The Architecture of Tokyo

The Tokyo region is the most populous metropolitan area in the world and a place of extraordinary vitality. The political, economic and cultural centre of Japan, Tokyo also exerts an enormous international influence. In fact the region has been pivotal to the nation's affairs for centuries. Its sheer size, its concentration of resources and institutions and its long history have produced buildings of many different types from many different eras. This is the first guide to introduce in one volume the architecture of the Tokyo region, encompassing Tokyo proper and adjacent prefectures, in all its remarkable variety, The buildings are presented chronologically and grouped into six periods: the medieval period (1185-1600), the Edoperiod (1600-1868), the Meiji period (1868-1912), the Taisho and early Showa period (1912-1945), the post-war reconstruction period (1945-1970) and the contemporary period (1970 until today). This comprehensive coverage permits those interested in Japanese architecture or culture to focus on a particular era or to examine buildings within a larger temporal framework.
A concise discussion of the history of the region and the architecture of Japan develops a context within which the individual works may be viewed. Over 500 buildings are presented, from 15th-century Buddhist temples to 20th-century cultural buildings, from venerable folk houses to works by leading contemporary architects of Japan such as Kenzo Tange, Fumihiko Maki, Arata Isozaki, Hiroshi Hara, Toyo Ito and Riken Yamamoto as well as by foreign architects such as Sir Norman Foster, Peter Eisenman and Steven Holl.