10-07-2025
Tokyo Is Missing Blade Runner Where It Needs It Most
From Lost in Translation to the Japanese-inspired aesthetics of Blade Runner, Tokyo's image overseas has long been one of skyscrapers jutting into the sky.
But it's easy to forget that it was only recently that the capital developed vertically. In September 1964, ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games, American skylines had long been dominated by decades-old landmarks such as the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings. But the tallest structure in Tokyo was the nine-story National Diet Building, erected in 1936 after a 55-year design period 1.
