had more than 200 students enrolled in 25 classes over the past year, and many of those classes were taught right here in our common space."
praxis
theories, practices, and vibes around community.
sobremesa is a tradition deeply rooted in spanish and latin american cultures. hearing from my friends from this region, it seems like a great everyday expression of weaving community.
reel i’m loving
‘stop catching up with friends’
love the shift away from a need to be constantly up to date, and rather meeting people wherever they are at.
book outtake i’m revisiting
this outtake is from this insta post, looking into how community is defined in Tsing’s seminal work mushroom at the end of the world. i love the framing that acts of communal care can be ‘worldmaking’.
questions i’m noting down
Priya Parker has a series of linkedin posts capturing ‘magical questions’ - questions that everyone wants to answer and everyone is interested in hearing others’ answers. i think some of these are great for gatherings of all scales. i’ve been bringing them as checkin questions at group meetings too.
Priya Parker
tweet thread i’m absorbing
we are in great need of flourishing infrastructure.
— michelle huang (@michellehuang42) February 20, 2025
i’ve spent the last few years running quiet experiments in rural japan, trying to understand the variables that most lead to flourishing
some insights along the way:
from michelle, founder of akiya collective in japan. they’re doing some cool stuff out in nagano prefecture w an artist residency that weaves into the local neighbourhood fabric.
the challenge: be the coherence you want to see in the world. the small communal islands of sanity, or pockets of possibility, that ripple out.
community book that's high up on my reading list
Toby Sinclair
from this summary, i feel eager to dive into this one. here are the 7 principles in a nutshell:
Seven Principles for Belonging
Boundary: The line between members and outsiders.
Initiation: The activities that mark a new members
Rituals: The things we do that have meaning.
Temple: A place set aside to find our community.
Stories: What we share that allows others and ourselves to know our values.
Symbols: The things that represent ideas that are important to us.
Inner Rings: A path to growth as we participate.
hidden gem podcast i'm listening to
such a great breakdown of the categories and historical overview of various third places in tokyo.
want to reread
Csaba Okrona
"Here’s the wild thing: In most of these situations, everyone in the room can sense that things have gone off the rails. We can feel the rising tension. We can see the crossed arms and furrowed brows. We can hear the edge creeping into people’s voices.
But hardly anyone ever says it out loud.
We’re all so caught up in our own perspectives and agendas that we forget to take a step back and acknowledge the collective experience happening in the room.
That’s where the simple act of naming what’s happening comes in. It’s like hitting a giant “pause” button on the spiraling negativity."
