Tokyo - the city of thousand skyscrapers

Tokyo skyline 

from 33rd floor hotel window

In contrast to Kyoto, Tokyo, a city mostly built-up after the Second World War, is jam-packed with not only humanity but also skyscrapers.  Unlike most major cities in the U.S., the skyscrapers in Tokyo are not concentrated or confined in the area near the city centers, they seem to grow indeterminably into the horizon without end.  Kirk was struck by the faces of commuters on the subway trains which seemed to him to be full of quiet desperation, and the pedestrians on the streets wearing the uniform of the "salarymen," white shirts and black or grey suits. 


We spent an afternoon in Tokyo looking up recent buildings by famous architects.  These are mainly flagship stores of European luxury brands, though unique and interesting, they are somewhat forbidding and unwelcoming, even with porters stationed at the doors to let you in.  Here are some pictures of the facades of some of the buildings; unfortunately, most of them do not allow photographs inside.

Maison Hermes by

Christian Dior

Renzo Piano

Prada Store by 

      

        Herzog & de Meuron

Shopping Mall by Tadao Ando

       

There are, however, two earlier modern buildings which we liked very much, one is the National Museum of Western Art by Le Corbusier, one of the giants of modern architecture, completed in 1959 and the other, the 1999 Gallery of Horyuji Treasures by Yoshio Taniguchi, who is known in the U.S. for his 2004 redesign of MOMA in New York. The former is the first and only building by Le Corbusier which I have seen in person; I was pleasantly surprised to see how well thought out it was, though the gallery space could be improved by adding a couple more feet to his modular human scale.  In contrast, Yoshio Taniquchi created a soaring entrance hall for his building, approached by a concrete walkway suspended over a shallow pool - an understated facade evoking the spirit of a Zen Temple.

National Museum of Western Art

Gallery of Horyuji Treasures

Not all of Tokyo is occupied by nondescript skyscrapers.  The Imperial family manages to carve out a large chunk of Tokyo's premium real estate and preserve it for their palace and pleasure ground surrounded by a moat and large park.  Also, Shin took us to a restaurant located in one of the oldest (100+ year old) buildings rarely seen in Tokyo.  It had formerly a commercial store front and a residence in the back.  The intervention in front of the building is rather interesting - it serves not only to reinforce the structure of the facade, it also sets it off from the buildings around it as if it were behind a museum case, made of steel slats and glass in the vernacular of traditional Japanese buildings.

Imperial Palace

Rare old building in Tokyo

Teacher and student

Facade intervention