Kasumigaseki Building, Skyscraper in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, Japan
The Kasumigaseki Building is a 36-storey skyscraper with three basement levels and a height of 156 metres in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Its facade is a dense grid of light-grey vertical piers and horizontal spandrels framing dark rectangular windows, with a recessed band of shadowed openings near the top. A glass entrance sits behind a projecting canopy at the base, and a glass-and-metal canopy angles outward at the right corner.
Completed in 1968, the tower was the first modern skyscraper in Japan and held the record as the tallest in the country until 1970. Its construction required legal adjustments, as previous regulations limited building heights to 31 meters.
The name comes from the Kasumigaseki district, Tokyo's government quarter. The 34th floor holds the Kasumi Kaikan club rooms of the former kazoku nobility, open to members only, namely descendants of that class. The building's plot belonged to the Kazoku Kaikan until the association was renamed in 1947.
Access is through several entrances at ground level, and elevators connect the various floors with office spaces and public areas. The central location within the government district makes orientation easy, as many ministry buildings and administrative offices are nearby.
The tower fundamentally changed Japanese building legislation and opened the way for future high-rise projects across the country. Its design followed strict earthquake-resistant standards that were new at the time and later became a model for other projects.
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