Sompo Japan Building, Corporate headquarters in Nishi-Shinjuku, Japan
The Sompo Japan Building is a 200-metre office tower on Ome-kaido in Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo, designed by Yoshikazu Uchida. Its dark facade is covered in closely spaced vertical fins, and the lower left side bows outward like a skirt, a shape inspired by Chicago's Chase Tower. The Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Museum of Art opened on the 42nd floor in 1976 and moved to a new building on the site in July 2020.
The building was completed in the 1970s for the Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance company, a predecessor of Sompo Japan. It went up during the years when Nishi-Shinjuku was being transformed by a wave of high-rise construction.
The top floor of the building houses the Sompo Museum of Art, where Van Gogh's Sunflowers is on permanent display. The painting was bought by the insurance company in 1987 at auction for what was then a record price.
The Sompo Museum of Art on the top floor is open to the public and separate from the office areas. Weekdays tend to be quieter, and the surrounding streets of Nishi-Shinjuku are easy to walk between the many other towers in the area.
The building's outward-sloping lower edge, likened to a skirt or pantaloons, was inspired by Chase Tower in Chicago, which its designer Yoshikazu Uchida studied on a tour of over 40 American skyscrapers. The resemblance is visible from street level along Ome-kaido.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,126 contributors worldwide.
