Architecture

Tokyo’s awesome built environment looks part Legoland, part sci-fi video game backdrop and part heaving neon anarchy. Disasters and lax planning laws have obliterated most heritage buildings and modern ones are scrapped and rebuilt every 20 years or so, giving the cityscape an inspired heterogeneous character similar to an immense Escher print. Unlike Kyoto, Tokyo evolved concentrically around Edo Castle, and its medieval design has a strong labyrinthine dimension. The resulting cityscape is a fantastic mishmash of impermanent structures grafted onto ancient patterns, so old and new are always right before your eyes.

Tokyo’s oldest buildings

Tōshō-gu (1651)

Bank of Japan (1896)

Kyū Iwasaki-tei (1896)

Akasaka Palace (1909)

Tokyo Station (1914)

Harajuku Station (1924)

National Diet Building (1936)

Foreign Influences

Until the end of the Edo period, the city’s houses and shops were almost entirely constructed of wood, paper and tile, and early photos show a remarkable visual harmony in the old skyline. Japan first opened its doors to Western architecture with the Meiji Restoration (1868). Japanese architects immediately responded to these new influences, but some 20 years later, a nationalistic push against the influence of the West saw a resurgence in the popularity of traditional Japanese building styles.

This ambivalence towards Western architecture continued until after WWI, when foreign architects, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, came to build the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo (since demolished for safety reasons, although the facade can be seen at Meiji Mura, a culture-history park near Nagoya, two hours from Tokyo on the bullet train). Wright introduced the International Style, characterised by sleek lines, cubic forms and materials such as glass, steel and brick. Other pre-WWII monoliths still stand in Marunouchi and Yūrakuchō opposite the east side of Hibiya Park; American bombers spared them and they were used for postwar command facilities.

After WWII the aggressively sculptural stone and concrete work of French architect Le Corbusier exerted strong influence on Japanese architects, and by the mid-1960s Japanese architects were beginning to attract attention on the world stage for their unique style.

Early Style Icons

The best known of Japan’s 20th-century builders was Tange Kenzō (1913–2005). The influence of Le Corbusier combined with traditional Japanese forms can be seen in Tange’s buildings, including the National Gymnasium (1964; Click here ) in Yoyogi-kōen and Sōgetsu Kaikan (1977; Click here ). His skyscraping Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices (1991; Click here ) was modelled after the great European cathedrals – look up from the plaza below and see if it doesn’t remind you of Notre Dame in Paris. Also look out for the Fuji Television Japan Broadcast Centre (1996; Click here ) in Odaiba; its latticelike frame suspends a giant orb that looms like the Death Star over Tokyo Bay.

Temple or Shrine?

They may seem the same, but Buddhist temples and Shintō shrines are two different beasts. The quickest way to distinguish them is by checking their entrances. The main entrance of a shrine is a torii (gate), usually composed of two upright pillars, joined at the top by two horizontal crossbars, the upper of which is normally slightly curved. Torii are often painted a bright vermilion. In contrast, the mon (main entrance gate) of a temple is often a much more substantial affair, constructed of several pillars or casements, joined at the top by a multitiered roof. Temple gates often contain guardian figures, usually Niō (deva kings). Keep in mind, though, that shrines and temples sometimes share the same precincts (often a small shrine can be found on temple grounds), and it is not always easy to tell where one begins and the other ends. This reflects the flexible attitude Japanese people often take toward religion.

In the 1960s architects such as Shinohara Kazuo, Kurokawa Kishō, Maki Fumihiko and Kikutake Kiyonori began a movement known as Metabolism, which promoted flexible spaces and functions at the expense of fixed forms in building. Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower (1972; 16-10 Ginza, Chūō-ku; Ōedo Line to Tsukijishijō) is a seminal work, designed as pods that could be removed whole from a central core and replaced elsewhere. His last great work, the National Art Center in Roppongi (2006; Click here ), weaves undulating vertical forms into a strikingly latticed, organic structure.

When the 2011 earthquake struck, the Tokyo Sky Tree suffered almost no damage. At its centre is ancient construction technology from Japanese pagodas: a shimbashira column of reinforced concrete that is structurally separate from the exterior truss. It acts as a counterweight when the tower sways, cutting vibrations by 50%.

Shinohara finally came to design in a style he called Modern Next, incorporating both modern and postmodern design ideas combined with Japanese influences. This style can be seen in his Centennial Hall (1987) at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, an elegant and uplifting synthesis of clashing forms in shiny metal cladding. Maki, the master of minimalism, pursued design in a modernist style while still emphasising elements of nature – such as the roof of his Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (1990; Click here ), which takes on the form of a sleek metal insect. Another Maki design, the Spiral Building (1985; Click here ) is a favourite with Tokyo residents for its user-friendly design, gallery space, cafe and shops.

Isozaki Arata, who originally worked under Tange, also promoted the Metabolist style before becoming interested in geometry and postmodernism. His work includes the Cultural Centre (1990) in Mito, about an hour from Tokyo, which contains a striking geometric, snakelike tower clad in different metals, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Kikutake, meanwhile, went on to design the Edo-Tokyo Museum (1992; Click here ). This enormous structure encompasses almost 50,000 sq metres of built space and reaches 62.2m (the height of Edo Castle) at its peak.

Another Tokyo architect to break into the international scene recently is Taniguchi Yoshio. He had some important commissions in Japan – including the Gallery of Hōryū-ji Treasures (1999; Click here ) at Tokyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan (Tokyo National Museum) – but his first overseas project was as big as they get: the 2004 renovation and expansion of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

Next Generation Builders

In the 1980s a second generation of Japanese architects began to gain recognition within the international architecture scene, including Itō Toyō, Hasegawa Itsuko and Andō Tadao. This younger group has continued to explore both modernism and postmodernism, while incorporating the renewed interest in Japan’s architectural heritage. One of Ito’s most striking recent designs, built in 2004, TOD’s Omote-sandō Building ( Offline map ; 5-1-15 Jingūmae, Shibuya-ku) looks as if it was wrapped in surgical tape. Andō’s architecture utilises materials such as concrete to create strong geometric patterns that have so regularly appeared in Japan’s traditional architecture. Two of his landmarks are around Omote-sandō: Collezione (6-1-3 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku) and Omote-sandō Hills ( Click here 4-12 Jingūmae, Shibuya-ku). See also Click here .

Contemporary Buildings

Asahi Flame (1989; ) Famously capped by a representation of a golden flame come to be known as the ‘golden turd’, Philippe Starck’s late Bubble-Era design is one of Tokyo’s most recognisable modern structures.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices (1991; Click here ) Tange Kenzō’s city hall has both heft and airiness; great, free observatories mean it’s popular, too.

Fuji Television Japan Broadcast Center (1994; Click here ) The signature building of Odaiba; a fantasy in geometry.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (1995; Click here ) Yanagisawa Takahiko’s wild design feels like an experiment in outrageous geometry. Steel and concrete blend harmoniously into the surrounding urban park.

Tokyo International Forum (1996; Click here ) This wonder of glass in Yūrakuchō looks like the hull of a ship.

Prada Aoyama Building (2003; Click here ) Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron’s creation is a marvel of white-on-white interiors, encased in a network of bubbled glass.

Roppongi Hills (2003; Click here ) Jon Jerde created a phenomenon of East meets West, ancient meets future and stark beauty meets crass commercialism.

National Art Center, Tokyo (2006; Click here ) Kurokawa Kishō’s last great work is an undulating meshwork embracing seven large exhibition halls unsupported by columns.

Tokyo Sky Tree (2012; Click here ) This 634m-tall broadcasting tower is the world’s tallest tower. Views are especially spectacular at sunset and in winter.

Across the street from Omote-sandō Hills is the new Christian Dior store (5-9-11 Jingūmae, Shibuya-ku) by a young protégée of Ito’s, Sejima Kazuyo, together with her partner Nishizawa Ryūe in the firm SANAA. They and others like them are quietly becoming the next generation of great Japanese architects; projects include museums in Spain, in New York and in Toledo, Ohio.

Sejima and Nishizawa picked up the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize for 2010. Judges praised their design simplicity, saying, ‘SANAA’s architecture stands in direct contrast with the bombastic.’

Tokyo’s latest architectural triumph is of course the Tokyo Sky Tree ( Click here ), 634m high and the tallest tower in the world. Tokyoites from miles around watched it grow taller and taller until it opened with great fanfare in May 2012. Built by Ōbayashi Corporation, it’s now a new landmark, tourist magnet and source of pride for a city and nation battered by the 2011 earthquake and tsunamis.