Japan’s Odd Architecture

Buildings in Japan don`t usually last very long. Houses begin to lose value the moment they are built, and the same generally goes for office blocks, shrines, and government buildings. The Japanese like something new, something bold, and occasionally something a bit wacky.

As a result, the country is a big architectural sandbox, where architects often fuelled by governments subsidies can build whatever the heck they want. Some of the results are ugly, some awesome, but few fated to last much longer than 50 years.

Strange Japan

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Yurakucho International Forum	Kabuki-za, Kyobashi

A big whale-like conference center.	The Kabuki-za is a fancy-pants theater in Ginza for the screening of Kabuki- a highly stylized and traditional (read ‘boring to most people’) form of storied stage performance.

Shizuoka Shimbun Building	Gundam Art Building

The headquarters of the Shizuoka newspaper in Shimbashi, Tokyo, is another Kenzo Tange building- he of Fuji Terebi and the Tocho.	The Gundam building in Shibuya rests on its axled haunches like the ultimate guard-dog, anxiously awaiting the day it will be called into service to leap-frog into battle to protect its city.

The Asahi Flame Building	Tokyo Big Sight

The Asahi ‘Flame’ building on the Asakusa banks of the Sumida river is infamous in Tokyo for its eponymous ‘flame’, a huge golden piece of art juxtaposed atop the obelisk-like black building	Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba is one of the biggest exhibition spaces in Tokyo, featuring two huge halls East and West plus several conference rooms and a 1,100 seater auditorium in the main building

The National Art Center	DoCoMo Tower

The National Art Center in Roppongi is a funky-chic blend of high-tech glass panelling with a utilitarian ethos that denies the standard limitations of space.	The Docomo Tower in Shinjuku soars over the Southern exit / Yoyogi area like a great pink middle finger, thumbing its nose at the graceless cluster-bomb mess of old-modern Shinjuku.

Edo-Tokyo Museum	Waseda Clocktower

The Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku is one of the ugliest and most pointless buildings I’ve yet seen in Tokyo. A giant clunky trapezoid on 4 legs in grey concrete	Waseda University, also affectionately known as ‘So-dai’, is one of the top private universities in Japan. Built in 1882, it has since serviced up such cultural and historical giants as the writer Haruki Murakami.

10 Ginza Office Blocks	10 Ginza Stores

Ginza is the core amygdala in the tightly-twined morass of Tokyo’s brain, a nerve center firing off directional impulses telling people what to wear, how to look, what to buy, and who to be.	Ginza is the bustling beating heart of high class fashion and commerce in Japan, a labyrinthine grid of broad and narrow streets bristling with corporate headquarters, flagship stores, and chic designer boutiques.

13 views of Fuji Terebi	Gundam Statue

Fuji Terebi sits on a partially artificial island in Tokyo Bay called Odaiba, which means ‘cannon mount’ or ‘cannonade’. It was named after a network of 6 defensive cannon-islands that were built across the Bay in 1853	A Gundam robot in front of a nearby train station: Kami Igusa (upper soft reed) in Suginami-ku.