Kasumigaseki Building

Completed in 1968, a 36-story office building regarded as the starting point of Japan's skyscrapers.

Use

Office tower

Area

Chiyoda City

Completed

1968

Floors

36 above ground, 3 below

Height

156 m

Developer

Mitsui Fudosan

Architect

Yamashita Sekkei

A starting point 156 meters tall

Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda City, Tokyo. In a corner of the government district, a building of 36 floors and a height of 156 meters was completed in 1968. This is the Kasumigaseki Building. Developed by Mitsui Fudosan, it is frequently cited as the starting point of Japan’s skyscrapers.

Until then, buildings in Japan had been built under height restrictions. The 36-story tower that rose beyond that limit announced the dawn of an era in which the city would expand vertically. That it appeared in the very heart of the Kasumigaseki government district adds to its symbolic weight.

Building tall in an earthquake-prone country

To achieve a height of 156 meters in a country with frequent earthquakes, the structural idea adopted was reportedly to let the building flex and absorb seismic forces rather than rigidly resist them. The notion of releasing the force of an earthquake by allowing a degree of sway was carried over into later Japanese high-rise architecture.

More than simply a tall building, its significance lies in offering one answer to the question of how high-rise construction could be realized in Japan. More than half a century after its completion, it is still in use as a working office building in the Kasumigaseki district.

Summary

The Kasumigaseki Building is an office building completed in 1968, with 36 floors above ground, 3 below, and a height of 156 meters. Born of Mitsui Fudosan’s development, it stands as the origin point of the era in which Japanese cities began to gain height.

When you walk through Kasumigaseki, look up at this tower standing among the heavy low-rise buildings of the government district, and recall the “age of height” that began here half a century ago.