Explore Tokyo’s Rapid Urbanization on a Tour of Omotesando with an Architecture Expert

Visualize the Modern Evolution of Tokyo through the Eyes of an Expert on Architecture and Culture

Architecture expert Shuko Koike first became interested in the area around Omotesando after discovering its incredibly rural origins, having been a sparsely populated region of farms and villages throughout much of its existence. As she strolled the streets past the fancy restaurants and high fashion boutiques that characterize Omotesando today, Koike began to imagine how challenging it must be for visitors to visualize the incredible architectural shifts that have taken place in the district over the past two hundred years and thus the concept behind this street-level walking tour was conceived.

The trendy upscale district of Omotesando was once a rural area of farms and forests

With a Masters Degree of Engineering in Architecture from the Tokyo University of Science and having previously worked under the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs at the National Archives of Modern Architecture as well as overseas in New York, Shuko Koike carries a wealth of unique knowledge and perspective as your guide through the cultural and architectural history of Omotesando. “Living overseas made me reflect on how challenging it can be for visitors to peel back the layers of Tokyo’s architectural history,” she explains. “And so I hope a tour like this one will prove illuminating and rewarding for them.”

Shuko Koike holds a Masters degree in architecture and has an international background in her field of expertise

Meiji Jingu Shrine and the Yoyogi National Gymnasium: Monuments to Major Turning Points in Japanese History

Your tour will convene at Harajuku Station, just a few steps away from the main gate of the Meiji Jingu, the great shrine built to commemorate Emperor Meiji in the years following his death in 1912. Through his 45 years on the throne (1867-1912), the emperor oversaw one of the most dramatic periods of societal transformation in human history, from which Japan emerged as a modern industrialized nation. While shrines are among the most ancient of Japanese architectural structures, Meiji Jingu incorporates Western elements such as wine barrels next to traditional sake barrels as acknowledgement of the changes that Japan underwent during Emperor Meiji’s rule (Please note that this tour does not cover the shrine grounds.)

Meiji Jingu Shrine was built in honor of Emperor Meiji, who oversaw the transition of Japan into a modern nation (This tour introduces the shrine from outside the grounds)

Across a pedestrian overpass from Meiji Jingu, you will find two quite unusual buildings whose graceful curves and asymmetry stand out against the straight lines of Shibuya’s skyscrapers. Designed by Kenzo Tange, the first Japanese architect to gain widespread international fame, the larger building is the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, built in the early 1960s as the main swimming venue for the 1964 Summer Olympic Games, while its smaller annex hosted basketball games. The 1964 Olympics are seen as a significant turning point for Japan, marking its return to the international fold after the dark years of the Second World War. The Yoyogi National Gymnasium was also a venue for the 2020 Summer Olympics (Please note that this tour does not cover the building’s interior.)

The Yoyogi National Gymnasium was designed by Kenzo Tange for the 1964 Summer Olympic Games (This tour features the exterior only)

Omotesando Hills: From Residential Neighborhood to Modern Shopping Mecca

Your tour will then move to Omotesando itself, a broad avenue lined with twin rows of zelkova trees. Following the massive destruction of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, a company called Dojunkai began erecting large rows of public housing complexes using reinforced concrete around Tokyo, including Omotesando. While none of these buildings remain today, Koike will use rare photographs from that time to help you visualize this upscale modern district as it once was, a rather nondescript residential neighborhood. 

Through the past five decades, Omotesando has been transformed from a residential neighborhood into an upscale shopping district

While the 1980s saw the beginnings of Omotesando’s evolution into a more fashionable district of Tokyo, the economic collapse of 1991 put the brakes on development. In the early 2000s, prime minister Junichiro Koizumi enacted policies to encourage foreign investment, which led to a flurry of construction in Omotesando with many of its most impressive modern structures built to house luxury fashion and apparel brands. Led by your guide Koike, you will visit one of the most iconic of these modern buildings, a shopping center designed by world-renowned architect Tadao Ando known as Omotesando Hills. 

The Omotesando Hills shopping center was completed in 2006 as part of a wave of foreign investment into building projects

The Playful Side of Architecture: SunnyHills at Minami-Aoyama and Youth Fashion on Cat Street

One of Koike’s great strengths as a tour guide is her ability to place particular buildings within the ever-evolving trends and movements of global and Japanese architecture, such as the recent tendency in Tokyo to combine modern structures with traditional Japanese elements. Koike will show you one such building in Kengo Kuma’s whimsical SunnyHills at Minami-Aoyama, which was constructed using traditional jigoku-gumi techniques to join more than 5000 meters of wood without a single nail. Kuma is known worldwide for his striking architectural masterpieces, including the Japan National Stadium used for the 2020 Summer Olympics. 

With your guide Koike, the buildings of Tokyo will take on a life of their own

Koike also emphasizes that not all architectural developments are meticulously planned, with neighborhoods evolving organically due to the people who live there. Located just south of Omotesando, running from Harajuku towards Shibuya, the street fashion avenue now known as Cat Street was once a small river that flowed through the city. After the river was covered over in the 1960s, playgrounds were built for local children who reportedly left sweets that attracted stray cats, possibly giving rise to the name Cat Street. There are many other theories about this, however, that Koike will explain as you stroll down this laidback stretch of restaurants and shops.

Once the site of an urban river, Cat Street evolved over time into a trendy center of fashion and pop culture

Designing Fine Architecture within the Seemingly Mundane: THE TOKYO TOILET and Miyashita Park as Symbols of Urban Renewal

Public toilets are not something normally associated with visual beauty or fine architecture, but in 2020, a project began in Shibuya Ward that sought to challenge perceptions of what the seemingly mundane public toilet could be. Famous Japanese and international architects responded to the call, creating public toilets the likes of which no one had ever seen. To view these symbols of urban renewal and artistry, Koike’s tour will stop by Tadao Ando’s Jingu-Dori Park toilet, with tour participants welcome to use the facility if need be. 

Tadao Ando’s installation of THE TOKYO TOILET can be found at Jingu-Dori Park

Your tour with Shuko Koike will conclude in Shibuya, one of Tokyo’s most dynamic and fast-evolving districts. Known for its Scramble Crossing, one of the most-photographed locations in the world, Shibuya has also long been home to an urban space known as Miyashita Park. Opened in 1953, the park became quite run-down and dilapidated over time, something of a local eyesore. Redevelopment took place in the late 2010s with Miyashita reopening in 2020 as a spectacular new building complex with a rooftop park.

Shibuya’s Miyashita Park was redeveloped in the 2010s into a welcoming space with a stunning rooftop park

Peel Back the Layers of Tokyo’s Urban Development with a Guided Architectural Tour of Omotesando

Tokyo is a wonderful, vibrant, complex city, but with its overwhelming layers of infrastructure and urban development, it can be a difficult place to come to grips with at first. Experiencing districts like Omotesando, Aoyama, and Shibuya at street level with a guide as knowledgeable and affable as Shuko Koike is the perfect way to gain insight into Tokyo at the right pace, strolling past the shops, homes, restaurants, and public toilets that all play their part in the makeup of this great city.

The best way to begin to understand Tokyo is at street level with a walking tour

With a tour that covers more than two hundred years of urban development and architectural innovation in the western part of Tokyo, Koike’s Omotesando architecture tour encompasses history, politics, art, fashion, and the necessities of daily life within one of the biggest cities in the world. Guests with varied interests will find their guide open and eager to discuss whatever they most want to know.