This visual essay provides an overview of a comparative study of visuals in the urban landscapes of Tokyo and London, using Google Street View to make these comparisons. The data were analysed using Visual Content Analysis and colour coding. The findings are that Tokyo has a higher density and diversity of visuals at a wider range of heights. Visual and written communication also appear to be confined to more separately definable spaces with more equal weighting in the use of written and visual modes.
Collier, M. ( 2001) ‘Approaches to Analysis in Visual Anthropology’ , in T. van Leeuwen and C. Jewitt (eds) Handbook of Visual Analysis , pp. 35-61. London: Sage.
2.
Grimshaw, A. ( 2001) The Ethnographer’s Eye: Ways of Seeing in Modern Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3.
Jewitt, C. ( 2002) ‘The Move from Page to Screen: The Multimodal Reshaping of School English’, Visual Communication1(2): 171-95.
4.
Kress, G. ( 1997) Before Writing: Rethinking the Paths to Literacy. London: Routledge.
5.
Kress, G. ( 2003) Literacy in the New Media Age. Oxford : Routledge.
6.
Kress, G. ( 2010) Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. London: Routledge .
7.
Lankshear, C. and Knobel, M. ( 2007) ‘Researching New Literacies: Web 2.0 Practices and Insider Perspectives’, E-Learning4(3).
8.
Pink, S. ( 2001) Doing Visual Ethnography: Images, Media and Representation in Research. London: Sage.
9.
Scollon, R. and Scollon, S.W. ( 2003) Discourses in Place: Language in the Material World. London: Routledge.
10.
The New Media Consortium (2005) A Global Imperative: The Report of the 21st Century Literacy Summit, Adobe. URL (consulted 5 May 2009): http:nmc.org/pdf/Global_Imperative.pdf
11.
Walker, R. and Lewis, R. ( 1998) ‘Media Convergence and Social Research: The Hathaway Project’, in J. Prosser (ed.) Image-Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers, pp. 162-75. London : Falmer Press.
