The Chairs of My Life

Given that it may be a little inappropriate to take so many photos while with co-workers or friends, some of these photos are taken more casually and discretely. I may not have take several angles of a chair but I think one can get an idea from the following photos.

My Workplace: The Chairs at an English “Cafe”

One thing to note is that there are several English Language Cafes in Japan. People pay monthly fees to come in and talk to English speakers to practice their English in a more casual setting.

The main lobby of my workplace has several red chairs that contrast against the bold blue carpet floor. The red swivel chairs are different from the rest of the cafe as they are seats for potential new students signing up or other professional clients. Although the chair color does not differ from that of the chairs used by cafe guests, the rollers on the chairs at front desk make it much easier to move the chairs. On the other hand, chairs used by the cafe guests have 4 wooden legs and the arm rest is not very comfortable. Since lots of the table area are for students that wish to study and focus, a less mobile chair would seem fitting. It would be distracting for some students to see other students swiveling on the swivel chairs. The arm rests here are not necessary because I observed students placing their arms on the table more to write notes or use their laptops. The main lobby has the colors red, blue, white, and grey while the teaching areas have light green, orange, and white as the main colors. Because the colors are so different, the cafe/lobby area gives a more calming ” trendy cafe” ambience while the teaching area gives a more fun, enthusiastic atmosphere. I personally love this contrast.

My Home: There is no “Chair”

Although this could be because I just moved in last week to Japan from America, I currently do not have the traditional standing chair. However, considering my flat is small and I don’t want to clutter the place, I might be comfortable just sitting on my bed or working on the carpet.

Although recent modern houses in Japan do not have the old traditional tatami rooms, I still love the idea of sitting on the ground to eat and socialize.

One izakaya (drinking spots) near my workplace looked like an old home that was renovated into a drinking spot.

Here are some of my coworkers. Usually there are zabuton (cushions for seating) when sitting on ground. The great thing about tatamis in my opinion is the smell of the rice straws that it is made of. Some people think it smells like your grandma’s house and it can either bring out nostalgia and comfort or distaste by its archaicness. I think Japan still very much values sitting together on the group for social settings as, for me personally, I feel like I am more relaxed than if I were to be sitting in a traditional chair with legs.

My Commute: Bullet Trains

Although not common for a regular Japanese person, I frequently travel from Osaka to Kumamoto to see my grandmother once or twice a month. By bullet train, Osaka is around 2.5-3 hours south of Tokyo and Kumamoto is around 3 hours south of Osaka. Unfortunately, I was not able to take several photos of the bullet train chair but I was able to take a photo of the backside of the chairs. In my opinion, the chairs in front of your actual chair are more exciting and useful.

There is a tray that can be unfolded and the chair in front also has a knob on the top right to hang your belongings. Since lots of business men and women ride these bullet trains on the weekdays (although I see more men rather than women), one can comfortable work on these trays. Not included in this photo is the cup holder on the arm rest on the right-hand side. This is nice for when I want to sleep spaciously without the tray in front.

Object that I love: Dretec Stainless Kettle (~$52 on Amazon)

I had recently purchased this kettle as I thought I would need some sort of water boiler in Japan. Since I love brewing coffee, I searched for a coffee kettle on Amazon and saw that this was the most reasonably priced. I love this kettle as it controls the amount of water I’d like to pour out and the boiling time is very fast. The kettle also turns off automatically if the water has reached boiling point. This seemingly ordinary object has several design principles including feedback, affordances, and logical constraints.

After filling the kettle with water and plugging it into the outlet, I attempted to activate/start the kettle by pushing down on the black handle on the bottom right of the picture. As soon as I pushed this handle down, the orange-red light turned on as a feedback to my actions. Sizzling sounds emerged as I turned on the kettle so even if I did not see the light, the feedback of the sound indicates that the water is starting to boil.

Several affordances can be observed such as the handle to hold the kettle as well as the handle to open the lid of the kettle. The handle with a large opening allows holding where a hand can fully grasp it. The lid handle affords pulling as it looks like a knob. The curvature of the knob makes it easier to pinch or grasp the lid handle.

The kettle also displays logical constraints by separating the metal from the black matte material. Logically metal will be hot when heated and it doesn’t make sense for the handles of the kettle to be hot when water must be poured hot. It would be unfortunate if we had to burn our hands every time for hot coffee. Showing the different materials allows its constraints to be shown to make sure only the black areas are to be touched and the metal area to be untouched.

Object that I hate: Kate Spade Handbag (~$170 or $400 for people who are willing to buy retail price)

While seemingly a harmless bag, there are several reasons why I hate this artifact. The leather look and neutral color of it symbolizes some sort of corporate professionalism, an aspect that is jarring from my casual work environment. As I prefer comfortable backpack straps, I find carrying this sort of handbag cumbersome. The handles do indeed afford holding or putting on a hook and although the spaces on the handles are large enough to fit an arm, the straps do put a strain on my shoulders after using it for a while.

Another thing that frustrates me with this bag is that I must first open the handles widely to make sure I can open the zipper to take something out or put something in.The zipper strap affords pulling in a horizontal direction but not until the handles are out of the way! Reaching for something is really difficult with this bag. Even though this bag can easily fit a 13″ MacBook Pro, the inner zipper that “closes” the bag makes it difficult to fit a laptop. I compare it to one of those model ships in bottles where one cannot fit the whole object in one piece unless it is broken down.