A weekly roundup of EcoSalon’s top stories.

Conscious Dying: The Right To Choose is a sensitive examination of physician-assisted suicide. Libby Lowe writes: “Jack Kevorkian’s recent death brought back a flood of memories for me. He was my grandmother’s hero. While she was admittedly—and quite proudly—a touch twisted, I happen to agree with her and Jack: We should have a choice when it comes to end of life decisions. Growing up with her in my life, it was impossible not to see suicide as an option. Our first conversation about this took place when I was four. She explained to me that it would be up to her, that made sense to me then and it makes sense to me today.”

In Part 4 of our series on The Post-Recession Fashion Industry, we take a look at the new Sewing Circle Rebellion and ask the question: “Did the recession birth new DIY designers tired of being branded with corporate logos?” Certainly in times of economic despair, there will always be a surge in the use of hands to quell the storm of financial uncertainty and to give meaning to otherwise challenging lives, but this new generation is more rebellious – and business-savvy – than ever.

Shelter Editor K. Emily Bond interviews Todd MacAllen and his creative partner at Molo Design, Stephanie Forsythe, about the Nebuta House in Aomori, Japan. In Merging Form And Function, The Nebuta House Captures The Japanese Spirit, Bond gets the Molo partners to discuss “the mercurial nature of the Nebuta House project, its new function as a community cultural space, and what he learned about the Japanese spirit along the way.”

This week EcoSalon Launches Our New Foodspotting Channel to help you navigate your way through the foodie world. As columnist Anna Brones writes: “In need of a place to eat? Use the mobile app to help you track what dishes are close to you and what looks appetizing. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.” To celebrate the official launch of our new EcoSalon Foodspotting channel, we want to hear what local foodie destinations you love. Is it a taco truck, a hole-in-the-wall vegan joint or a wine bar with a local selection of wines and cheeses? We want to know! Submit your own list of Top 5 Locavore Picks from your city and we’ll compile a Readers’ Picks guide with a selection of our favorites. Even better, the person with the most intriguing list will win a Root of the Earth Platter from our sister company, VivaTerra.

From Vegan Women Loving Meat-Eating Men: At the beginning of a relationship, any faux pas is sufficient grounds for termination. Columnist Abigail Wick writes:  “Love isn’t the exclusive domain of romantic partnership. Love is a choice about how you will show up in the world. Love drives my opposition to the death-penalty in America; it governs my decision to ride a bicycle rather than drive a car; and it motivates me to extend equal consideration of interest to animals. I am an animal. I am also an animal who doesn’t eat other animals.”

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Welcome to ねぶたの家 ワ・ラッセ), a museum and center for creative culture in the heart of Aomori.

In 2002, having only studied Japanese architecture in books, Todd MacAllen and his creative partner at Molo Design, Stephanie Forsythe, began what started as yet another residential space in Aomori, Japan and transformed it into a creative community space that goes to the heart of the city, and taps into the very marrow of the nation’s culture.

It was certainly an auspicious start. The pair competed for the project in an international architecture competition that was judged by the legendary Tadao Ando and equally illustrious Jean Nouvel, and won.

The project opened just before the devastating earthquake and Tsunami hit in March 2011 and was subsequently shut down. Nebuta House reopened its doors again a few weeks ago. I spoke with architect Todd MacAllen about the mercurial nature of the Nebuta House project, its new function as a community cultural space, and what he learned about the Japanese spirit along the way.

The Nebuta House started as residential project in 2002. When and why did you and Forsyth change direction?

After we initially started working on the project, the city invited us to assess it again and look at other possibilities. Over time, we realized, housing wasn’t what needed to be looked at as much. We realized there was an opportunity for a more public use of the Nebuta House.

It’s a relatively small city, with fishing and some industry, but not a lot of public space. It’s unique in that there are two really great museums, but they’re more about fine art.

Whereas the Nebuta Festival, wherein gigantic illuminated and animated floats made out of Japanese paper are paraded around the city in early August, is more a celebration of folkloric art.

Seeing the festival for the first time definitely changed things. We experienced it like children, with that kind of open mind and delight. Sometimes the Nebuta [floats] are terrifying and other times amazing. It’s strange and mysterious, and we wanted the Nebuta House to have that same mysterious quality, as well.

The images from the festival are spectacular. The Nebuta floats seem to represent animals, monsters, and demons fighting to the death with, kind of, anime-like human counterparts. It is quite, wow! How does the building fit into all that?

It isn’t necessarily a building. We think of it as a house for the Nebuta. They’re creatures, but they are depicting a story. There are several mythical beings housed in the Nebuta House, but they’re almost the same – one mystical entity. When you’re entering the Nebuta house, you really are entering their dwelling.

Nebuta House opened right before the earthquake and Tsunami, closed for a time, and recently reopened. While Aomori was not directly impacted by the devastation, what has that experience been like for you, of re-launching this project post-recovery?

They closed it to save energy, but it also doubles as a shelter. So they prepared for that, though in the end it wasn’t necessary. From what I experienced, the standards for preparedness and post-disaster clean-ups are quite high.

In Japan, there seems to be a collective understanding that you wouldn’t necessarily expect someone else to come in and clean up for you. The community gets together and does the work without waiting for the government or anyone else to come in and tell them how to do it.

Judging from the before and after clean-up pics that have been making their rounds on the internet, it’s quite remarkable the progress these communities across Japan have made.

And now with the Nebuta House, northern Japan has a new community heart to call home.

Images: courtesy of Molo Design; The Daily Telegraph

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