When this guide was first published in 2001, it was the only one

to introduce in one volume the architecture of the Tôkyô region,

encompassing Tôkyô proper and adjacent prefectures, in all its

remarkable variety. Having been out of print for some time, it is

now being reissued in a revised and extended edition, this time

with Japan expert Ulf Meyer as co-author.

The Tôkyô region is the most populous metropolitan area in the

world and a place of extraordinary vitality. The political, economic

and cultural center of Japan, Tôkyô also exerts an enormous international

influence. In fact the region has been pivotal to the nation’s

affairs for centuries. Its sheer size, its concentration of resources

and institutions and its long history have produced buildings of

many different types from many different eras.

Over 500 buildings are presented in this guide, from 15th-century

Buddhist temples to 21st-century cultural buildings, from venerable

folkhouses to works by leading contemporary architects of

Japan such as Kenzô Tange, Fumihiko Maki, Arata Isozaki, Hiroshi

Hara, Toyô Itô, Riken Yamamoto and Tadao Ando as well as by

foreign architects such as Norman Foster, Peter Eisenman and

Steven Holl.

The buildings are arranged chronologically and grouped into

six periods: the medieval period (1185–1600), the Edo period

(1600–1868), the Meiji period (1868–1912), the Taishô and early

Shôwa period (1912–1945), the post-war reconstruction period

(1945–1970) and the contemporary period (1970 until today). This

comprehensive coverage permits those interested in Japanese

architecture or culture to focus on a particular era or to examine

buildings within a larger temporal framework. A concise discussion

of the history of the region and the architecture of Japan develops

a context within which the individual works may be viewed.