Page 98 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

96  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 designated Shinjuku a fukutoshin Island Tower
(“secondary heart of the city”); in 1991, when the city
government moved into architect Kenzo Tange’s Mitsui
massive 48-story Metropolitan Government Building
Offices, many started calling it shin toshin
(the new capital). Tange’s building was
dubbed “tax tower” by those outraged
at its US$1 billion cost.
Hilton Tokyo

K I T A - D O R I H I G

A
S
H
I

G
I –
J D
I D O R
C H U O – D O R I O – D I
Sumitomo Building O
Inside this block are a Dai-Ichi K R I
shopping center and, at Seimei O
the top, a free observatory. Building E
Hyatt Regency N T
Tokyo – D O C
O
F U R E A I – D O R I
R
I H O

– D
O
R
I
Shinjuku
Central Park
The Washington
Hotel has flowing
Tokyo Metropolitan Government curves (inside and
Offices out) and tiny
This huge complex of two blocks windows in its
and a semi-circular plaza is unified by white façade.
the grid-detailing on its façades (see M I N A M I – D O R I
p92), recalling both traditional archi-
tecture and electronic circuitry. An The NS Building is recognizable by its Keio Plaza
observatory gives views from Mount rainbow-hued elevator shafts. In the 30-story Hotel
Fuji to Tokyo Bay on a clear day. atrium is a 29-m (95-ft) high water-powered clock.
For hotels and restaurants see p302 and pp324–6

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