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Yomiuri Shimbun
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Tokyo's Meguro Ward Office Tour Illuminates Architect Murano's Masterpiece; Complex Features Japanese-style Rooms, Ponds
Old & New video By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer Participants on the architectural guided tour of the Meguro Ward Office complex, a masterpiece by Togo Murano, look around while ascending the spiral staircase in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, on May 2. Murano was also known as the 'magician of stairs.' In recent years, architecture festivals allowing public tours of prominent buildings have gained significant popularity in various parts of the nation. A prime example is the Tokyo Architecture Festival, which started last year. Furthermore, one of the first inspirations for these types of tours is often cited as the Meguro Ward Office complex guided tour. Tours of the complex began in 2004 and have been held for more than 20 years. This year's four-day event in April and May drew about 250 participants. The odds of getting a tour were low. One in four to six applicants nabbed a spot, making it a challenging tour to book. The Meguro Museum of Art organizes the tours. For about two hours, the participants explore various parts of the complex while listening to explanations from volunteer guides includingarchitects and those in the construction field. Notably, about half of the 10 or so guides are long-serving veterans who have been involved since the first tour. Their detailed explanations are highly appreciated. By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer People take in Murano's relaxing architecture in a Japanese-style room facing a pond, now named 'Shijukara no Ma,' admiring the luminous ceiling and modern shoji screens. When this was the Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance headquarters building, this room was used for club activities. One of the hallmarks of Murano's architecture is said to be its innovative style, a fusion of Western and Japanese, modernism and classicism. The Meguro Ward Office complex, completed in 1966, was originally the head office building of The Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co. (now The Gibraltar Life Insurance Co.) . Considered a masterpiece, the building was designed by Togo Murano, a renowned architect who was active during Japan's period of rapid economic was given full discretionary power over the design and budget. Murano was involved in numerous significant projects in Tokyo alone, including renovations of the State Guest House Akasaka Palace and the Nihombashi Takashimaya Shopping Center, as well as the construction of the Nissay Theatre. He also received the Order of Culture. By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer People listen to an explanation about the design of a sesame field depicted from an aerial perspective on the fusuma sliding doors in a mizuya, the preparation area of a tea ceremony room, within the Meguro Ward Office complex. The expansive 16,000-square-meter site is magnificent, boasting a luxurious layout that includes a main building, an annex, an entrance building, a club building, a hill and both large and small ponds. Following the bankruptcy of the company in 2000, Meguro Ward acquired the building. Subsequent renovations led to it being used as the comprehensive ward office complex starting in 2003. The building presently accommodates facilities, including the ward office, the metropolitan tax office and a public health center. By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer People head toward a tea ceremony room, with the tea garden visible to the side. This space offers a level of simple beauty and peacefulness that is unexpected and makes visitors feel far removed from the typical interior of a building. Upon entering the south entrance connecting to the third floor of the main building, visitors are immediately drawn to the open entrance hall and a spiral staircase that extends from the second to the fourth floor. The first floor, accessed via a separate staircase, is busy with residents coming for various procedures. By contrast, the inner courtyard features a pond. There are also Japanese-style rooms and a tea ceremony room, creating a tranquil scene that one can hardly believe is inside a ward office. It is also a rare example of a building that has changed from private to public use. By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer People gather at the entrance hall connecting to the third floor of the main building to join a tour of the Meguro Ward Office complex. 'I felt deeply impressed that a building from around my birth year boasts such a wonderful design and remains in active use,' said a part-time employee of a confectionery company in her 50s. 'Before heading home, I plan to revisit the places we saw on the tour on my own,' the woman, who came from Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, commented. 'Twenty years ago, the trend was to tear down old buildings and rebuild new ones one after another. Now, the appreciation for using old buildings has grown, but it's impossible to rebuild them in the same way due to issues with the skills of craftsmen and costs,' a veteran guide said. 'The beauty of architecture that goes beyond mere function is evident here. As it's a ward office, many parts are accessible for repeat visits. We hope visitors will come again with friends and expand your appreciation and delight in this space.' The next guided tour is scheduled to be held around the same time next year. Tours in English will be also available. By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer The exterior of the Meguro Ward Office complex, which is covered with vertical aluminum louvers. These louvers, combined with the balconies, allow gentle natural light to penetrate the interior.
Yomiuri Shimbun
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Kyotographie Highlights Humanity Through Historic Scenography
Old & New video By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer Eamonn Doyle's work, titled 'K,' is displayed at Higashi Honganji's O-genkan building, which was built in 1867 and is the oldest existing structure in the temple. In the exhibition venue, where music incorporating an Irish lamentation song for the dead drifts through the air and curtains made of Irish linen shimmer in the wind, photographs printed on silk are displayed like ghosts wandering through the landscape. Scenography by Niall Sweeney. KYOTO — Kyotographie, an annual international photography festival, kicked off in Kyoto City earlier this month. The event, which launched in 2013 and marks its 13th anniversary this year, recorded over 270,000 visits last year. This year, 14 cutting-edge artists and groups of all generations from Japan and abroad are participating in the festival, which is being held across 14 venues. One of the most consistent and significant features of Kyotographie is that great artworks and the appeal of each venue are expressed through a variety of spatial presentations following a common theme that differs each year. This year, the theme is Humanity. By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer People look at 'Dress,' a photograph by Hiromi Tsuchida, one of two pieces from the artwork titled 'Little Boy' on display at Hachiku-an, a machiya traditional wooden town house built in 1926 and a former residence of the Kawasaki family. Scenography by Spinning Plates. According to Lucille Reyboz and Yusuke Nakanishi, cofounders and codirectors of the festival, the theme reflects on humanity's capacity for love, empathy and resilience and is illuminated through two distinct cultural perspectives: the Japanese and the Western, exploring the diversity of human experience. By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer The retrospective of Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide is held for the first time in Japan at the Kyoto City Museum of Art Annex, which opened in 2000. The building is a renovation of the Kyoto city public hall's Higashi-kan building, which was completed in 1930. Sixteen plasterers and one paper mounting craftsman worked together to produce exhibition panels. Scenography by Mauricio Rocha Iturbide. When it comes to spatial production, the term 'scenography,' the concept of including scenery and music in an exhibition, is getting more and more use. Yet the concept behind the word has been an important aspect of Kyotographie since the event's launch. This year, too, many scenographers have made an effort to produce exhibition spaces in historical buildings and other venues in Kyoto City. By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer People walk by a gigantic collage titled 'The Chronicles of Kyoto, 2024' by French artist JR, displayed on the wall of the northern passage of the Kyoto Station building. Portraits of about 500 Kyoto residents were woven into a collage of various Kyoto landscapes. Scenography by Hiromitsu Konishi. Ireland's Eamonn Doyle is exhibiting his work 'K' at Higashi Honganji temple's O-genkan building, which was built in 1867. He said the venue is the 'perfect location' for his exhibition, which consists of his mother Kathryn's letters to his brother, who died suddenly, and images of shrouded and spectral figures. He said the scenography is equally important to his photographs. By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer 'A Kyoto Hair-Itage,' a series of works by Laetitia Ky from Cote d'Ivoire, are on display at Demachi Masugata shopping street in Kyoto City. The selfie-style pictures feature the artist with her 'hair sculptures' using materials such as wire. Scenography by team raw row inc. Niall Sweeney, the curator and scenographer for the exhibition featuring Doyle's works, explains that as photography is becoming increasingly digitized, it is more important than ever to harmonize existing analog elements with modern photography to enable viewers to appreciate works with an enriched heart. David Donohoe, who incorporated an Irish lamentation song for the dead in the music he composed for the exhibition, said that what the team has put together has generated new energy beyond their expectations in the sacred place in Kyoto, where death, life and grief all resonate. By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer The exhibition 'My Parents and I' by Taiwan artist Hsing-Yu Liu takes place at Gallery Sugata, which was reportedly once a shop of a kimono wholesaler. Scenography by Shunsuke Kimura (SSK). The exhibition will run through May 11. The price of admission varies depending on the venue, ranging from free to ¥1,500 for adults. A passport ticket that allows admission to all venues is also available. Another event called 'KG+' is taking place in the city at the same time. Many artists from Japan and abroad are exhibiting visual works at more than 120 locations, such as temples and hotels. Admission to most of these events is free. A music event called Kyotophonie is also being held.
