Modern Architecture
The most enduring legacy of the bubble years of the late 1980s is Tokyo's astonishing array of modern architecture . Japan's top postwar architect Tange Kenzo has done more than most to define Tokyo's eclectic style - his monumental Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku has been described as the last great edifice of postmodernism, though some would argue that he has gone one step further with the other-worldly Fuji TV building in Odaiba . The 1964 Olympic's National Yoyogi Stadium and United Nations University also form part of Tange's Tokyo work. Ando Tadao , former boxer, self-taught architect and recipient of the UK Royal Gold Medal for architecture in 1997, also has buildings in Tokyo; the Collezione building, close to Omotesando in Harajuku , is a good example of his liking for rough concrete and bold structural forms. Ando's best work, however, such as Osaka's Church of Light, the Literature Museum in Himeji , and the contemporary art museum, Benesse House, on Nao-shima , can be seen around his hometown of Osaka. Other notable Japanese architects who made their mark in the 1980s are Maki Fumihiko , whose work includes the futuristic Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Sendagaya, the Spiral Building near Omotesando, with its deliberately fragmented facade, and the ambitious Hillside Terrace in ritzy Daikanyama, a complex of homes, offices and shops developed over a 23-year period; Arata Isozaki 's Ochanomizu Square Building, just north of the Imperial Palace, is a good example of how old and new architecture can be successfully combined, and visibly taking its inspiration from traditional Japanese art - in this case, paintings of overlapping mountains fading into the mists - is Rokkaku Kijo 's Tokyo Budokan, the martial arts mecca. Many top foreign architects have used Tokyo as a canvas on which to work out their most extravagant designs: in Asakusa, look for Philippe Starck 's Super Dry Hall, with its enigmatic "golden turd" on the roof; and Sir Norman Foster 's Century Tower at Ochanomizu, which incorporates the vernacular design of the torii , ten of which appear to be piled on top of each other on the building's facade. Light floods into the soaring glass hall of Rafael Vinoly 's Tokyo International Forum in Yurakucho, while Sir Richard Rogers' Kabukicho Building, swathed in a framework of stainless-steel rods, is hidden on a Shinjuku side street. If you want to spend a day checking out some of these buildings, apart from Shinjuku, go out to Odaiba or walk from Sendagaya Station along Gaien-nishi-dori to Aoyama-dori, turn right and continue to the crossing with Omotesando, where you can either continue down to Shibuya or turn right and walk towards Harajuku. Either way, you'll have passed by many of the best examples of modern Tokyo architecture. Also take with you Noriyuki Tajima's fine Tokyo: A Guide to Recent Architecture , an illustrated pocket-sized guidebook.
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