Tokyo Hacker space from Alex Brooke on Vimeo.

After Mitch Altman’s talk about Hacker Spaces at Tokyo Barcamp, I for one was pretty inspired to get a new hacker space going here in Tokyo. It turns out that there is already one in the form of 4nchor5 la6 in Shibuya. (What is a hacker space?)

I spoke to some of the Barcampers about why they want to make one and what they want to do with it. 4nchor5 la6 seems to be quite hardware and tech oriented but there is no reason why a hacker space can’t include more diverse projects. From this interview, I think people are interested in combining art and tech. Yes, we can make it work, but can we make it look beautiful?

I think one of the biggest hurdles in people’s mind here in Tokyo is getting affordable space. We tend to think that everything is small, cramped and expensive. However, if one is creative, there are disused properties or cheap places if you look. It’s true that it IS hard but it’s not impossible.

Mitch and friends will be checking out 4nchor5 la6 today to see what they are up to. I’ll try and go along too today and get some info.