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We had another typhoon today.  I got caught just trying to get some groceries down the street.  Takes about 8 minutes to get to one of the better markets in the area.  I ended up returning to my place just to get an umbrella as I noticed the downpour beginning.  Didn't want to take another chance of being drenched.  Even with the umbrella though, my clothes barely made it out.  My shoes and socks were drenched.  I was fortunate not to lose another phone or ipod.  But as I trekked down the street, I kept thinking how horribly equipped Tokyo is in terms of defending its people against natural disasters.

Or at least typhoons, snow, rain, cold, and even the heat.

What I mean by this is that the place is just "open".  Not everywhere, but in the most dense areas, places are still "open."  "Open" to me is when you have a cruddy building taking up a lot of land but not sharing any overhanging for when the place goes to hell.  Then you have these idiot pedestrians just taking up 2-3 spots along the sidewalk and you're bound to knock into them and get even more soaked.

What I hope to see someday is the flippin' place spend some cash for creating more roofings as you walk down the street.  Some places are actually built halfway intelligently like Kitasenju where the two sides of the main street leading towards the train station has a nice overhanging.  Also, Asakusa has this too with their sort of outdoor kind of mall, near the Kaminari Shrine.

If the place doesn't want to spend money on this because perhaps people want to enjoy sunlight, then I suggest creating massive underground tunnels that link the city together.  I admire Toronto for doing something like this; makes it more convenient getting around (I'm assuming) during the winter.  Some parts of Tokyo have this like Ginza, or the Tokyo station.  But they eventually close those sections of the city off and shove people out into the harsh city environment.

I just think that the government here is cheap and that their architects don't really know shit about city planning.  Instead, they build the bare minimum and have ugly, useless architectures that really dull the mind.  Until I went to NYC, I never realized what an ugly city Tokyo is.  It's not ugly in that it's boring, but just the architecture sucks big time after you've lived here.  I don't need the place to be aesthetically pleasing, but at least make it more convenient for pedestrians during harsh seasons.