Yoyogi National Gymnasium
A roof held up by steel cables — Kenzō Tange's 1964 design that the Pritzker jury later called "among the most beautiful buildings of the 20th century."
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Designed by Tange and engineer Yoshikatsu Tsuboi, approved just 20 months before the 1964 Olympics and built in 18 months, the First Gymnasium hosted swimming and diving while the Second held basketball. In 2021 Japan designated it an Important Cultural Property for its "dynamic exterior and magnificent interior space." It still runs concerts and sports events, so you may catch it in action.
What to look for
- The sweeping suspension roof of the First Gymnasium — cables, not walls, carry the load over 4,000 square metres of arena floor
- The smaller Second Gymnasium (the Annex) directly beside it, built simultaneously by the same team
- The NHK broadcast studios along the Yoyogi Park edge — the arena exterior appears nightly at the close of NHK Newsline
A short walk from Harajuku Station, on the edge of Yoyogi Park in Shibuya.
Yoyogi National Gymnasium is one of 35 sights worth the detour in Tokyo, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Tokyo pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Tokyo
- Mode Gakuen Cocoon TowerA 50-story school curved like a cocoon — white aluminum and dark-blue glass, criss-crossed by diagonal white lines — that beat 150 rival proposals and won Skyscraper of the Year.
- Tokyo SkytreeAt 634 metres, the height isn't random — 6-3-4 spells "Musashi," the ancient name for this exact corner of Tokyo.
- Tokyo TowerA third of its steel came from US tanks scrapped after the Korean War — Japan's postwar recovery, painted orange and bolted into the sky.
- National Diet LibraryBorn in 1948 as a "citadel of popular sovereignty," Japan's national library holds 12 million volumes — and anyone can walk in.
- Akihabara (Electric Town)The black market that outgrew itself and became Japan's otaku capital.
- Tokyo National MuseumOne in ten of every artwork Japan has ever officially designated a National Treasure lives here.