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A 390-meter-high (1,279 feet) skyscraper inspired by a flaming torch is set to become Japan's tallest building when it opens in 2027.
Standing above a new plant-filled public plaza in Tokyo, the tower will also feature a soaring observation area from which visitors can enjoy views over the capital and nearby Mount Fuji.
— CNN
In a recent set of Instagram posts, Sou Fujimoto revealed that his team was designing the top section of Japan's future tallest skyscraper, dubbed Torch Tower. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sou Fujimoto (@sou_fujimoto) View full entry
Universal Studios Japan plans to open its $580 million Nintendo attraction on Feb. 4, finally debuting a long-delayed effort to introduce Mario and other beloved characters to real-world theme park visitors.
Super Nintendo World, built on the existing Universal Studios Japan site, is envisioned as a life-sized replica of Nintendo Co.’s most popular games with rides, shops and walk-through activities.
— Bloomberg
Bloomberg reports that a Mario Kart ride inside a recreation of Bowser's Castle would be one of Super Nintendo World's first attractions. Image courtesy of Nintendo. The ambitious half-billion dollar theme park was originally scheduled to open last summer, but the global coronavirus outbreak... View full entry
Mitsui Fudosan and Takenaka Corporation are planning to build a 17-story wood-frame office tower in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district. With a proposed height of 70 meters, this would be the tallest wooden building in Japan. — Japan Property Central
Related: A much taller, 70-story wood-framed skyscraper was proposed by Sumitomo Forestry and Nikken Sekkei in 2018 to be built in Tokyo's Marunouchi business district by the year 2041. View full entry
THE TOKYO TOILET, an initiative launched by the non-profit The Nippon Foundation to create save, clean, and appealing public restrooms throughout Tokyo's Shibuya ward, just completed its latest facility: Jingu-Dori Park, designed by Pritzker Prize laureate Tadao Ando, features a simple, functional... View full entry
Noteworthy Japanese architects, and even some Pritzker Prize laureates, are among the creators of 17 innovative public restroom designs throughout the bustling Shibuya area of Tokyo. Launched by the non-profit The Nippon Foundation, THE TOKYO TOILET project hopes to create save, clean, and... View full entry
The coronavirus pandemic has forced the Olympics’s first postponement: Tokyo 2020, its name unchanged, will now take place in July 2021 if it takes place at all. Yet all around the Japanese capital is the legacy of another Olympics: the 1964 Summer Games, which crowned Tokyo’s 20-year transformation from a firebombed ruin to an ultramodern megalopolis. — The New York Times
NYT art critic Jason Farago takes a look back at the now iconic architectural and visual design — and its transformative power — of the 1964 Olympic Summer Games in the Japanese capital, 19 years after WWII had ended. "Those first Tokyo Olympics served as a debutante ball for... View full entry
Futuristic megacities and out-of-this-world cityscapes created for Japanese animated films have influenced video games, films, as well as architects and designers. Similar to the work of Syd Mead and his highly influential artwork, Japanese anime has developed a special relationship with how... View full entry
Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told USA TODAY Sports Monday afternoon that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are going to be postponed, likely to 2021, with the details to be worked out in the next four weeks. [...]
“It will come in stages,” he said. “We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense.”
— USA Today
While the IOC has not responded directly to veteran member Dick Pound's statement from today, the Committee did signal its commitment to scenario-planning for "changes to the start date of the Games" yesterday amid new outbreaks of COVID-19 in IOC member countries. This development comes only days... View full entry
Construction of all new permanent venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics is now complete, organizers said Friday, as preparations continue despite worries over the new coronavirus outbreak.
The announcement comes as the International Olympic Committee insisted this week that a potential cancellation or postponement of the Games due to the virus was "not mentioned" at a meeting of their Executive Board.
— Japan Today
According to Japan Today, the last venue to be completed was the Tokyo Aquatics Center for swimming, diving, and artistic swimming. It will seat 15,000 fans for the Olympic and Paralympic games. "The main pool features a movable wall allowing the 50-meter facility to be converted into two... View full entry
In a sense, Fujimoto’s is the conceptual art of contemporary architecture, born out of a relentless desire to interrogate, in building after building, variations on the same set of ideas. To spend time with him is to dwell in a discursive world constructed entirely of tensely opposing categories — inside and outside, individual and society, private and public, the natural world and the urban environment — out of which emerges this serene, unruffled but somehow dynamic architecture. — T Magazine
Writing in The New York Times' T Magazine, Nikil Saval takes an indepth and nuanced look at the work and trajectory of Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto. In the thought-provoking profile, Saval works to uncover and convey the dualities that drive Fujimoto's design work, including "Fujimoto’s... View full entry
Ace Hotel Kyoto is getting ready to welcome its first guests, and just in time for the high-travel season for the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer. The boutique hotel chain collaborated with Kengo Kuma and Commune Design for the 213-room hotel, which is part new-build and part historic structure... View full entry
Overlooking vast rice fields, scattered farmhouses, and mountains, sits a quaint wooden residence designed by Japan-based Motoki Ishikawa Architect & Associates Inc.. Located in Yokote, Japan, the design challenge came in addressing the area's dynamic climate where long winters invite heavy... View full entry
Super Nintendo World, the Mario-themed expansion to Universal Studios, is shaping up to be one of the most interesting and tech-infused theme park attractions to date.
The park, launching ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of Universal Studios Japan in the city of Osaka, will feature wearable wrist bands called “Power Up Bands” that will sync with a smartphone app and track digital activities while you walk around
— The Verge
After breaking ground on its ambitious high-tech theme park, Super Nintendo World, in 2017, Universal Studios Japan unveiled more details this week about the anticipated destination slated to open in Osaka this summer. "A life-size, living video game" -- Thierry Coup shows us the new app used to... View full entry
BIG has drawn up the masterplan for the “Toyota Woven City”, which will transform a 175-acre former factory site in the city of Susono in Shizuoka into a new smart city that will be fully “dedicated to the advancement of all aspects of mobility”. Bjarke Ingels and Toyota CEO Akio... View full entry
Architects dabbling in fashion design is nothing new. From Zaha Hadid to Santiago Calatrava and Virgil Abloh, shoe brands often turn to architects for inspiration. In the latest example, Japanese footwear brand ASICS has teamed with Kengo Kuma to design a new running shoe that's said to marry... View full entry