The is a 36-story

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

located in

Kasumigaseki Kasumigaseki (霞が関, 霞ヶ関 or 霞ケ関) is a district in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Most government ministries are located in the neighbourhood, making its name a metonym for the Civil service of Japan, Japanese bureaucracy, while Nag ...

, Chiyoda,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

History

The building is owned by the '' Kasumi Kaikan'' (霞会館), an association of the former ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. It was formed by merging the feudal lords (''Daimyo, daimyō'') and court nobles (''kuge'') into one system modelled after the British peerage. Distin ...

'' high nobility. The plot was once owned by the ''Kazoku Kaikan'' (華族会館), the previous association, which was changed after World War II in 1947. Completed in 1968, the building is widely regarded as the first modern office skyscraper in Japan. The reason high-rise buildings were not built in the country earlier was that Japan's Building Standard Law set an absolute height limit of until 1963, when the limit was abolished in favor of a

Floor Area Ratio Floor area ratio (FAR) is the ratio of a building's total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built. It is often used as one of the regulations in city planning along with the building-to-land ratio. Th ...

limit.

Tenants

The Asian Development Bank Institute has its head office on the 8th floor of the Kasumigaseki Building. On the same floor, the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank to promote social and economic development in Asia. The bank is headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines and maintains 31 field offices around the world. The bank was establishe ...

has its Japan offices. Children and Families Agency has its head office on this building. At one time

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. ANA operates services to both domestic and international destinations and is Japan's largest airline, ahead of its main rival flag carrier Japan Airlines. the airline has approximate ...

had its headquarters in the building, as did

Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese chemicals company listed on the Nikkei with business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. It is one of the leading chemical companies in Japan and is part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company mainly ...

. In July 1978, when Nippon Cargo Airlines first began, it operated within a single room inside

's space in the Kasumigaseki Building. Two airlines,

Garuda Indonesia Garuda Indonesia is the flag carrier of Indonesia, headquartered at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport near Jakarta. A successor of KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf, it is a member of SkyTeam airline alliance and the second-largest airline of Ind ...

and

Union des Transports Aériens Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...

, at one time had offices in the building.

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

had offices on the 15th floor of the building.PwC office locations in Japan
"

PriceWaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

. Retrieved on February 18, 2010. The '' Kasumi Kaikan'' has their club rooms on the 34th floor and is strictly for members only, namely descendants of the ''

''.

In popular culture

The Kasumigaseki Building is the main subject of the film '' Chōkōsō no Akebono'', which was backed by

Kajima Construction is one of the oldest and largest construction companies in Japan. Founded in 1840, the company has its headquarters in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo. The company is known for its DIB-200 proposal. The company stock is traded on four leading Japa ...

, the company that built the Kasumigaseki Building. The building was often used for comparison to things with large volumes in Japan which continued until the construction of the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium (whose former site is now occupied by the Tokyo Dome Hotel and a plaza for this stadium). In Japan, it is often us ...

, a huge indoor stadium.

References

External links

Kasumigaseki Building
Official site (in Japanese) {{Authority control Skyscraper office buildings in Tokyo All Nippon Airways Office buildings completed in 1968 Airline headquarters Mitsui Fudosan 1968 establishments in Japan Skyscrapers in Chiyoda, Tokyo