Construction

Tokyo Sky Tree rises to nearly 500 meters

By CJ • November 17, 2010

Tokyo Sky Tree at nearly 500 meters in Sumida Ward.

Contractors in Japan begin to shovel aside yakuza groups

By CJ • October 1, 2010

Industry might now be seeing criminal organizations as something other than a necessary evil

Kyosho jutaku: Small house living in Japan

By CJ • May 28, 2010

Some architects, however, are in the process of adding small bits of color to this picture – both literally and figuratively. Small slivers of land that in days past may have been used for an industrial or commercial purpose are now the location of unique housing structures.

Construction team uncovers corpse in Nakameguro

By Amy Takahashi • March 8, 2009

TOKYO – A construction crew demolishing a former liquor store discovered a skeleton at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward.
The bones, whose sex …

Roppongi landmark shuts, site to be redeveloped

By CJ • January 5, 2009

A Tokyo landmark in the nightlife quarter of Roppongi shut its doors last week, bringing an end to its reign as one of the capital’s top meeting spots. The owners of the Almond coffee shop at the bustling Roppongi crossing decided last year that it would close from January 3rd.

Land prices trumping cultural worth

By CJ • December 1, 2008

TOKYO – Over the last century, earthquakes and bombing raids have left Tokyo with, what many would describe as, a cityscape of few long-lasting …

Site of notorious gangster playpen in Roppongi now vacant

By CJ • August 24, 2008

Site might remain fenced off and covered with dirt for some time

The canals of Edo

By CJ • July 18, 2008

Japan’s construction industry is renowned for its proclivity for paving over anything that does not stand still. But in terms of magnitude, today’s concrete pourers were certainly rivaled by the work of their predecessors, who cut and filled what is now Ginza into a network of canals and bridges before transforming the area into the asphalt slab it is today.

Tokyo underground

By CJ • June 30, 2008

This intersection in Toranomon is special in a particular way: no column, scaffold, concrete mixer, or other standard evidence of work ever shows itself from behind the construction site’s enclosure. The reason can be found below – way below – ground level.