Resituating the Place of Living and Non- Living in Contemporary Urban Japan

Life Resituating the Place of Living and Non- Living in Contemporary Urban Japan

Michael Fisch and Erez Golani Solomon 130 Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy Ruriko-in began in2011 and was with spacefor sale.Constructionof public. Butitisprimarilyagraveyard programs andburialservicestothe offers acombinationofcommunity ples inJapantheShinjuku Ruriko-in rail hubintheworld.Likemost tem- the mostcrowded urbancommuter 170 metersfrom Shinjuku Station, behind abusyintersectionmere 1954, inOsaka],Ruriko-inistucked tect Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama [born Designed bytheKyotobasedarchi- ture inanautomatedcinerarium. that fusestechnologyandarchitec - u the Buddhist temple ‘Ruriko-in places for thedeadinJapan through iteration of the current re-design of life. fabric ofexperience within everyday structures ofreligion intoadynamic aged, andtime-wornspiritualinfra- systems, precarious economies of the art automatedstorageandretrieval innovative architecture, state-of-the- neeredweave together ecologiesthat being re-designed withinnovelengi- and memorialization for the dead are design. Practices ofcare, mourning, come subjecttotheceaselesslabor of contemporary Tokyo deathhasbe- tempos oftheliving.In tations, and to keeppacewiththedesires, expec- rialization forare thedead compelled memo- als ofcaring,mourning,and Death maybefor eternitybutritu- Le Corbusier, TheModulor plastic emotion. of inexpressiblespace,theapotheosis faith but I have often known the miracle I havenotexperienced the miracle of ’ hratr Ruriko-in) (hereafter, renge-do,’ hs ril epoe a specific a explores article This 131 byak- within oneminute. ing tothedesignated meetingroom smooth, withthecontainer arriv- the visitor. Itissilent,rapid, and sional graveisentirely hiddenfrom delivery ofthecontainer totheprovi- process involvedintheretrieval and tem for thevisitor. The machinic are noactualwindowsinto thesys- in separate “meeting rooms.” There (not literal windows) that are located customizable gravesofblackstone visiting windows are provisionally The iting windows”(sanpaiguchi). delivered to one of the temples “vis- retrieved from thecolumbariumand robotically is urns) (or urn mation whereby acontainer holdingacre- entrance hall,itinitiatesaprocess at anautomatedconsullocatedinthe the templeholdshisor her ICcard tion center systems. When avisitor to global leader inautomateddistribu- and maintainedby Toyota L&F, a mated systemdesigned,installed, for visitorsbyacutting-edgeauto- containers are stackedandretrieved 7,500 containers—or ‘graves’. The meters), (5/16/10 where cremation urnsare housedin each meters bic charnel houses of eight hundred cu- the other belowground. These are burial vaults,oneaboveground and the core ofthetempleare twolarge and aparkinglotontheeastside. At apartment buildingonthewestside, north andsouthsides,athree-story a square lot between hotels on the an imposingstructure squeezedinto crete chalice-shapedformmakesfor white pigmentedandreinforced con- meters belowground, thetemple’s 26.5 meters above ground and 13.5 completed in April 2014.Rising Not Life ResituatingMaking the the Earth Place Count: of Living From and Living Non-Living Laaboratory in Contemporary to Laboratory Urban Planet Japan 132 Drawing by Nohar Hochberg Life Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy the living and dead andinsodoing the livingand ate anewkind ofintimacybetween Takeyama worksinthisregard tocre- and living in Japan. We showhow “relation-lessness” betweenthedead are perceived asproducing acrisisof teract forces of urbanization that an autonomyofformable tocoun- regulations toward therealization of and space, along with institutional deploys disparateregisters oftime context, weexplore how Takeyama thetics ofmourningandcare. Inthis achieve a uniquespatiotemporal aes- section, first the we explore Takeyama’s attemptto In sections. two egies inthefollowingisdividedinto that remediation. immaterial strategies for realizing ously providing various material and living and the dead while simultane- diating therelationship betweenthe articulates the urgent need for reme- offers aparadoxicalprovocation: It distillation of urbanization,Shinjuku argue that as an architecturally dense Station asmore than coincidence. We and itsproximity with Shinjuku location ofthetempleinShinjuku the deceased.Insodoing,wetreat the tionship, or rather lack thereof, with cultural concerns regarding therela- to resolveworking current socialand of thegrave in urbanJapanwhile ogies, Ruriko-in remediates the place its deploymentofautomatedtechnol- of itsuniquearchitectural form and cus onthemanner in which byvirtue Tokyo.temporary Specifically, fo- we the spaceandtimeoflivingincon- renegotiates theplaceofdeadin ple levels through whichRuriko-in Our explication ofthosestrat- The article explores themulti- 133 compasses strategy, calculation, and objects, time, and space.Logisticsen- domains intermsoftheir relation to tute tworadicallydifferentof kinds aesthetics ofmourning consti- and rary consumer society and theritual principles oflogisticscontempo - gaps, andintervals.Ostensibly, the its architecturally constituted pauses, technology, thelatter isexpressed in art automatedstorageandretrieval through thetemple’s state-of-the- ciety. While the former is articulated in-time contemporary consumer so- while deployinglogisticsfrom just- aesthetics ofmourning ritual and as itproducestiates tensions anovel with showinghowRuriko-innego- global informationeconomy. in-time lifestyles ofacontemporary of urban architecture, and the just- storage andretrieval systems, tropes entangled performance of automated operation that askustoconsider the els butrather analogousschemasof posit, present not antithetical mod- Ruriko-in, we Station and Shinjuku containers housingthenon-living. tomated storageandretrieval of emergent architectures for theau- of life, labor, anddesire mesh with rhythms the with accordance in cars) ies are circulated incontainers(train ecologies of thelivinginwhichbod- we showhowtheinfrastructural Specifically, Station. Shinjuku of ogy the commuter trainnetworktechnol- trieval technology inRuriko-inand between thecontainerre storageand - considers thelogistical correlations ing. The secondpartofour argument into “non-living”partnersoftheliv- transform thestatusofdeceased We are ultimately concerned Not Life Life prediction as it aspires to optimize according to a profit motive the circuits of interaction for the production, consumption, and disposal of a commodity. Fluid mobility is its highest value and sedentariness its antithesis. It demands that storage be minimized and retrieval expedited. The aesthetics and rituals of mourning, by contrast, aspire to produce a different time and space, removed from the urgent economies of the living. Its idioms are reflection, pause, stillness, and meditation. In this paper, we are concerned with how the temple ne- gotiates through its material architectural space the tensions and contradictions Resituating the Place of Living and Non-Living in Contemporary Urban Japan

Photograph by Erez Golani Solomon between the disparate modalities of logistics and mourning. We aim to show that through the temple space, these different modalities become not only en- meshed but also mutually reinforcing in a way that suggests a more complex relationship within society at large.

134 Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy tially leasedrather thanpurchased. the difference, graveplotsare essen- or managedbyatemple.Despite licly managed,privately managed, Graveyards inJapanare either pub- by eachgenerationofdescendants. for cared and maintained financially sumption isthatthegraves willbe band’s household. The underlying as- to enter thefamilygraveoftheir hus- Women whomarryare alsoexpected name purchase surrounding plots. while siblings bearing the family eration entersacentralfamilygrave Typically, theeldestson ofeachgen- grave isfor successivegenerations. are familygraves,meaning thatthe over the lastcentury. developed around gravesinJapan had that finance of structure the and Grave transformedpracticesofcare is more,What theEternalMemorial (nōkotsudō). Ashes” for Hall “Burial in depositedacolumbariumor morial Grave the cremation urn door graveyard,intheEternalMe- a crypt under grave stones in an out- in placed is ventional graves(ohaka) Whereas thecremation urninacon- to theconventionalgraveinJapan. rial Graveprovided analternative in thelate1980s,Eternal Memo- Emerging kuyōbo). rial Grave(eitai as theEternalMemo- what isknown memorial services, Ruriko-in offers its vaults.Intermsofburialand in place a purchase can affiliation, or ever, regardless ofreligious beliefand of BuddhisminJapan. Anyone, how- one ofthelargestandoldestschools Sect, Buddhist Land) (Pure Shinshū Jōdo the to belongs temple Ruriko-in ETERNAL MEMORIAL GRAVE Conventional graves in Japan Conventional gravesinJapan 135 ing ghosts.” ghosts.” ing their descendantsbecome“wander of deceasedwhoare notcared for by ditional Buddhistpractice,thesouls in amassossuary. According totra- the plot.Removedashesare collected remove theashesand re-sell/re-lease to process (long) a begin can agement is notmaintained,graveyardman- nual feesare notpaidandthegrave and rice, water or alcoholfor thedead.Ifan- flowers, placing and ing) volves cleaning(weedingandwash- to performmemorialrites,whichin- order Year)in New and equinox, nal annually during nationalholidays(Obun,ver times three least at mairi) also expectedtovisitthegrave(ohaka- is family The indefinitely. payments family, whichisexpectedtomaintain annual maintenancefeeispaidbythe of revenue for Buddhisttemples. The maintenance feesare amainsource ($270–$2700). where between30,000to300,000yen annual maintenancefeesare any- while dollars) ($27,000–$45,000 yen where between300,0000to500,0000 purchase ofaplotcanrangeany- able financial commitment. The initial chasing agraveinvolvesconsider between thesedifferent types,pur Although thepricefor aplotvaries century basedonthe idea around theturn ofthe that wasestablished itself tem isfollowsaprotocol mourning in Japan, Mark Michael in Japan, mourning nerary traditionsandpractices of ical inquiryintotheevolution offu- In anethnographically driven histor 1 Butoverallthesys- “RELATION-LESSNESS” THE CRISESOF 1 Not Life Such purchases and the deceased(Rowe). uously bydescendants of cially maintainedcontin be cared for andfinan that familygraveswould ------Life Rowe explains the impetus for the Eternal Memorial Grave as an attempt to remediate a crisis of “relation-lessness” or muen that, while beginning the 1950s, became increasingly severe in recent decades.2 The crisis of relation-lessness re- flects a sense of rupture in the traditional relationship between the living and dead. It can be attributed, in part, to the atomizing effects of urbanization but is related as well to other social factors such as the continuously falling birth rate, the nation’s aging population, and new economic pressures on the nuclear family. The result in regard to funerary practices, argues Rowe, have been two- fold, social and financial. Essentially, Japan’s elderly population is being left to die alone, either without descendants, or without family who are financially able and or emotionally committed to maintaining a family grave.3 As Rowe puts it, the elderly are dying without bonds to the living while family graves are being left unvisited and uncared for, leaving the dead to become abandoned (muenbotoke). Although Eternal Memorial Graves were initially marketed for families without male descendants, they became popular in general for peo- ple whose surviving family were unable or unwilling to take on the responsibil- ity caring and paying for a regular grave. At the same time, Eternal Memorial Graves were a way for Buddhist temples to recover a source of revenue. Eter- nal Memorial Graves are considerably cheaper to purchase and maintain than the conventional outdoor grave.4 A place in the burial vault at Ruriko-in costs between 100,0000 to 200,0000 yen ($9,000–$18,000) depending on the location in the vaults, plus a mere 10,000 to 20,000 yen ($90–$180) annually. Exclusive plans offer better positioning in the building for both the deceased and the deceased’s relatives, and costs 500,000 yen ($45,000) plus yearly maintenance fees of 50,000 yen ($450).5 The central idea behind Eternal Memorial Graves, writes Rowe, is that a grave can be maintained and memorialized without descendants. An Eternal Memorial Grave is purchased for a specific period of time, typically between 30 to 50 years. The annual fee can be paid in advance or set up for automatic payment through an account. During that time, the deceased are individually memorialized, meaning their ashes are kept in a separate urn and made available for family and friends who would like to pay respects. When the set period is up, the ashes are moved to a temple mass ossuary where they are combined with ashes from others. Memorialization is still performed annually, however, by a temple monk over the collection of ashes, thus ensuring that the deceased do not become “abandoned dead.” The temple receives no further revenue from this annual memorialization. But it is guaranteed in the custom- Resituating the Place of Living and Non-Living in Contemporary Urban Japan er’s initial contract. There are various forms of Eternal Memorial Graves, from indoor plots, to individual lockers, individual mini alters, and vaults with automated storage and retrieval systems. While Ruriko-in falls under this latter category, its dis- tinctiveness derives, in part, from its architecture and the Shinjuku location. Shinjuku, as we will show below, is part of the problem and solution to the crisis of relation-lessness. In so doing we will highlight the way in which this ambi- guity produces a dynamic and generative tension between the temple’s external

136 Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy different timesanddifferent places. conveys sensibilities borrowed from realizes an autonomyofformthat architectural environment, Ruriko-in around it and whichtypify Tokyo’s the functional,straight-cutstructures ing cutintoitsanterior. At oddswith a vertically elongated oblongopen- chalice, with of amassivestone thing base. The structure resembles some- a narroweasily on pedestal short and lithic mass ofconcrete that rests un - primitive presence,and itisamono- of thebuilding. Projecting a totemic the visitor isaffordedawideview ing providing a relatively open space, landscape. With theadjacentpark- ciation with thesurrounding urban arising inseemingcomplete disasso- convex andconcaveconcrete surface from the confines of the city space; its temple seemstoemergeunexpectedly gerthe than acoupleofminutesand tersection. The journeytakesnolon- in- major first the across right the on Route 414southtoanarrowstreet west exitofthestation,onefollows Shinjuku Station.From thesouthor Ruriko-in islocatedashortwalkfrom technological core. architectural form and its internal aady tce) olcin f texts of collection stacked) hazardly an impressive (if not somewhat hap - before table a at Seated office. Kyoto Takeyama whenwevisited him inhis kind ofspace,asacred space,”said also containanother world,another that couldbepartofthisworld but from itssurroundings.Something rate from theground, andseparate sepa- float, to seem would that thing FORM AND AUTONOMYFORM AND “I wanted to create“I wanted some- 137 6

and hotels,earninganamefor himself designed anumber oftraditional inns line ofhisemployees. a by side either on flanked and stool shirt andthinblacktie,seatedona and in asimpleblacksuit,white sharp confident looking Takeyama, of ayoung these isaphotograph has designedover hiscareer. Amidst tographs of the variousbuildingshe the entrance Takeyamapho- keeps Just inside desks. ing cabinets,and fil- stations, computer bookshelves, vided into smaller workspaces with dio likespacethathasbeensubdi- firm occupies a cavernous design-stu- Station, the Marutamachi Subway of anon-descriptbuildingnear the floor sixth the on Located firm. his of tour a us gave he as English fluent in the late-winter Kyoto cold, he spoke blazer andathickshirttowardoff ring bonepatternedbrown wool pression. Dressed in a modesther sense ofthoughtfulnessin his ex- greying black hair accentuates the Takeyama is a slender man whose tion behindhisdesignofRuriko-in. and inten- account ofthethinking chitects, Takeyama offered a detailed on thelife and workofrenown ar are approximately Eternal MemorialGraves Tokyo, 2017 Manager at Toyota L&F. TakahashiTetsuya, Press, 2011). University ofChicago and Modernity(Chicago: Buddhism, Buddhism temporary Japanese Transformation ofCon- ples, Burial,andthe Bonds oftheDead:Tem - 4 Rowewritesthat 3 Interviewwith 2MarkRowe, Early inhiscareer Takeyama Not Life in Ronchamp. in Ronchamp. of Notre Dame duHaut Le Corbusier’s Chapel plicit, inwaysthatrecall somehow fluidandim- formal associations, not, Ruriko-inexpresses architect intendedor byakurengedo.net/plan/. listed athttps://www. 112 Yen. Seepricesas exchange rateof1$to traditional grave,Rowe. one-eighth thecostofa 6 Whether the the 6 Whether 5 Basedonan

- - Life within Japan’s highly competitive architectural scene. One of the contractors with whom he had worked closely on those projects eventually joined Toyota to head a division of the company working with temples to develop new infrastructure and spaces for graves. When the Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist Sect commis- sioned Toyota to build a temple and columbarium in Shinjuku utilizing Toyota’s automated storage and retrieval technology, the man turned to Takeyama to design the building. Ruriko-in was not Takeyama’s first temple. Several years prior to receiving the commission he designed a smaller Buddhist temple in Asakusa, (Iko-in). In that project Takeyama was specifically asked to produce a semblance in form with the famous Nara Buddhist temple, Tōshōdai-ji with its distinct massive sloping roof. In designing Ruriko-in, however, he was given a free hand. The only restrictions (apart from those imposed by the city) were the space that Toyota required for the container vaults and automated infrastructure, and the relatively small plot of land—a mere 800 square meters. In order to realize his vision of a floating form, emancipated from its ordinary surroundings, Takeyama felt the need for the building to articulate a novel autonomy, in- dependent not only from traditional tropes of temple design that had informed his work in Asakusa, but also autonomy from the forces of hyper urbanization that define Tokyo’s built landscape, generating a seemingly endless urban sprawl of structural repetition marked by the rapid and constant cycle of construction and reconstruction. Takeyama’s desire to counter the forces of urbanization recalls Pier Vittorio Aureli’s argument for an architectural autonomy of form.7 For Aureli, autonomy of form is a means to politics through architecture, where politics is understood through the philosophy of agonism as demanding a constant process of separation and confrontation between parts. Aureli sees architecture as carrying agonism from a conceptual to material plain. As such, it is about producing a sense of radical architectural difference in order to resist the de-polit- icizing trends of urbanization under corporate capitalism, which demand that confrontation be smoothed over in the service of an infinitely expandable economic fluidity. Where capitalist urbanization aspires to a “city without difference” in which spaces of private and public, interior and exterior, old and new are collapsed in a seamless consumer flow, architectural agonism seeks “to re- establish the sense of the city as the site of a political confrontation and re- composition of parts” through buildings that express individual or “absolute” form. Confrontation, in this sense, is less about a kind of dialectic process as Resituating the Place of Living and Non-Living in Contemporary Urban Japan envisioned by thinkers like Marx or Lefebvre. It does not necessarily call for conflict, whether violent or discursive, between positive and negative forces. Rather, it reads more as a Deleuzian inspired call to embrace processes of emer- gence realized in the unscripted interaction among heterogeneous parts. Put differently, confrontation is about engendering the disruption of flows in what has become a perverse (capitalist) “Body without Organs” in order to force the creation of spaces of urban difference capable of eliciting critical thought. As such, it is about engendering affordances for progressive political alternatives

138 Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy no sekai. close athand”—chikakuniarubetsu video callsRuriko-in,“another world or asthe Toyota L&F’s promotional separate from theworldof theliving, the non-livingthatisaccessibletoyet wanted tocreate aspaceandtime for temporary urban Japan, Takeyama between the living and deadin con- ent andfuture. To bridgethisdivide as itwere—in theunfoldingpres- ticipants—non-living companions, memories intoseeminglyactivepar of the dead from mere unchanging engagement transformedtherole lationship withgenerations past. Such rathermaintaining alivingre about - merelyhonoring thedeadbut about Visiting thefamily gravewasnot day routine,” explained Takeyama. part ofone’sjust the gravewas every ways close to the home and visiting the familygravewasal- time when forces of urbanization. “There was a the concernsofeverydayby ter whom he saw asforced out from the livinganddeceased,lat- remediate therelationship between to rather,was goal, His system. talist never intended totakeonthecapi- less politically ambitious. Takeyama tions for Ruriko-inwere somewhat architectural in-between. to capitalismwithinthespacesof hour from every major rail hub—35 commuter trainnetwork, lessthanan at thecenter of Tokyo’s expansive places Ruriko-in a diagramthat ents relationship, thetemplewebsitepres- world of the living.Schematizing this re-situates thedeadinheartof as itsproximityStation to Shinjuku is anessential factor inthis regard Granted, Takeyama’saspira- 8

The location of Ruriko-in 139 - - historical characteristics of form.In disregard thepossibleculturaland generally they However, scale. and area,of an arelation,structure and in accordance with thecalculation insist onthecreation ofastructure terother ofabuilding.In they words, concerning the identityandcharac- codes ratherlegal stipulations than measurable, performance-based tions provide, inthebroadest sense, and culture, thesebuilding regula- vironment over concerns with history the immediatecontextofbuilten- ‘Building Standard’ laws. Privileging part, byJapan’s ‘CityPlanning’ and world.” Insodoingheisassisted,in vey thesenseofalterity of “another an autonomyofformabletocon- ities of thesettinginorder todistill terial and immaterial particular hand,” Takeyama mobilizesthema- station renders thedead,“closeat something.” Station or ontheir waytoamovieor or from shoppingaround Shinjuku whenever theyplease,ontheir wayto and friendscanjuststopbyfor avisit a tour ofthefacility put it, “family the templemanagertook uson who nual ritualintodailyroutine. As Abe, ing andcaringfor thedeadfrom an- transforms theobligationofvisit- the non-livingamere trainrideaway utes from Fuchu Station.Positioning from Yokohama Station,and20min- utes from Tokyo Station, 35 minutes minutes from OmiyaStation,14min- Mass.: MIT Press, 2011) Series (Cambridge, Writing Architecture Absolute Architecture The Possibilityofan 7 Pier VittorioPier Aureli, 7 While proximity toShinjuku Not Life , Toyota L&F. for facilityproduced by the promotional video temple isdescribedin 8 This ishowthe

- Life addition, they cover the function of everything in a building as far as conformity to codes requiring material non-flammability, malleability or durability, and so on, but tend to have little to say regarding the aesthetic value of a building’s ap- pearance. Planning codes such as those that stipulate the relation between building sites and roads, or restrictions on building height, communicate their rules primarily through a received system of metrics. Insofar as these codes directly impact the shape and boundaries of a building, they leave open a certain lati- tude for architectural expression. Thus despite the proclivity among Japanese corporation to fall back on a functional and recursive building style, Japanese cities are liberated from rigid formal and visual restrictions that one finds in other major cities in the world. As a result, Japanese cities offer an affordance for an autonomy of form through the articulation of non-standardized, non-reg- ulated, idiosyncratic, and sometimes exceptional architectural schemes.9 Ruriko-in’s autonomy of form is articulated clearly in the building’s shell, which emerges in the tension between its contextual enclave—a space constituted within the three-dimensional structural requirements dictated by law— and the three-dimensional formal leeway granted to the architect. Its autonomy takes shape, in this regard, via Takeyama’s aesthetic choice to cut, or more ex- actly in the case of Ruriko-in—to curve, the shape of the building into a relation with the surrounding built environment. Accordingly, the building appears to capture a certain space, embedding itself into an urban context while existing within a certain uneasiness or unevenness in relation to the given architectural continuity of its surroundings. This sense of separation is further manifest in the way in which the concrete shell virtually conceals all evidence of all the programs or activities transpiring in the interior. The minimal perforations and openings in the shell convey aesthetic intentions that lure the gaze of the pass- erby while revealing no knowledge of the building’s inside. Insofar as Japan’s building laws provided a certain expressive leeway for autonomy of form, Takeyama drew inspiration as well from disparate and dis- tant places and times in order separate the building from mundane and fre- netic bustle of Shinjuku and create feeling reserve consistent with the sense of “another world.” Passing through the temple’s gate, which is simple chest- high black heavy aluminum structure, one crosses a flat concrete bridge between rectangular shaped black-tiled pools of water. In the simplest sense, the passage over water enacts conventional symbolism of traversing between not only different but incommensurable, worlds. Takeyama accentuates this qual- Resituating the Place of Living and Non-Living in Contemporary Urban Japan ity, albeit in ways not immediately evident to the visitor, by drawing water for the pools from an abandoned well that existed on the property and was revived for the temple’s use. What Takeyma hoped to realize with this well was not just resource self-sufficiency but, moreover, an allusion to pre-modern times when Shinjuku was the last station (or the first depending one’s direction) on the kōshōkaido, the pedestrian road connecting the Tokugawa capital in Edo with Osaka. Blessed with an abundance of good well water, Shinjuku was a place to wash and refresh before entering Edo or before embarking on the long trip

140 Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy scrapers” headded. time beforesky- just was Shinjuku graphic power inthatwater from the he feels.“Maybethere is somegeo- ries other possible potential as well, as Takeyama calledit.Butitcar this mixingof“sacred andprofane,” desire. Access towater allowedfor comfortably withthesatisfactionof where ritualactsofcleansingmixed ter for prostitution andthusaplace of thecity,was alsoacen- Shinjuku to Osaka. As itwasontheoutskirts peal tothehistory ofpre-modern an ap- via specificity spatiotemporal nature ofthetraditionalgraveyard. recalls thedisplacedtranquilsetting does notsayit,suchsilence and calm TakeyamaShinjuku.” Although of is washedfree of thebustlingenergy enter intoasilentcalm and your mind building,” suggests Takeyama, “you from thecity.enteryou “When the silence necessarytodistanceoneself play animportantinproducing the at theentrance doors heavy wooden glass butalsothetiled lobby and The acousticsprovided bythethick aside for amomenttheworldoutside. rest, collectone’sput and thoughts, window offer thevisitor aplace to situated infrontbenches tufted of the Two Mies van der Roheblackleather produce asenseofcalminthevisitor. gentle cascademeantto a silentand is water of flowing the lobby, trance tends thelengthoftemple’s en- through athickglasswindowthatex- up againsta mid-range hotel. Visible ern boundary, wheresnuggly itsits wall thatformsthetemple’s west- concrete grooved fifteen-meter tall a down flowing water with power that While Takeyama delineates a 141 10 e leverages He - the buildingtolast400years. ur ban Tokyo through anaspirationfor defines that reconstruction and thetical totheconstantconstruction Ruriko-in withinatemporalityanti- Shinjuku, healsotriestoembed span’ of reinforced concrete office office buildings inJapanisshort. concrete reinforced of span’ that the‘servicelife’ andaverage‘life- aspiration isremarkable considering water purification the homeof Yodobashi west sideofShinjuku was 83). After theEdoera, (See, Seidensticker 1983, Tokyo’.of ‘The Anus to thearea beingcalled, as fertilizer, whichlead to theMusashinoplains veyance ofhumanexcreta on thepathfor thecon- Ruriko-in islocated)was part ofShinjuku(where the Edoera,western its relation towater. In tories ofShinjukuand course other parallelhis in full. He usestheopportunity historical role, to Tokyo. due tothecity’s ageand standard isenforced where astricter aesthetic ful passagefrom Kyoto, Takeyama ameaning- toward allowing buildings to exist toward allowingbuildingstoexist nomic instabilityencourageamove in demandfor newbuilding,andeco- ments inbuildingmaterials,decline ity toenvironmental issues,improve- hand, current heightenedsensibil- buildings inurbanJapan.Ontheone these numbersandthecurrent livesof 56 years. actually existandisestimatedtobe average number ofyearsabuilding years, whilethelatter termrefers to the MinistryofFinancedirective to50 ciation periodandiscurrently setby mer termrefers tobuilding’s depre- 10 There are of 9 Ruriko-inisfor 13 Opposing forces influence influence forces Opposing Not Life - by The Yomiuriby Shinbun. Online, The JapanNews in WasedaInvestigation’, Determined byFactual Life-Spans Actual and ‘Service LivesofBuilding ally exists. of yearsabuildingactu- to theaveragenumber on theother hand,refers value. Average‘life-span’, and for calculatingasset business taxpurposes, ation for incometaxor for calculatingdepreci It isusuallyreferred to a buildingcanbeused. cate thenumber ofyears Kyoto, 2017 Sei Takeyama,Kiyoshi (See Waley 1991,251). human excreta gathered. facilities, where allthe 13 YukioKomatsu, 12 ‘Servicelife’ indi- 11 Interviewwith 12 The for The 11 Such Such - - - Life longer. On the other hand, the demand for entrepreneurial urbanism, along with the insistence on the accumulation and production of buildings, particularly in compliance with the continual introduction of new earthquake protection regu- lation, encourage shorter building life. Consequently, urban Japan is currently one the world’s most accelerated sites of construction as perpetual re-construction. As a structure intended to last 400 years Ruriko-in figures as an anom- aly among contemporary reinforced concrete buildings. It becomes part of the ‘life span’ of shrines and temples, a much slower, as it were, building typology.14 Takeyams’s claim is, however, more radical if we think of the building’s ‘service life.’ A 400 year ‘service life’ would mean that the building realizes an unprecedented level of resilience on a number of levels. Not only does it claim the capacity to withstand future natural disasters, but also architectural changes imposed by advancements in building regulations, the public’s trust in technological solu- tions, and the impact of the economy on the local real estate market.

CONTAINER LOGIC Thus far we have underscored the correlation between Ruriko-in and Shin- juku by underscoring the way in which the latter exemplifies the crisis of relation-lessness between the living and the dead in Japan while simultaneously providing means for remediating that crisis. On the one hand, as a bustling city center, Shinjuku distills the forces of urbanization driving the crisis and, on the other hand, its specific material and immaterial qualities offer certain affordances that enable Takeyama to develop an autonomy of form that works to overcome the crisis. In the following, we turn away from the matter of form to consider the technological correspondences between Shinjuku and Ruriko-in. In contrast to the way in which the formal qualities of the building set it apart from Shinjuku’s hyper-consumer atmosphere, the technological correspondences between Ruriko-in and nearby Shinjuku Station, we argue, articulate an analogous schema and operational logic. What emerges from these correspondences is a certain intimacy between the living and non-living born of their mutual subjection to similar logistics of contained movement. Ruriko-in does not give in to a post-structuralist urge to reveal its infrastructural interior—a trend that was exemplified in Apple’s decision to wrap the imac G3 in clear plastic so as to allow users a view of its inner technological workings. There are no windows in its interior providing a view of the facility’s technical core, and no visible marker or mention of the novel technological sys- Resituating the Place of Living and Non-Living in Contemporary Urban Japan tem. The technology is entirely concealed from the visitor.15 No sound of its operation even penetrates the temple space. If permitted, however, to glimpse the temple’s advanced core, what the visitor would discover is a technological schema of operation that is not unlike the movement of bodies through Shinjuku Station. On the simplest level, both Shinjuku Station and Ruriko-in converge in their mobilization of the technology and logic of the standardized container for the systematic orga- nization and conveyance of bodies. After all, what are commuter trains if not

142 Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy retrieval system—about whichwe the temple’s automated storageand code, whichismeanttobe read by right sideofthecontainer isabar provided bythetemple.Onlower modate uptothree urns, whichare tically. A single container can accom- screws and sliding two steel flaps ver of theashurnsbyreleasing a setof opened bya priest for the interment From thetop,container canbe visitors performing memorial rites. nological infrastructure, andoneto operator, oneisfor theinternaltech- the temple:onesideisfor thetemple in systems to thevariousactorsand have aparticular function inrelation of therectangular are accessible and plates. Three of thesixside-surfaces formed of two-millimeter thicksteel proximately 28/28/65 centimeters is arectangular boxmeasuringap- of thesystem. the dimensionsinformeveryaspect with allcontainer drivennetworks, ensure greater container capacity. As up duringpeakcommuter hoursto ploiting benchesthatcanbefolded minimum withsometrainlinesex- seating isthuskepttoanabsolute commuter linesthroughout thecity, the designoftraincar. Onmain ways beentheprimaryconcernin in recent decades,capacityhasal- comfort hasbecomeaconsideration tween stations. Although commuter and decelerationofthevehiclebe- industry toallowrapidacceleration ciples borrowed from theaircraft been engineered accordingtoprin- aluminum rectangular boxthathas cifically, the commuter train is a light standardized containers.More spe- The container used in Ruriko-in 143 - - ical systems. from facilities with similar technolog- grave at Ruriko anddistinguishes-in is part of what raises the price of a completely hidden from thevisitor, at thelevel of thetemple machinery ple. Suchattentiontoaesthetics,even accordance withthenameoftem- (lapis lazulior ruri is paintedinatranquilocean-blue tainer at the visitor never seestheactualcon- the grave visiting window. Although ing before ablackstonefacadeof that isvisible to thevisitor stand- plate, notthecontainer itself, is all mation urn—ofthedeceased. This container housesmore thanonecre - bearing thename—or namesifthe opposite endisasmallgraniteplate will saymore below. Finally, onthe worried thatpublished silence, Toyota L&F is its speed,stability, and technology isuniquefor In addition,becausethe integrity ofthesystem. well astheoperational of templepersonnelas concerned for thesafety spoke, thecompanyis sentative withwhomwe to thecompany’s repre- personnel. According ple technology, evenbytem- to thetemple’s internal does notallowaccess reasons, ToyotaL&F in thecity. fuels persistentbuilding cle ofurbanrenewal that prone totheconstantcy- view itprovides isnot ple knowthattheopen property in Tokyo aspeo- the valueofadjacent graveyard tendstoraise along itsjourneys. mobilizing and releasing thevessel the container, slidesallowgripping, 15 For proprietary traditional 14 A Ruriko-in, each container 16 On the bottom part of Not Life Tokyo, 2017. Manager at Toyota L&F. TakahashiTetsuya, ogy performance. con-cerning thetechnol- to companyinformation were alsogivenaccess ing itsoperation. We ogy andafilmconcern- images ofthetechnol- L&F allowedustosee ing thisarticle, Toyota retrieval system.Inwrit- automated storageand mation ofthetemple’s or photographedinfor far haveexcludeddrawn mercial publicationsthus professional andcom- lished [untilthisone]in tions ofRuriko-inpub- architectural representa- best ofour knowledge,all similar systems. To the companies todevelop images willallowother n aaee in Japanese) in 16 Interviewwith - Life The symbolic as well as material fixity of the ground that is part of the conventional grave is absent in this automated container-grave system. The dead, become mobile, no longer bound to a single space in the ground. This raises new problems. Mobility makes stability a paramount concern as the slightest vibration of the container in the course of its conveyance from storage to visiting window when summoned by a visitor threatens to upset the careful symbolic layering of ashes in the urns. Machinic movement must not disturb the indexical relation created to the living body through the layering of ashes from foot to head in individual urns, nor the mapping of a history of ancestral passing through the layering of ashes in family urns from past to present. The deceased, it seems, can endure far lower thresholds for jolts than living bodies in trains, which are regularly jostled during the commute. A similar concern for and potential (corporeal) disorder caused by earthquakes informed the design of Ruriko-in’s cinerarium. Ruriko-in’s storage and delivery system boasts a unique proprietary design that promises infrastructural resilience against the frequent seismic activity that disrupts the daily order of the living in Japan. As the representative from Toyota L&F conveyed to us with much satisfaction, none of the containers were dislodged from their berths in vaults of other facilities operated by Toyota L&F during the major earthquake of March 2011, which occurred a month before the construction of Ruriko-in commenced.

LOGISTICAL ARCHITECTURE Ultimately, Ruriko-in and Shinjuku Station function as nodes within a network, not terminal destinations. Packed into their aluminum containers, To- kyo’s commuters pass through Shinjuku Station, switching lines or exiting the system on the way to work or school. Similarly, Ruriko-in is ultimately only a penultimate station on the journey of the deceased, a place of interim layover, before they must eventually move on to their final resting place. The journeys in each network, moreover, incorporate a transformation for which only the vectors of change and their associated worlds are inverted. Whereas Shinjuku Station is a central junction in the Tokyoite’s mundane and recursive transformation from private to public domains and subsequently from individual into worker, consumer, and or student, Ruriko-in reverses this process, providing a period for individual memorialization before consignment of the ashes to a mass grave.17 Until that final moment of mass-ification, however, the body of the deceased in its transformed ash-state is subject to the container and its cor- Resituating the Place of Living and Non-Living in Contemporary Urban Japan ollary economic logic. The container, writes Marc Levinson, is capitalism’s “high-efficiency transportation machine.”18 These transportations machines, moreover, are the primary vehicles for the “logistical architecture” that Jesse LeCavalier iden- tifies as the foundational infrastructure of contemporary global capitalism.19 Logistical architecture, LeCavalier argues, arises in the marriage of logistical concerns for the “abstract principles of prediction, measurement, and strategy” with concrete building design. While LeCavalier’s work considers logistical

144 Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy value restsentirely its capacity on into anodewithin anetworkwhose transformed from aplaceofstorage ter asthefunctionofbuilding is superseded bythedistribution cen- gistical architecture thewarehouse is ment istheideathatinan era of lo- temporary informationsociety. one-click consumerof con- demand a materialmobilityadequatetothe computer terminal, thus providing tracked, and stacked from a single contents tobeinstantlysummoned, barcode permitsthecontainer andits ject to betreated asinformation, the moment. Allowing the material ob- barcode stands outasa revolutionary plains LeCavalier, theadvent ofthe the historyofcontainer,In ex- its deliverytoconsumers. modity and formation ofrawmaterial into com- consumption byexpeditingthetrans- ating theprocessfrom production to rail, to ship, andtruck, thus acceler erogeneous formsoftransportfrom for frictionlessmovementacross het- transformed capitalismbyallowing vehicles, the container hasradically ity. As modularizedtransportation its imperative for optimized mobil- tecture subject tothecontainer and Logistical architecture makesarchi- storage andretrieval infrastructure. tems animateRuriko-in’s automated time production. Moreover, such sys- technology behind Toyota’s just-in- as theautomateddelivery storage centers throughoutthe worldaswell fulfillment Amazon.com’s for bone the systemshedescribesare theback- tinational super-retailer—Walmart, ample of theUnited States basedmul- architecture mainly through theex- Central toLeCavalier’s argu- 145 - The Box:Howthe 11, no.2(1999). Feminist CulturalStudies Differences: A Journalof of UrbanSubjects,” the Commodification Japanese UrbanRailand “Intimate Alienation: muter James A Fujii, transformation intocom- the individual’s daily train networkmediates in whichthecommuter discussion oftheway ject to an entirelyject toan value matrix. new the container-grave becomes sub- in confinement the ground. Freed from theearth, historical its from tures, Ruriko-in liberates the grave of technologieslogistical architec et’s surface,through itsadaptation ing from therestrictions oftheplan- frame liberatedthemodernbuild- vator, reinforced concrete, and steel the ground. Iftheadventofele- by emancipating the deceased from the living into therealm of thedead peratives ofinformationeconomy architecture from thereal-time im- this economicprinciple of logistical to market.” bringing them forming materials and themselves compact waysoftrans- availability of consumer products, but rather extracted “through the “real estateandrental agreements” as revenue isnolonger contingenton tal isemancipatedfrom theground Under logistical architecture, capital throughout capitalist modernity. the relation betweenlandandcapi- economic logic thathasstructured ture enactsareorganization of the Consequently, logistical architec transfer ofcontainerized materials. and rapid to facilitatethesmooth 18 Marc Levinson, 17 SeeJamesFujii’s 20 Ruriko-intranslates Not Life Press, 2016). University ofMinnesota Fulfillment (Minnesota: and the Architecture of Rule ofLogistics: Walmart Jesse LeCavalier, The Press, 2006),7.Cited in Princeton University Bigger (Princeton,N.J.: and the World Economy Made the World Smaller Shipping Container 20 Ibid. 19 LeCavalier. - - Life Following the social and economic principle of the city high-rise, in which the higher one climbs the more expensive the space, a container berth in the lower (below ground) vault is less expensive than a berth in the upper (above ground) vault. But unlike the high-rise, or even conventional cemetery for that matter, what matters is not the nature and surrounding view of the landscape but rather the guarantee that, when summoned, the correct container will be delivered to a visiting window location in one of the temple’s individual memorial spaces not only with speed but without disturbing the contemplative silence be- fitting a temple. For as the representative of Toyota L&F emphasized, the visitor must not hear the internal operation of the temple infrastructure.21 As with logistical architecture’s distribution center, the barcode affixed to each container-grave plays a critical role. Rendering the grave an information-object, it en- sures not only its timely arrival when summoned and subsequent re-stacking but also that one pays rites at the correct grave. Thus the temple’s customers receive the guarantee with their purchase of a space in the vault that the information contained in the IC card held by surviving family or friends will always pair correctly with the container holding the urn with their ashes.

OPERATION BEYOND CAPACITY Logistical architecture, argues LeCavalier, deploys the science of logistics in order to “exceed the limits of infrastructural systems while simultaneously re- lying on them (and being defined by them).”22 In other words, the logistical architecture that animates the contemporary automated storage and retrieval systems is about realizing operation beyond capacity—a degree of function- ing that surpasses the given infrastructural limits of a system.23 By virtue of this modality of operation beyond capacity, such logistical architectures shares a deep affinity with Tokyo’s commuter train network, which must limit head- way between commuter trains to an absolute minimum while packing in two to three times the maximum capacity in each train car daily in order to accom- modate the city’s commuter population. Nevertheless, the mechanics of operation beyond capacity in the logistical systems described by LeCavalier and Tokyo’s commuter train network could not be more dissimilar. In LeCava- lier’s analysis, distribution centers for companies like Walmart and Amazon. com realize operation beyond capacity by achieving an unprecedented level of hyper-efficiency in the transmission of containers and information across heterogeneous systems of scale distributed in time and space. Moving from trains, Resituating the Place of Living and Non-Living in Contemporary Urban Japan to ships, and then trucks, raw materials and commodities flow in a frictionless circuit from production to consumption propelled by a constant stream data and demand. What LeCavalier depicts is a radically optimized system that has succeeded in eliminating all forms of excess in the way of spatial and tempo- ral gaps. Updating and adapting Taylorism for 21st century systems of sup- ply and demand, logistical architecture becomes thus a tangible instantiation of the modernist dream for hyper rationalization. In Tokyo’s commuter train network, by contrast, operation beyond capacity is realized not by eliminating

146 Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy nacy.” tain systemic“marginofindetermi- cer a of finessing and producing by spatial andtemporalgapsbutrather eryday. Whereas Tokyo’scommuter from the rationalized order of the ev- so astoseparatecare for thedead same timeevokespatiotemporal gaps temple infrastructure, itmustatthe visitor’s seamless interface withthe gistical architecture to ensure the embodies thehyper-rationality oflo- rooms. Ifonsuchoccasions, Ruriko-in of containerstodesignatedmemorial delay inthesummoninganddelivery imum suchthatthere isno perceived must bebrought toanabsolutemin- time for visitorsonthese occasions Equinox, andNew Year. The waiting for thedead—ObonFestival, Vernal in whichJapanesetraditionallycare tor demand during annualholidays modate anticipatedsurgesinvisi- temple mustalsobeabletoaccom- tially restricted conditions,butthe immense capacityunder suchspa- tingent onitsabilitytosupplysuch the temple’s economicmodelcon- aged builtlandscape.Notonlyis densely populatedandtightlyman- tively smalllotintheheartof Tokyo’s able topack7,500gravesintoarela- age andretrieval systemthatitis temple’s advanced Toyota L&F stor Ruriko-in. It is only by virtue of the is fundamentaltothemodalityof sive commuter population. able toaccommodatethecity’s mas- such divergencethatthesystemis perfect order. divergence from an idealized and involves thescriptingofamanaged in Tokyo’s commuter trainnetwork Operation beyond capacity Operation beyondcapacity 24 Operationbeyondcapacity 25 Itisonlybyenabling 147 - - Gallery, allow natural light to flood flood to light natural allow Gallery, furbished Canova Museum and Cast referencing thePantheonandre- adja- two cent openingsintheceiling,eagerly Here, vault. upper-level which sitsjustabovethebuilding’s ous andspeciousmeditationroom, culminates inthetemple’s cavern- Finally, this tactic of designed pauses gesturing handofstatueBuddha. in thetempleshelltoilluminate which arayoflightentersanaperture performance for thevernalequinoxin the celestial order, choreographing a hall where Takeyama incorporates It issimilarlymanifestintheconcert water. ofdripping sound the plifies building’s spiralstaircase, whicham- temple interior, mostnotablyinthe strategy iscontinueddeeper inthe tween thelivinganddead. This der toremediate therelationship be- through anautonomyofforminor forts tocounter forces ofurbanization take shapethrough Takeyama’s ef- sign. As discussedearlier, suchpauses ties that Takeyama realizes inhisde- stillness, andalternativetemporali- the everydayviaaestheticpauses, back against the rationalized order of its regular order, Ruriko-inpushes tion ofinformallyscripteddelaysinto rationalization through itsincorpora- train networkchallengesprinciplesof Commuter Train Network. Machine: Tokyo’s Anthropology ofthe system. mit peopleaccesstothe why theydonotper ity andpartofthereason L&F’s trademarkqual - the machineryis Toyota and rapidoperationof silent Interview: The 23 MichaelFisch, 22 LeCavalier. 21 Takahashi - Not Life ology oftheMachine Ontario, 1980). of WesternUniversity Objects (London,Ontario: of ExistenceTechnical Simondon, Simondon. SeeGilbert as borrowed from Gilbert Margin ofIndeterminacy 2018. Press, ForthcomingJune University ofChicago 25 Fisch,Anthrop- 24 Fisch,noteon On the Mode On theMode . - Life the monumental textured concrete wall, refined polished wood surfaces, and beckoning black cushions.

IN CLOSING As Japan faces the challenges of low birth rate and aging population, the focus of its industries and services is shifting from managing life and growth to ac- commodating the dead and dying postwar baby boomer generation. As with every historical shift, this transformation is a transition in which existing cultural practices and design concepts are being re-conceptualized and refashioned in accordance not only with the new demands but also novel technological systems. Ruriko-in is operates within this context of cultural and technological transition. Via the architectural dialogue it establishes with its milieu and its adoption of advanced automated systems it remediates the place of and relationship with the deceased for the living within Tokyo. In so doing if forges a novel set of practices and conventions within the city’s architecture, economy, and culture that resist—in part—forces of urbanization while working in a seemingly contradictory manner to subject care for the deceased to the just- in-time logic of contemporary consumer culture. Resituating the Place of Living and Non-Living in Contemporary Urban Japan

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