COVER STORY JAPAN

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“Kaaraaa-o-keee!” squeals the

young Japanese man with hair

sticking straight into the air like

an anime character as he jumps out from

behind a corner. He is one of many attempting

to lure passers-by away from windows filled

with plastic ramen and into one of the city’s

ubiquitous karaoke bars. Dodging through

Shinjuku’s narrow lanes, where Japanese

businessmen down sake and Kirin and laugh

loudly under the fluttering red and white

cloths of the Golden Gai, is like stumbling into

a scene from Blade Runner. Florescent signs

loom above criss-crossing expressways,

forming a roof over these small alleyways.

Sit here long enough and you’d half expect

a floating craft to zoom by, bearing a woman

in a kimono serving drinks.

Think of the future, and Tokyo will most likely

come to mind. It’s an association originating

from the city’s 1960s post-war economic

boom, when Japan’s capital enjoyed a cultural

renaissance and with it, a surge of new-age

architecture. For the 1964 Tokyo Olympics,

Japan’s most revered architect, Kenzo

Tange, peppered the capital with space-age

structures. It was Japan’s modern cultural

heyday, and the outside world came to know

the country for everything from Godzilla to

Astro Boy.

Today, some remnants of this boom linger.

Cubical rooms jut out of capsule apartments;

neon hiragana characters paint the night

in florescent rainbows; bewildering webs of

highways, freeways and train lines weave

over one another and along the unexpectedly

serene waters of the Sumida River.

future JAPAN’S CAPITAL IS FAMOUS FOR ITS FUTURISTIC CITYSCAPE. BUT BETWEEN BULLET TRAINS AND NEON SIGNS, IS TOKYO STILL THE WORLD’S GREATEST MEGA-METROPOLIS, OR HAS ITS VISION OF THE FUTURE BECOME SOMETHING ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT?

WORDS JESSICA GLIDDONIMAGES JESSICA GLIDDON + SAREL MEYERperfect

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classical animation in an industry that is

rapidly becoming digitalised. Reached

through the dreamy warrens of Inokashira

Park in Mitaka, where red Japanese maples

wave quietly over cool ponds, the Ghibli

Museum is a whimsical fantasy house with

turrets and twists and a robot from Laputa

peeking over the roof.

Ghibli’s original, bizarre characters

(such as a bus with the head of a cat

and eight caterpillar-style legs from Totoro)

take animation into the realm of fine art.

Increasingly, the two worlds are meeting: one

only needs to look to the cartoonish paintings

of Takashi Murakami.

Anime not only crosses genres in Tokyo;

it crosses into reality. The favourite pastime

of Harajuku youth is cosplay (costume-play)

– on the weekends they wander the district’s

streets, showing off fashions often based

on anime characters. Gothic brides, girls in

pink frilly dresses and go-go boots and punk

women in rainbow-coloured wigs stalk the

streets. Fantasy is never far away in Tokyo.

Tokyo’s weather shifts without warning:

laden with heavy sheets of rain one

day, startlingly clear the next. On Odaiba,

a recently developed reclaimed island, the

winds whip and play down the wide, smooth

pathways, blowing the leaves from the ginkgo

trees. These spacious lanes feature possibly

Tokyo’s best example of futuristic architecture.

Odaiba holds one of architect Kenzo Tange’s

masterpieces, the Fuji TV building, a web of

rectangular shapes crowned with a giant ball.

Incidentally, Fuji TV premiered the Astro Boy

series. The building wouldn’t be out of place

in 1984 – the stairs ascending to the entrance

are monumental in size, hung with ads from

the station unrolled like giant propaganda

posters. There’s an elevator to the top of the

giant round sphere, which on good days,

shows a spectacular view of Tokyo Bay.IMA

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Odaiba is the centre of all that is concrete

in Japanese futurism. It only takes a quick

stroll through the plastic toy model paradise

of Akihabara to see how ever since Astro

Boy, the idea of cute futuristic robots

has remained cemented in the Japanese

consciousness. Japan, being the home

to the world’s most advanced technology

and automotive companies, has also

become the site of development for the

world’s most advanced robotics. Most of

these companies have made their home

on Odaiba.

The most prominent developers of robot

technology are the automotive manufacturers,

who import technology used in cars towards

robotics. At Toyota’s Megaweb complex, an

electric car track demonstrates how in future

Tokyo, drivers can lay back while their cars drive

themselves along electro-magnetic tracks.

With the need for driving conveniently out of

the way, Toyota has decided to set its sights

towards personal transportation devices,

taking cues from Segway. Demonstrated by

perfectly manicured Japanese ladies in black

and white chequered coats, Toyota’s Winglet

responds sensitively to every move. The most

impressive machine is a three-wheeled robot/

car/walking machine called i-Real, which

glides effortlessly as the rider perches in

the seat, while a florescent LCD creates

translucent heart shapes on its backside.

and off; vending machines flash red or

blue according to a drink’s temperature.

Everything in Tokyo works in an orderly,

clockwork motion, even with a 12.7 million

population squished within a 2,000 kilometre

space. Not to forget the most perfect example

of Japanese innovation of all: the toilets. Not

only do their lids automatically open and

close, they feature a bidet function, heated

seats, a deodorizer, and when installed

in pubic, an optional flushing noise, for

politeness’ sake. Technological innovation

could scarcely be more deftly directed.

Now, Blade Runner is outdated. Tokyo

faces a similar conundrum – it is futuristic, but

with a tinge of retroism. To understand what

makes Tokyo glow today, while Japan reels

from the backlash of the worldwide economic

downtown, it is necessary to look beyond the

innovations that resulted from the economic

boom, and into current daily life.

Tokyo’s futurism lies in the details.

Fundamental Japanese traits – efficiency,

cleanliness, artistry and organisation – have

created a city that seems almost aware

of itself. Escalators warn when to get on

Anyone who spends much time in

the Akihabara district will inevitably

encounter the word otaku – meaning “geek”

in Japanese. As anime ground zero, the

place is crammed with otaku. Building blocks

are draped with 10-storey high anime girls,

locked in expressions of wide-eyed innocence

or delirious enthusiasm. Men dressed in

identical business suits flock around multi-

storey complexes. Pre-recorded salesmen

chatter out of loudspeakers over the throngs.

Astro Boy, a 1950s robot boy with an Elvis

hair slick and red underpants who could

fly, was the first manga (Japanese comic

book) character to be adapted into anime.

“Atom celled, jet propelled… you’re a hero,

as you go, go, go, Astro Boy!” went the

theme tune. The robot boy has endured

– besides his omnipresence on pen cases

and pocketbooks, a new feature-length digital

3D American adaptation of Astro Boy has just

been released.

Tokyo has two animation museums, but

the best insight into Tokyo’s obsession with

anime is from Japan’s most accomplished

animation house – Studio Ghibli. Beloved in

Japan for such fantastical creations as My

Neighbour Totoro and Laputa Castle in the

Sky, and internationally famous for Princess

Mononoke, Studio Ghibli is an exercise in

Fundamental Japanese traits – efficiency, cleanliness, artistry and organisation – have created a city that seems

almost aware of itself

Anime not only crosses genres in Tokyo; it crosses into reality. Fantasy is never far away in Tokyo

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: An anime character in a window in Akihabara; Japan’s bullet train, the Shinkansen; the front of the Louis Vuitton store in Harajuku; Inokashira Park; the interior of the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation

54 55

EXPERIENCE TOKYO

FOR SLEEPING: HILTON TOKYOIt doesn’t get more futuristic than Shinjuku,

and the Hilton is conveniently located in the

middle of it all. As one of the grander old

hotels, the Hilton offers spacious rooms

with a sense of traditional Japanese style,

a built-in shopping mall and donburi dishes

to die for from its Japanese restaurant,

Musashino. Alternatively, Hilton’s other

Tokyo property is the Conrad across town,

a beautiful design hotel just steps away

from Tsukiji fish market.

WWW.HILTON.COM

FOR EXPLORING: JTB SUNRISE TOURSTokyo is one of those cities that can be so

overwhelming that a guided tour really is

a good idea. It’s helpful to get acquainted

with a half or full day trip to see some of

the highlights. JTB’s Panorama package

offers the best of all worlds, with a glance

at the immense red Miju Shrine, a nod to

Ginza, and a lovely cruise through Tokyo

Bay to get a closer look at the Rainbow

bridge and the city’s skyline.

WWW.JTB-SUNRISETOURS.JP

FOR EATING: IBUKITokyo is resplendant with brilliant food

– if there was ever a national obsession,

eating would be it. There is so much that

must be tried, besides the sushi and

sashimi – okonomiyaki (pancake), ramen

bowls and shabu shabu, a dish which

involves dipping strips of raw meat into

a pot filled with stock and vegetables,

then dipping it in vinegar. You can’t go

wrong trying it at the traditionally outfitted

backstreet restaurant Ibuki in Shinjuku.

+8 133 524 781

Visit the Japan National Tourism

Organisation website for more information:

WWW.SEEJAPAN.CO.UK

WITH ETIHAD HOLIDAYS: Etihad Holidays has a wide variety of

holiday packages to Tokyo. Call 800 2324

for bookings.

21_21 Design Sight is a marriage of the creative powerhouses of Issey Miyake and Tadao Ando, the revolutionary architect also responsible for Abu Dhabi’s Maritime Museum on Saadiyat Island

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: The interior of 21_21 Design Sight; the electric car at Toyota

Megaweb; a traditional Shinto wedding at Meiji Shrine; Asakusa Kannon Temple

Toyota has its own friendly robot too.

“Partner” has teardrop shaped eyes, a sleek

white body and plays the trumpet. But he is

overshadowed by the most famous Japanese

robot, “ASIMO”, created by Honda, who now

lives at the National Museum of Emerging

Science and Innovation (also called Miraikan).

ASIMO walks with a disarmingly real gait

– convincingly passing for a man in a space

suit. The robot’s profitability is yet to be seen

– technology giant Sony recently gave up on

developing robots because of the expense.

But Toyota and Honda seem confident that

the robot future will arrive.

Japanese technology continues to evolve

in all sorts of directions. Miraikan catalogues

the country’s space programme, innovations

in medical technology and details Japan’s

mighty KEK particle accelerator. It also has an

immense globe, on which real time images are

projected of the Earth, moon or sun’s current

conditions, as if viewing it from space.

Come twilight in Ginza and Omotesando,

Tokyo’s most upscale shopping districts,

an architectural parade blinks into life as Paris

and Milan’s finest fashion houses turn on the

lights inside space-age structures; buildings

so bizarre that they threaten to outshine their

own cutting-edge fashions. Omotesando,

a flat stone-lined river, diagonal slabs of

concrete rise from the ground. This is 21_21

Design Sight – a marriage of the creative

powerhouses of Miyake and Tadao Ando, the

revolutionary architect also responsible for

Abu Dhabi’s Maritime Museum on Saadiyat

Island. The designer and the architect felt that

Tokyo needed a devoted design centre, and

a major new development, Tokyo Midtown,

gave them support.

“Miyake doesn’t like to be called a ‘fashion

designer’,” explains the museum’s PR

director, Miryon Ko. “Rather, he is a clothing

designer.” The architecture of 21_21 Design

Sight is a direct reflection on Miyake’s take on

cloth – the building looks like a folded sheet

of origami. Overpoweringly serene, the interior

is made up of cool, smooth concrete that

descends partly beneath the earth, shaded

by natural light and glass. Bringing together

the art and design worlds, the exhibitions

are theme-based, exploring basic concepts

such as chocolate. This particular exhibition

features kettles by famous designers, then

photographs of kettles by famous artists.

There’s even a sedately lit toilet on exhibit.

21_21 Design’s vision of the future, says

Ko, is the merging of art with daily life.

This sentiment is echoed at the National Art

Centre. The dramatic, curving glass-plated

exterior, with its abrupt concrete conical forms,

embodies architect Kisho Kurokawa’s take on

Tokyo’s quest to bring art and life in harmony.

Rather than a traditional art museum, the

light-filled space offers a place for the public

to live with art. The ground floor of the soaring

a Champs-Élysées-style boulevard lined with

brilliant white Christmas lights and paved

with bundled Japanese ladies laden with

shopping bags, gradually narrows into

a small street before the Comme de Garçons

building glitters into view. With its transparent

blue grid windows, the building was designed

by British architects Future Systems to

contain the headquarters of the French luxury

brand headed by Japanese fashionista Rei

Kawakubo. Nearby, Swiss architecture firm

Herzog and de Meuron showcase Prada’s

Boutique Aoyama, a building made of swollen

glass windows which almost resemble a

padded handbag. These buildings are

collaborations across mediums, creating a

future vision of the Japanese arts. Yet one

remains comparatively unassuming. Save for a

few LCD screens blinking cryptic images, this

quiet shop houses the creations of legendary

Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake.

Issey Miyake, a survivor of the Hiroshima

atomic bomb in World War Two, is famous

for pleats. He is fascinated with the textures

of cloth, which he arranges on the catwalk

in an assortment of architectural, space-age

shapes. In his Pleats Please shop, he has

fashioned pleated scarves into sushi.

But cloth is not his only medium. Along

a narrow, shady park in Roppongi with

Despite the grandeur of Roppongi Hills or

the florescence of Shinjuku, perhaps Issey

Miyake remains the best example of what

futurism means in today’s Tokyo. “Traditional

arts have always played an important role in

Japanese daily life,” says 21_21 Design Sight’s

Ko. “From flower arranging to paper making,

design was always an intimate part of life.”

Futurism is rampant in Japan’s past – even

the conical headdress worn at a traditional

Shinto wedding looks like something out of

Star Wars. Perhaps it is actually this affection

for detail and this need to find harmony in

everything that makes the country a bastion

of the new, efficient and beautiful. Or perhaps

it is vice versa – perhaps what the rest of the

world sees as futuristic is only a reflection of

the originality of Japan.

atrium is packed, crowned by an elevated

cone that hosts a Paul Bocuse restaurant.

“This is what makes the centre unique,” PR

Miwa Nonoshita explains. “It brings elements

of life into the art space.”

Art, in fact, seems to be at the centre of

many Tokyoites’ visions of the future. A few

blocks down from the art centre is the utopian

project of Roppongi Hills. It’s a complex

of towering, shining skyscrapers that are

completely self-sufficient, with residential,

commercial and shops, museums, hotels,

studios and a shrine. They are eco-friendly,

have a huge amount of greenery (including

their own rice farm on a skyscraper roof) and

are earthquake proof. Mori, the company

behind the area, unblinkingly calls its project

a utopia. Their main goal, they say, is to

merge art and life. Their cultural leaning is

represented in details across the 759,100

square metre development – sculptures of

a giant rose and an even bigger spider

– and most grandly by the cutting-edge Mori

Art Museum. Its December 2009 exhibition

entitled Medicine and Art covered the artistry

of representations of the human body from

Da Vinci to Damien Hirst – Mori is theme

based, much like 21_21 Design Sight.

Futurism is rampant in Japan’s past – even the conical headdress worn at a traditional

Shinto wedding looks like something out of Star Wars