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Ranting
By lylehsaxon (Sat Dec 30, 2006 at 12:09:13 AM EST) (all tags)
In pondering my interest in the 1929 Sanshin Building, it occurred to me that its standing in the middle - between the beginning of the Meiji era (1868) and today - makes it a kind of link enabling a feeling of continuity.  Tokyo is badly lacking this feeling of continuity - there are some old pre-Meiji things, and then everything else "newer" than that 1868 line is relentlessly destroyed to feed the voracious appetite of the construction industry. .......

..... When buildings are made better and stronger, it's generally a good thing to replace them, but that's not always the case (as recent news has shown).

The Sanshin Building was built in 1929, not long after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 that destroyed Tokyo, and they seem to have overbuilt the structure, if anything, so I don't think there's any issue with the building's safety.  It appears to just be a case of suits armed with PowerPoint thinking they can get more money out of the land by making a modern tower there (by also knocking down the next building and using the combined space) and making yet another structure with overpriced shops and restaurants at the bottom and top, and overlit sealed air system office space in the middle - the whole towering box casting an ugly shadow over neighboring Hibiya Park.  And they're right I suppose, but this line of thinking is destroying the culture of the city.  I suppose many European countries go to the other extreme, and would do better to renovate a little more, but Tokyo has almost eradicated its own history - what's left of value, like the Sanshin Building, should be kept alive to use and help future generations tie together the flow of time and the changing of generations.

The Dai-Ichi Building, just down the street, is being preserved, which is great - but it's a completely different style, and there's a highrise that's been put in the middle of it!  In walking around the building a few days ago, it looks as though they disassembled the rear of the building, put up the tower, and then reassembled the facade of the old building around that on the back half of the block.  The front, as least, seems to be unmolested (they may have only taken off the back of the building to make it one with the new tower).  Fine, but it's a completely different style and type of building than the Sanshin Building.  Well... whatever!  I'm getting tired of thinking about it, but I really would like to see that building put to good use!

There are a good set of photos of the Sanshin Building at this (Japanese language) site:
http://nekosuki.org/landscape/index2/sanshinbuilding.htm

And my page (previously mentioned) in English:
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/PhotoGlryMain/pgb/SanshinBldg01.html

- and in Japanese:
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/i_i_v/jpage/f1/SanshinBldg01j.html

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/

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Related Links
- http://nekosuki.org/landscape/index2/sanshinbuilding.htm
- http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/PhotoGlryMain/pgb/SanshinBldg01.html
- http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/i_i_v/jpage/f1/SanshinBldg01j.html
- http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/
- lylehsaxon's Diary
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"Looking for Continuity" | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
Interesting stuff... by Metatone (2.00 / 0) #1 Sat Dec 30, 2006 at 05:04:58 AM EST
as always.

I presume that the construction industry is virtually unstoppable, particularly when there isn't "patriotic" significance to the style of the building.

What are land prices like in Tokyo these days? There was a time when they were the stuff of legend. Is the pressure to find new places to build still as high?



Tokyo land prices.... by lylehsaxon (2.00 / 0) #3 Sat Dec 30, 2006 at 08:37:35 PM EST
The insane prices that fueled the bubble economy here in the late eighties have fallen somewhat, but prices are still very high.  One recent trend is for (very) pricey highrise apartment buildings in central Tokyo - people with money are happier to buy a piece of a building in a central location than to buy a piece of land out in the distant suburbs and then suffer the he*l of the morning crush-rush trains every day.  Security worries are part of the motivation for this.  With an increase in break-ins, people like living in secured towers with multiple locks and security cameras everywhere.

So... come to think of it - this renewed interest in living in central Tokyo is more fuel for the desire to push ever up with more towers.  By the time they've invested vast sums of money and effort making central Tokyo "the only place to be", it might end up going underwater from rising ocean levels?

Lyle
The shortest way home is the longest way 'round....
[ Parent ]

Thus, if you are buying... by Metatone (2.00 / 0) #5 Sun Dec 31, 2006 at 04:07:21 AM EST
make sure to buy at the top end of the tower? ;-)

[ Parent ]

That's why I like London by jump the ladder (2.00 / 0) #2 Sat Dec 30, 2006 at 06:06:14 AM EST
Good mix of buildings from every era although some of the 60s and 70s buildings are monstrosities and the 80 onwards buildings can be quite bland.



Maybe I should move... by lylehsaxon (2.00 / 0) #4 Sat Dec 30, 2006 at 08:38:35 PM EST
Some days I wonder if I should move to another city...
The shortest way home is the longest way 'round....
[ Parent ]

Moving can be good... by Metatone (2.00 / 0) #6 Sun Dec 31, 2006 at 04:11:26 AM EST
but there are downsides too. On the one hand you're in Tokyo, which is a better place to be than many (said as someone stuck out in a semi-rural area at the moment.) So, things could be worse.

However, (and I hope you don't mind me saying this) I occasionally get a whiff of a sense of isolation in some of your diaries. Not that you blog about personal stuff and maybe it's just me projecting emotions from some of the pictures that you take...

[ Parent ]

"Looking for Continuity" | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

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