Author Archives: Yoshiko Yoshida

About Yoshiko Yoshida

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A Shadow Over the City

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Today, a new building is under construction somewhere on the streets of New York City. The gradual ascent of entire cranes mounted on incomplete skyscrapers and the inexplicable dismounting of these cranes is enough to bring awe to even the most experienced city-dwellers. Staring at those tall buildings brings to mind one question; how many people can own the space?

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Getting off from Line 6 of the convoluted railway at 51st Street Midtown East, the first things that come into sight is the four surrounding skyscrapers; two imposing buildings situated at 345 Park Avenue and 570 Lexington Avenue, accompanied by the prodigious Grolier Building and The Benjamin Hotel. Walking 5 blocks down reveals the number of skyscrapers on each block to average between 2 and 3, with at least 1 on each block. Every block in Midtown East has skyscrapers or construction proposals, as if it were mandatory to fill the skyline with construction, pushing the limit on just how tall these buildings can get. These excessive constructions, while demonstrating the financial superiority of many corporate businesses, overshadow any pre-existing local businesses and community centers that define the character that is New York City. While economic might is essential for what many refer to as the financial capital of the world, it should not be at the expense of the defining characteristics of the city’s underlying foundation.

One of the symptoms of a commanding corporate presence appears to the city’s apartment tenants as unreasonable rental bills. With increasing demand for housing near work-sites, the city’s rents have remained prohibitively expensive, contributing to its citation on Curbed as the “most expensive city in the world.” “I’m paying 2000 dollars a month for a very small bedroom and I still need to go out for a laundry.” says Akari Tanimoto, a 3rd year resident of an old apartment in Lower West, Manhattan. According to the Manhattan Rental Market Report from MNS, the average rent in Midtown East for one studio is $2744, while the rent for one bedroom is $3843. A second bedroom increases the rent by nearly twice as much, to an astounding $5591. When referring to the high living expenses of these newer housing alternatives, Tanimoto comments, “living alone in New York is such a burden. They’re only for luxurious people. I don’t know what kind of people lives in such tall buildings.”

It seems every skyscraper in New York City aims to be built higher, thinner, and pricier than the one that came before. Land is limited, especially in an island-city like Manhattan. Despite its global influence and fame, it is restricted to be smaller than other such cities. Thus, the city inevitably turned to the construction of towering skyscrapers, faithfully keeping in line with the saying, “The sky is the limit.”

Construction of these impressive buildings have led to local communities suffering a large, literal shadow cast over them. This resulted in the creation of the Community Board Five of the Central Park Sunshine Task Force, tasked to evaluate the influence, and recommend policy changes needed to respond to the rapid progress and development of ultra-luxury condo mega-towers along Central Park South. At a discussion held in the Manhattan Community Board Five, district midtown reports that “super tall towers in Midtown have largely been built as-of-right without any public review.” Those new skyscrapers are shadowing not just local stores, but also one of New York City’s most iconic recreational areas, Central Park.

These shadows are no longer an unexpected manner. Many of these new buildings are located relatively close to Central Park. Moreover, they are coincidentally organized in an arc that extends from the southeast to the southwest corner of the park; that is, approximately along the path of the sun. Though the impact of this construction will vary according to season, it is almost certain that the southern portion of the park will suffer from constant shade; more-so in the future, when this structural monolith extends even further around the park. Seven mega-towers such as ones on 111 West 57th Street, 53 West 53, and 520 Park Avenue are currently being built along the Central Park South corridor; at the same time, five other sites are being developed, with a number of potential soft sites clustered in the same area.

New construction technologies make it possible to build what used to be unreasonably tall infrastructure on relatively small lots. As of now, it seems certain that these new mega-towers will cast significantly longer shadows over Central Park than were ever anticipated by the New York City zoning resolution.

A blockage of sunlight towards Central Park may be catastrophic. It brings concerns over the lack of open-space transparency, lack of air circulation, and a general lack of sunlight. Yet, despite the popularity of these concerns, they represent only a portion of discontent arising from the conflict between financial giants of New York City, and the city’s local communities; a conflict that is comprised of construction safety, tax loopholes, and vulnerability of historic resources.

American Girl

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What is the theme of Ta Nehisi-Coates”s profile?

In this piece, Coate offers a unique perspective on Michelle Obama by providing her background, along with context on her view towards America’s racial stance.

Is there an overarching narrative?

Although the main purpose of the article is to explain Michelle Obama’s dynamic cultural views, it does so by introducing a larger historical context of black cultural views, and it’s dynamic nature as racial integration proceeds.

What surprises Coates about Michelle Obama?

As Coates puts it, “In all my years of watching black public figures,
I’d never heard one recall such an idyllic youth”. Essentially, what surprised
him was the unconventional perspective Obama displayed; relatably offering
the perspective of an average American.

How does Coates contextualize Michelle in the context of his own background growing up in Baltimore?

Coates relates Michelle Obama’s experience to his own childhood by discussing the perspectives they had with relation to “black” as a culture. While Coates experienced his own culture explicitly in comparison to his white peers due to the racial integration in Baltimore, Michelle Obama was surrounded by a uni-racial neighborhood, and only knew of America’s multicultural nature as a concept.

Black and White

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Fox’s story takes on a very personal style, as she tells her grandparents’ story　of a pursuit and struggle for racial equality in the housing market. In Fox’s piece,　the injustice in the Stuyvesant Town community is a matter of race.　The story more recently released by New York Times is told in a more objective voice. Displaying　specific statistics and figures, this piece focuses on the socioeconomic struggle　for fair housing.
Both pieces tell the struggle for, and triumph of, justice in the community.
When combined, these two stories also show the dynamics of the housing
situation of Stuyvesant Town over the years.

Special Rame Only After Midnight

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When the wind is frosty and the body chilled to the bone, we crave foods that can warm us up in the cold weather. But, what’s the most delicious, heartwarming food that we can enjoy on a budget that is projected to barely survive Black Friday? The answer: Ramen.
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A commonplace meal during the wintertime in many Asian countries, in the past few years, there has been an abrupt surge of ramen shops in New York City. Some try to revamp their shops by creating a more genuine, authentic Ramen shop atmosphere. Such atmospheres are characterized by an Asian-style interior that includes, for example, a big fan in the bar counter, or a lantern at the entrance. Others try to recreate, experiment and change the traditional flavor of ramen, just to give a twist to the somewhat monotone flavor of ramen soup. Shinya Shokudo, located at the intersection of 52nd Street and 2nd Avenue, has achieved a significant unique characterization, even amongst its competitors.
Shinya Shokudo literally means “midnight diner” in Japanese; a name that is well suited for a diner that opens its doors between the midnight hours of 12:30am to 4:30am. “Often times, customers call us to inquire about our business hours and ascertain how long we stay open, and they’re quite surprised when I say that we are open until 4:30 am in the morning,” says Ikumi, one of the few servers at Shinya Shokudo.
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Shinya Shokudo is run and managed by the kitchen master, Yoshitaka Nakamura, as well as one of the restaurant’s servers; a double head system. They only rely on the employment of a single dishwasher in the kitchen during Thursdays and Fridays, the peak of the week. “I honestly want to hire one more chef in the kitchen, it’s an arduous and laborious task to cook all by myself, especially during peak season, where people are craving for something to warm them up. But sadly, I can’t afford more workers just for now,” says Nakamura. “I need customers to understand that there is only one chef in the kitchen.” Monday to Saturday, Nakamura stands alone in the kitchen every night.
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Nakamura, 48, grew up in the northernmost area of Japan – Aomori. His father was a sushi chef, and owned his own restaurant. Nakamura initially followed his father’s footsteps and became a sushi chef in the States. However, as he explains upon recalling his 25 years of experience as a sushi chef, “Sushi is an art, and being a sushi chef is very demanding and challenging; too many rules to follow and so many stubborn people to work with. And later I realized I like the moment of talking with customers better than serving sushi.” After some more htought, he adds “I didn’t need to stick with sushi anyway.”
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Towards the back of the store, Shinya Shokudo has a bar, lined with taller table seats. The bar counter is the primary choice of seating among many customers, since they get to see Nakamura’s cooking performance, as well as a chance to talk with him. Despite having stayed in the States for 23 years, Nakamura still struggles with his English, often facing numerous grammatical challenges. However, he seems to give little attention to the complete comprehension of his sentences; and surprisingly, neither do the customers. They just enjoy their midnight conversationunder the influence of some Japanese alcohol. Even chef Nakamura admits, “I hide beer under the kitchen. Drinking is my energy boost.”
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The restaurant’s signature dish, the Paitan Ramen, is $12 and is accompanied by three other ramen dishes: Miso, Spicy and Taiwan, each of which cost $14. They also have a few appetizers like fried chicken, kimchi, and potato salad. Of course, there are also various drinks from soda to wine, Japanese sake, and even tequila. Though Shinya Shokudo operates under its title as a ramen shop, a major component of the midnight diner is its services to the alcohol-loving people. With the large number of bars around the neighborhood, it seems to be a simple, yet brilliant strategy to bring in party-goers after their respective main events with a warm, welcoming bowl of ramen. In particular, between the morning hours of 2am to 3am, workers from the neighborhood’s bars gather in the restaurant to be healed with Nakamura’s special dinner after their long, tiresome work shift. To regular customers – or simply depending on his mood – Nakamura may serve a special curry dinner that does not appear on the menu; “His curry is speechless,” a customer enthused.
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“I don’t own this place. There is another ramen shop in this store at lunch and dinner time.” Nakamura noted. “And this midnight thing is like a trial. If people like it, good. If not, I’ll do something else.” Before Shinya Shokudo opened, Totto Ramen, New York City’s well-known ramen shop had opened their business at the same site. Thanks to this, neither the rent nor the necessary tools for a ramen shop are a big concern for Nakamura; “I’m lucky,” Nakamura says.
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His work style is free, unrestrained, and sometimes, rather impromptu. Nakamura prefers to please customers by his food rather than the procedures that builds up to it. His vibe is what many may call “a hippie feeling”; a 48 years old “hippie”. “I know many people in the city are forced to live outside of Manhattan because of the rent. But it never happened to me! Or rather, I don’t really know about Brooklyn or Queens.” The key to his ability to survive exclusively in this expensive city may somehow lie in his easy-going, adaptive personality.

Lucy Dawind

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Midtown West is a region representative of New York’s Fashion Capital, and is referred to by many by its sobriquet, the “Garment District”. With world-class fashion schools like Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology just a 15 minutes subway ride away, the ubiquity of buttons, ribbons, and fashion stores come as no surprise. As a district that houses such artistic potential, Midtown West is a virtual battleground of fabric stores. A quick Yelp search reveals over 1600 stores in the area. Amongst them, the second Yelp hit, Paron Fabric, is open seven days a week despite what seems to be a wide-spread practice to close on the weekends. The ratings reveal popular support for this store with four and a half stars out of a possible five.

Upon reading the Yelp reviews, the name of a single individual who diligently works at this fabric store popped up; Lucy Dawind. An enthusiastic yelp reviewer discribes her uncanny ability to reply comprehensively to all 100 of their questions pertaining to silk. Harboring mixed feelings between the desire to meet this knowledgeable, presumably amiable individual, and doubts about such an inordinately positive Yelp review, I headed to Paron Fabric. There, I found Dawind sitting in a cozy box on the right-hand side of the entrance door.

Dawind is a sweet 65 year-old woman from Poland, who immigrated to the United States when she was 20. Dawind claims that, while she did not have a say in the matter of her immigration, she had always aspired to move to the states. Perhaps the vision of pursuing the American Dream then and now remains unchanged. Dawind emphasizes her family’s immigration through a permanent visa with a flicker of pride. She adds that everything was better back then; there was less crime, and finding employment was not at all arduous, and purchasing items of value was not as difficult as it is today.

According to Dawind, her career in a fabric store was only an accident; she had neither been studying fashion, nor did she particularly have a strong interest in it. Dawind’s original Fabric store, one that she had devoted 20 years to since 1971, had closed as a result of massive urban development. ”They used to be 40 streets full of fabric, but now it’s only restaurants and hotels. NYC is catering to tours not to fabric”, she says. At the first fabric store, she studied the intricacies of the various fabrics. This required mind-numbing amounts of time devoted to memorizing fabric types, but her persistence paid off. She started working at Paron Fabric, where she has now spent 25 years; “I like working in the Fashion Capital of New York, that’s why I’m here so many years. But I don’t know if it still is.”

Dawind claims that her “Fashion Capital New York” is gradually disappearing. Numerous factories and fabric stores have been decimated, and many have been forced to shut down. “Made in the USA” has become a rarified, expensive logo, and the cloth manufacturing industry has shifted to China and its South East Asian neighbors. Designers began preferring cheaper fabric, and mass manufacturing of fabrics became a cultural norm; something Dawind cannot agree with. “I wish things are what they used to be, but I think that’s impossible.”

With rents rising exponentially, the survival of small stores such as these may be difficult. Even a veteran of the city such as Dawind is forced to face the harsh realities that accompany living in New York; every day, she must rely on public transport to commute from New Jersey.

Dawind says the city of New York is rife with change, and living here is like living in the world of a television drama. She was attracted to surprise, happiness as well as fear and disappointment in this city. Dawind’ favorite fabric is a natural, cool, yet diaphanous cotton, which resembles her very own personality: with its softness. This softness seems to be missing from the city that currently reaps satisfaction from its immersion in business.

E.B. White Here is New York

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  1. What is your impression of the opening line of White’s book: “New York bestows gifts of loneliness and the gifts of privacy.” Do you agree or disagree with White? If so, why? If not, why not? How effective is the opening? What does it accomplish, if anything?

I felt the same way with White: “New York’s bestows gifts of loneliness and the gifts of privacy. Although I’ve been here in New York for only one year now, despite the great number of people, I felt like they are too busy with their own things to care for others. This city gives you so many work but then when you least expected it, you’ll get the feeling of loneliness. And because neighbors live far away from each other, they are not very close to one another. New York offers the gift of privacy. I guess these are cliche’ of living in the city. I think this opening is effective because it whips up the reader’s interests.

  1. How and why does the writer use lists in this book

By using the lists of the names of famous people, streets, places and many others, it works as a great example, as well as it enhances people’s understanding of how different and diverse New York is.