Cityscapes

While living in Osaka and visiting a number of Japanese cities over the past four years, I was occasionally struck by the newness of many of the buildings and complexes that I saw and went in. Still, this didn’t really faze me much until I returned to NYC.

As we all know, towards the end of WWII, the Japanese mainland was heavily bombarded by America forces, resulting in the burning down of large parts of some of its major cities, such as Osaka, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Yokohama and Fukuoka. The result: post-war era reconstruction was done using more modern building materials and architectural styles. Ultimately, the Japan of today is a much more visually modern place than say some of the major cities of America, such as New York City.

The pictures from this post are from my personal collection, but show a large number of buildings constructed no more than 20-25 years ago. Whereas, the average NYC building seems to be more than 50-60 years old, some of the more iconic buildings like the Empire State Building pushing 90. New construction is all around, especially in the Times Square area, however, the majority of NYC buildings had a few years, and pounds, on their Osaka counterparts. The Umeda Sky Building, completed in 1993, is the perfect example of the modern ideas being implemented. The complex consists of two 40-story towers connected at the top by multiple bridges and an observation roof. Another, which is also the second tallest building in Japan, is the WTC Cosmo Tower, a 55-story skyscraper and the centerpiece of the Osaka Bay area.

Construction materials as well are diverse. New York buildings seem to favor concrete, stone and brick, mixing the city with various shades of dark and light greys, reds and tans. Osaka, tends to favor glass and steel, creating a rather futuristic and very Asian style to it’s cities. Great examples of this include Honmachi in Osaka and Shibuya in Tokyo.

Still, perhaps the greatest difference is the current development occurring. In Osaka, in my old neighbor, there were no less than three new high rise buildings being put up. Osaka station is being redone and expanded, homes, office space and entertainment plazas are being constructed at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, here in NYC we are still debating over the successor to the World Trade Center and only a few new buildings pop up, while the city, itself, ages.