Tokyo Metropolitan Government (Tocho)

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Buildings, Shinjuku

Completed in 1991. It has been said that the principal architect, Tange Kenzo, was trying to evoke the Notre Dame cathedral (as with Tokyo Tower, Paris again provides the model). But the twin towers, seen here on the left, resemble more what a present day version of Kafka's castle might look like - impressive to be sure but also cold, bureaucratic, and vaguely sinister. Inside, 13,000 employees toil on behalf of Tokyo's government, all under the notoriously right wing governor Ishihara Shintaro (who is on the threshold of yet another likely reelection in the coming weeks).

Night Streets and Overpasses, Hatsudai

Detail of Prada Building, Omotesando Area

Statues, Zojoji

Statue, Zojoji

Tokyo Tower (2)

The tower has functioned from the beginning as a broadcast tower. But with plans now to build a taller tower in Sumida Ward, to the east (completion 2011), this raison d'etre will evaporate.

Tokyo Tower (1)

Much seems to have been made of the fact that the height of Tokyo Tower, erected in the 1950s when Japan was asserting itself as an international industrial power, exceeds that of the Eiffel Tower by about 30m. It needs to be said, however, that this tower utterly lacks the charm of its Parisian model. One reason is the garish orange. But perhaps more crucial is that while walking under the Eiffel and gazing up at the beautiful form of its immense structure is a true joy, a similar experience in Tokyo is prevented due to the ugly brown box of a building - home to souvenir shops, a wax museum, and other tourist traps - that entirely fills the space under the tower. Nonetheless, the tourists come by busloads and all snap away. One finds oneself, then, struggling a bit to find an interesting way to photograph it.