Page 66 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Tokyo

64  T OK Y O AREA B Y AREA

2 West Shinjuku

West Shinjuku
Most of Tokyo’s skyscraper office blocks (and some of its
most expensive land) are clustered just to the west of
Shinjuku Station. About 250,000 people work here each
day. Many of the hotels and some office blocks have top- West Shinjuku seen from Tokyo Metropolitan
floor restaurants with views of the city. In 1960, the Government Offices
government desig nated Shinjuku a fukutoshin (“secondary Island
heart of the city”); in 1991, when the city government Tower
moved into architect Kenzo Tange’s massive Mitsui
48-story Metropolitan Government Offices, Building
many started calling it shin toshin
(the new capital). Tange’s building
was dubbed “tax tower” by some,
outraged at its US$1 billion cost.
Hilton
Tokyo

K I T A – D O R I H I G A

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Sumitomo Building Dai-Ichi O
Inside this block are a Seimei R I
shopping center and, at the Building K
top, a free observatory. O
Century Hyatt Hotel E N T
– D O C
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F U R E A I – D O R I
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Shinjuku
Central Park
The Washington
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Hotel has flowing
Buildings curves (inside
This huge complex of two blocks land out) and tiny
and a semi-circular plaza is unified windows in its
by the grid-detailing on its facades, white facade. M I N A M I –
recalling both traditional architec- D O R I Keio
ture and electronic circuitry. An Plaza
observatory gives views from Mount The NS Building is recognizable by its rainbow- Hotel
Fuji to Tokyo Bay on a clear day. hued elevator shafts. In the 30-story atrium is
a 29-m (95-ft) high water-powered clock.

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