WINDOW RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Arriving in Shanghai I was surprised at how noisy it was. This is not a critique: Shanghai is the type of place that if you don’t assert yourself you won’t be listened to, whether at a restaurant or marketplace. Sprawling skyscrapers represent Shanghai’s development as the biggest city in China; their silhouette has become an icon that decorates subway tickets.

Passing through the now-familiar scenes, the space where crowds of people live: A man selling fish that he was sprawled out on the ground, numerous women dancing with great energy in the square, an old man sitting and playing the Erhu, a merchant selling heaps of underwear. The streets are overflowing with the scent of people living their lives.

Here we can eat dinner for about 10 yuan, nearly 200 yen. For me, a guy travelling on the cheap, this is a perfect price. At restaurants you’re not guided to a seat by anyone. You order what you want in a loud voice and push your way through a crowd of people to secure your seat. My first night in Shanghai I slurped noodles next to an old couple. They put their leftovers into a plastic container and brought it home with them.

Though certainly an urban city, the people of Shanghai don’t speak English. It’s interesting, though – even I, who can’t understand Chinese, was able to eat well. I suppose human activities are almost the same everywhere.

Most people are living in these crowded housing complexes. Those complexes used to be called lilong residential buildings: two or three-story tenement style dwellings built in Shanghai from the late 19^th century through the early 20^th century. They are products of concession period when foreigners had designated living quarters; they were born in tandem with Shanghai’s development as a city.

Among those still standing one can occasionally find the so-called Shikumen, semi-Western style Chinese buildings. They are renovated and given new life as touristic attractions. These old low-rise housing developments vary in their building materials and structural compositions; one doesn’t get tired simply staring at them. Such old living arrangements in the middle of an urban city comes off as a rarity to everyone and serves as a source of amusement for many people.

Relatively new housing complexes generally have five or six stories and resemble those found in Japan. Looking up towards the sky I was overcome by a strange feeling while among the monotone buildings. Bars of iron were sprouting from the windows of those buildings.

This is what I want to see. It may be a matter of course for residents, but for me, this is something new. It is an ordinary life that might not be recorded in history. I may look through a new Shanghai from among these bars of iron. Making this discovery, those buildings that just a moment ago seemed all so monotonous suddenly become all the more interesting. I decided to take these iron bars as my guide while walking through Shanghai.