NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building - Bad?

I for one am not a fan of the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building. I am not an art or architecture critic, but I know what I like... And I don't like this building.

For me it is banal, boring and derivative.  It aspires to greatness by invoking some of the forms in classic skyscrapers in America from the 30's but falls flat.  It has buttresses and a large clock.  If you squint really hard, you might see the silhouette of the Empire State Building.  With all of the antennas, dishes and transmitters mounted near the top, the building looks more like a part of a spacecraft than a building.

Anyway, it dominates the sky on the western side of Tokyo.  You can see it when you are walking along the Yamante line from Harajuku to Shinjuku.  My photo was taken from inside Yoyogi Park.

Cheap Culinary Adventure in Tokyo? Have Mushroom Chicken Curry! (Part 2)

After a long walk from Nogizaka Station to Harajuku Station, I took the train to Shinjuku for some shopping at Yodobashi Camera and some photography in the skyscraper district.

The Cocoon Tower in Shinjuku is one of the more visually interesting buildings to have been erected in recent years.

After sufficiently building up my appetite, I stopped at the Blue Square Cafe in the Cocoon Tower for a meal.

I had a delicious mushroom chicken curry bowl for ¥600 with coffee! I don't know of many places that you can have lunch for less.

The cafe was well thought out, and no design element was left out. The paper cups even had an attractive graphic design.

It's too bad that the Blue Square Cafe (English translation via google) will be closing on 28 February 2011.  Oh well, all good things must pass.

Shinjuku Skyscrapers

I was in Shinjuku with an elementary & high school friend that I haven't seen in 25-years... Can you believe it, 25-years?

Anyway, she came to Japan for a conference in Osaka and we decided to meet up in Tokyo. We went to an izakaya called Yuian in the Sumitomo Building in a Shinjuku skyscraper. Along the way we walked by Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower. It's a really fabulous building. Too bad we couldn't see it from the izakaya.

This was the view from the izakaya.