Tokyo Bay's New Twin Towers

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]
The Tokyo Towers development has just been completed near Tokyo Bay, around 2km from Ginza. The nearest public transport is Kachidoki station on the Oedo subway line with Tsukishima on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho line not far away. Stretching to 193 metres, it's the second-tallest mansion block in Japan behind Cross Tower in Osaka. With 58 storeys, however, it has a larger capacity of nearly 2,800 separate units and the realtor is expecting around 8,000 residents who will begin moving in from February. Selling prices range from 39 million yen to the most expensive at 216 million yen and just over 800 apartments in the Mid Tower have been offered separately for rental. The sheer number of residents moving into the area has meant that medical facilities, shops, gyms and, bucking the trend in the rest of the capital, schools have been expanded to cope. This is the development that Richard Gere helped promote in the "I Love New Tokyo" campaign which ran from 2005.

[canman]

When I look at these building it reminds me of when you were a kid, at least a boy, and you would pee on some concrete and would run down and leave a similar mark. I know its a strange comment but that is what came to mind on this cold snowy day here in Aomori-ken.

[2triky]

My friend mentioned that the coloration on the buildings looked like two tornados/cyclones.

[FG Lurker]

The gray skies and very diffuse light don't help I am sure, but man, what a drab & dreary pair of buildings. Reminds me of the run-down concrete apartment building photos you see from Soviet times or in photos of North Korea.

[Jack]

Here are stupid punks crtitiquing architecture. I saw these buildings last month and they look gorgeous. But I forgot, this is in Japan and you guys are white gajins so there is absolutely no way that anything would be good in Japan.

What bunch of losers.

[Guy Incognito]

someones menstruating...

[dimwit]

I think canman's close. My guess is that they are giant fire hydrants waiting for monster to piss on them

[FG Lurker]

Here are stupid punks crtitiquing architecture. I saw these buildings last month and they look gorgeous.

Perhaps they do in person, but definitely not in that photo.

Look at the photo again... Two very plain buildings (as shown in the photo), half concrete-gray, half off-white that will soon be streaked with brown/gray/black lines from air pollution and rain. (If you don't believe me re the streaking, just look at any large building that is a light colour.) The backdrop is urban sprawl and covered with a gray haze. Then down at the bottom of the building there are broad areas of grass, I mean open spaces of brown dirt.

Maybe it looks better in person. If so then the photo does not do it justice at all.

But I forgot, this is in Japan and you guys are white gajins so there is absolutely no way that anything would be good in Japan.

There is lots good here -- that is why I live here. I just don't walk around wearing rose coloured glasses like "some people" seem to.

What bunch of losers.

Yeah, whatever.

[james]

you guys are white gajins so there is absolutely no way that anything would be good in Japan.

What bunch of losers.

this coming from a guy who has never lived here and really dealt with the day-to-day affairs. for those of us not living in polyanna, we take the good with the bad and don't see every negative criticism as "japan bashing".

so put a cork in it already. if i wanted to listen to an asshole, i'd fart.

[GomiGirl]

if i wanted to listen to an asshole, i'd fart.

Brilliant. Sometimes I wish I was a guy so I could say stuff like this out loud. From a girl it just sounds crass. From you it was classic.

[Mulboyne]

First photo has the Mid Tower in the foreground, the second shows the Sea Tower.





Most of the links on the original site are now closed because apartments have been sold but you can still see live links on the rental site.

[james]

:clap:

Brilliant. Sometimes I wish I was a guy so I could say stuff like this out loud. From a girl it just sounds crass. From you it was classic.

thanks!

personally, i've always found women with a sharp tongue who use sarcasm and the occasional bit of crass to be something of a turn-on. i'm sure if you had something to say, no one here would object!

[ttjereth]

Here are stupid punks crtitiquing architecture. I saw these buildings last month and they look gorgeous. But I forgot, this is in Japan and you guys are white gajins so there is absolutely no way that anything would be good in Japan.

What bunch of losers.

You are a fucking idiot.

[Mulboyne]

The Japanese Wiki entry on the Towers claims that the design was influenced by the work of Mies van der Rohe, especially in the use of glass:

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, along with Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture. Mies, like many of his post World War I contemporaries, sought to establish a new architectural style that could represent modern times just as Classical and Gothic did for their own eras. He created an influential Twentieth-Century architectural style, stated with extreme clarity and simplicity. His mature buildings made use of modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to define interior spaces. He strived towards an architecture with a minimal framework of structural order balanced against the implied freedom of free-flowing open space. He called his buildings "skin and bones" architecture. He sought a rational approach that would guide the creative process of architectural design, and is known for his use of the aphorisms "less is more" and "God is in the details".

Design for the Maquette Glazen Wolkenkrabber (1922)



The Lake Shore Drive Apartments, Chicago (1955 photo)



Seagram Building, New York (1954)

[Guy Incognito]

Not at all trying to Japan bash here... but why do they always choose to build square buildings all the time in Japan. Maybe engineering for earthquakes makes things difficult and expensive...? but then there are the odd exceptions that make one wonder...

[FG Lurker]

Not at all trying to Japan bash here... but why do they always choose to build square buildings all the time in Japan. Maybe engineering for earthquakes makes things difficult and expensive...? but then there are the odd exceptions that make one wonder...

There are some very cool new buildings in Osaka these days. Overall the level of interesting architecture is improving, IMO.

[Jack]

thanks!

personally, i've always found women with a sharp tongue who use sarcasm and the occasional bit of crass to be something of a turn-on. i'm sure if you had something to say, no one here would object!

Hey bud, don't flatter yourself or try to brownnose someone. The level of intellect on this board is rather low. Look at every post and it is always negative if it relates to Japan. Japanese can never do as well as western folks. That signals two things, that despite some of you guys living there, you still cannot distinguish cultural differences and if you are able to distinguish cultural differences you are not mature enough to accept that Japanese do things differently. Not better, nor worse, but just different.

There is a lot I don't like about Japan, I just don't talk about them. Denigrating all things Japanese like you guys do is arrogant. It insinuates that you know best and the smartest Japanese who design buildings, make laws, artists, chefs and whatever, know nothing.

Yeah, go ahead and give yourself a group hug. You are such smart people.

Question for you: How does it feel to be so smart and know it all? I've always wanted to know.

[Jack]

You are a fucking idiot.

I disagree with that assessment. See my post just above this one. It applies to you as well.

[Catoneinutica]

The Japanese Wiki entry on the Towers claims that the design was influenced by the work of Mies van der Rohe, especially in the use of glass:

There seem to be some elegant glass-curtain-style buildings under construction in Marunochi, but these condos...well, now that Canman mentions it, they do look like they're sporting big urinal piss stains down their sides. And since Japanese buildings don't generally get better with age, I suspect they'll look really bad in a couple years, especially after they've acquired some actual weather-related discoloration.

[halfnip]

Hey bud, don't flatter yourself or try to brownnose someone. The level of intellect on this board is rather low. Look at every post and it is always negative if it relates to Japan. Japanese can never do as well as western folks. That signals two things, that despite some of you guys living there, you still cannot distinguish cultural differences and if you are able to distinguish cultural differences you are not mature enough to accept that Japanese do things differently. Not better, nor worse, but just different.

There is a lot I don't like about Japan, I just don't talk about them. Denigrating all things Japanese like you guys do is arrogant. It insinuates that you know best and the smartest Japanese who design buildings, make laws, artists, chefs and whatever, know nothing.

Yeah, go ahead and give yourself a group hug. You are such smart people.

Question for you: How does it feel to be so smart and know it all? I've always wanted to know.

I am going to go out on a *very* short limb here and semi/sorta agree with what you're saying here, Jack. Although I don't think that any of the comments rendered your calling them "losers".

Just my Y.02 that probably wasn't needed in the first place....

[Oradea]

Jack, I started a thread a while back for all the nice, good, and wonderful things we like and love about Japan.

I am not Japan bashing when I say that those two towers look like a post war weldare housing block. I am tower bashing.

As for recent architecture, and non square buildings/towers, check out the new spiral HAL tower in Nagoya. That is a piece of architecture, IMHO.

[GuyJean]

Personally, I get tired of the 'FG bashing'.. Is it true you've never actually lived in Japan, Jack?

And I'll say what I said the last time you went on your little whining session; why are you posting here if the majority of us are 'losers' with 'low intelligence'?..

GJ

[Jack]

[quote="GuyJean"]Personally, I get tired of the 'FG bashing'.. Is it true you've never actually lived in Japan, Jack?

And I'll say what I said the last time you went on your little whining session]

GuyJean, I have never lived in Japan though I will in the next couple of years. I am currently scouting for a location to start building my business in Tokyo.

One thing is I don't whine and hate whiners, more so if it is from a woman. I have travelled all over the world many times (Never to Australia) and I absolutely never look down on anyone. Every culture and people have a historical reason for their behaviour. Without knowing the history their behaviour might appear strange to western people in the cold light of day.

There are many things I don't like about Japan and one is the architecture because there are so few amazing buildings as compared to Hong Kong or Shanghai. However, I prefer to keep quiet and not talk about things I don't like, except calling a few people losers to rattle their chain once in a while.

[james]

Question for you: How does it feel to be so smart and know it all?

well it sorta starts off as a warm and fuzzy feeling, just below the solar plexus, then radiates outwards until i'm all aglow, bathed in a warm comforting light that then extends to warm those around me..

yeah.. i guess that's how it feels.. can you feel it too?

[AssKissinger]

well it sorta starts off as a warm and fuzzy feeling, just below the solar plexus, then radiates outwards until i'm all aglow, bathed in a warm comforting light that then extends to warm those around me..

You got me thinking how nice it would be to have your dick in my ass!

[james]

One thing is I don't whine and hate whiners

you mean how you don't whine like a little bitch every time someone says something negative about something in japan?

I absolutely never look down on anyone.

i'm sure even us "losers" of "low intelligence" could pull up any number of your previous posts to evidence this to the contrary.

Every culture and people have a historical reason for their behaviour. Without knowing the history their behaviour might appear strange to western people in the cold light of day.

yeah, including.. oh say.. the (sub)-culture of "white gaijins" actually living in japan who have, to a very large degree, integrated with and adapted to the culture. you're awfully preachy for someone still on the other side of the ball bud.

[FG Lurker]

I have never lived in Japan

Then I suggest you STFU until you have at least some semblance of a clue WTF you're talking about. Come back in about 10 years.

[ttjereth]

I disagree with that assessment. See my post just above this one. It applies to you as well.

Jack, you stupid shit, you love to come on and talk about how "the level of intellect on this board is low" and how you hate all the "Japan bashing" that goes on here, and yet you keep coming back.

Just shut the fuck up because no one here cares what you think. If you dislike what's posted here so much, piss the fuck off you know-nothing psuedo intellectual shithead.

[kamome]

Odd that a guy who complains about the low level of intellect on this board adds nothing that would raise the level of intellect.

[Jack]

Jack, you stupid shit, you love to come on and talk about how "the level of intellect on this board is low" and how you hate all the "Japan bashing" that goes on here, and yet you keep coming back.

Just shut the fuck up because no one here cares what you think. If you dislike what's posted here so much, piss the fuck off you know-nothing psuedo intellectual shithead.

Blah blah blah! Wake me up when it's over.