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Japan's tallest skyscraper, 'Torch Tower,' to be built in Tokyo

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The name Torch Tower comes from...

...a demand for more office space that is steadily burning away.

20 ( +25 / -5 )

Well, with an expanding population, this is just what Tokyo needs.

4 ( +12 / -8 )

A crapload if money better spent some other way instead of someone’s p@&!s extension.

0 ( +7 / -7 )

https://www.mec.co.jp/tokiwabashi/

I like the first 13 or so floors, but the rest... I wonder who will be able to use the grassy field on the roof as well as the observation deck that seems like it will be an echo chamber. Not sure it will be golden during the daytime. I don't understand the appeal of smooth glass towers. I wish we could post photos here, but there is a video on that link that shows what I am talking about.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Given the fact that many of Tokyo’s most famous buildings have been destroyed by fire, I would have chosen different name.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

Maybe some low cost housing for the less well off would have been better?

But hey more towers sure ok ..sigh

5 ( +10 / -5 )

I recently saw some sort of entertainment business named "Treasure Bomb". I had extremely mixed feelings about that name.

Torch Tower? No mixed feelings there. If I had to go in I think my first stop would be the map of fire exits which I would photograph to be on the safe side.

I swear, Japan needs an official Panel of English Nomenclature filled with native English speakers who approve or disapprove all English signage by law.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Just call in Towering Inferno.

18 ( +18 / -0 )

"...to light up Japan like a torch..." is NOT a good expression.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Another prescheduled prestige project, showcasing the lack of Japanese business to adapt or react quickly, leave alone being proactive. Declining population, ever declining house and commercial real estate occupancy rates, another unneeded hotel, no doubt with 30 or so restaurants etc..

the Japan top holding companies better think of a smoother , leaner, more agile Business community or go down in flames.. like a torch.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Like all other skyscrapers around the world including the 828-meter Burj Khalifa which is only 60% occupied at peak, it will remain to be seen the the investors will ever see a return.

The days of skyscrapers are long GONE.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

We are all teleworking. No new offices needed.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Just like mega-malls .... DEA.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

The days of skyscrapers are long GONE.

They should be, but they won't as long as some men need their phallic symbols.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Was not impressed with the name and then the background explanation made it worse. Sigh.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Awful.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I swear, Japan needs an official Panel of English Nomenclature filled with native English speakers who approve or disapprove all English signage by law.

I am willing to be employed by such panel if a substantial salary is guaranteed.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

TrevorPeaceToday  09:16 am JST

"...to light up Japan like a torch..." is NOT a good expression.

The article says "*comes from a wish to lighten up Japan like a torch*", not "light up".

"lighten up" is obviously wrong in this example but there are many who will agree that Japan does indeed sometimes need to "lighten up".

2 ( +2 / -0 )

63 stories of stairs every time there is a frequent earthquake will actually have a great impact on physical health of tens of thousands.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

According to Hooktrunk2's link above, this development is called Tokyo Torch; it will have the two towers seen in the photo above, i.e. the Tokiwabashi Tower and the Torch Tower. They must be counting on visitor numbers to the roof for the amusements and the different-angle views.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Can't the architects create something more pleasing to the eye? I was shocked by the giant green cucumber/dildo they built in London

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Another boring, generic Tower of Babel for Japan Inc. to crow about. But no one really cares, these buildings are white elephants.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

good, more buildings in ( guess where ) Chiyoda or Minato... just what we need...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Gutsy move to be building something like that at a time like this, I'll give them that.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"The name Torch Tower comes from a wish to lighten up Japan like a torch"

Yeah... maybe not the best idea for a city that commemorates the fire bombings every year, and especially when Tokyo is screaming with debt after the Olympics.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

If they are going to build this tower, it must mean that they will have to demolish x amount of buildings, who presently owns these buildings? are they willing to move? what about there employees? how long will the building take to erect? how much will it cost? there is already a shortage of skilled workers, who will build it? some will say the project will come in over budget and being behind on schedule. how many brown paper bags have been bought in? all I see is a fancy idea.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

What an unfortunate choice for a name.

Why not just call it Grenfell Tower II?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Gorgeous piece of arquitecture.

Looking forward to it, it matches the buzzing central Tokyo vibes.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

"I like to see a man standing at the foot of a skyscraper...It’s man who made it—the whole incredible mass of stone and steel. It doesn't dwarf him, it makes him greater than the structure. It reveals his true dimensions to the world. What we love about these buildings... is the creative faculty, the heroic in man."

-Ayn Rand, "The Fountainhead"

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Just a thought, but how about bringing businesses to the depopulation towns in the not-tokyo regions? Revitalise the Tokyo. Defintiely would lower costs, be cheaper to build, and less traffic. Japan is not just tokyo.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

In 1995 had visited Tokyo on a freighter ship on which i was employed as a "Marine Engineer". During my off-duty hours ventured ashore and was amazed on viewing the designer buildings although not very tall .Tokyo didn't have tall buildings but beautifully and uniquely designed buildings. My home city of Mumbai in 2020 has some of the tallest buildings in India .The "Tokyo Olympics" have been postponed to 2021 and "Tower Torch" is a name that matches the city.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Revitalise the not-tokyo is what it should read. Edit button, pleaee

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I think the office area around Tokyo station will thrive even when other areas are not, because of the Shinkansen, which makes commuting from the country side for a once-weekly office day much more pleasant

1 ( +1 / -0 )

At least it's not another Trump Tower. Whatever its purpose mayu be, I hope it can withhold the might of Godzilla.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This is another good ole boy project that Mitsubishi and the govt. love to build. The ex-US base land in Okinawa was all given over to the big mainland companies who immediately built giant malls that are being used by nobody. Why not let the creativity and ingenuity of the common Japanese and allow them access to own commercial land and to build and operate small businesses? Central Tokyo doesn't have to be the land of giant office buildings does it? Or maybe it was this or another useless dam somewhere.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The film "Towering Inferno" springs to mind with this poorly named building - hope it doesn't live up to its name

1 ( +1 / -0 )

What a great idea for a country that's highly earthquake prone at a time when the pandemic is altering the demand for office space on a global scale.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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