The is a 36-story skyscraper located in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
History The building is owned by the Kasumi Kaikan (霞会館), an association of the former kazoku 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 limit.
Tenants The Asian Development Bank Institute has its head office on the 8th floor of the Kasumigaseki Building."Contact Us ." Asian Development Bank Institute. Retrieved on February 19, 2012. "ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK INSTITUTE Kasumigaseki Building 8F 3-2-5, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-6008, Japan" On the same floor, the Asian Development Bank has its Japan offices."Contacts." (Archive) Asian Development Bank. Retrieved on February 19, 2012. "Kasumigaseki Building 8F 3-2-5 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-6008, Japan" Children and Families Agency has its head office on this building.
At one time All Nippon Airways had its headquarters in the building,"World Airline Directory." Flight International. March 30, 1985. 50." Retrieved on June 17, 2009. as did Mitsui Chemicals."What's New." Mitsui Chemicals. June 5, 2001. Retrieved on February 18, 2010. In July 1978, when Nippon Cargo Airlines first began, it operated within a single room inside All Nippon Airways's space in the Kasumigaseki Building."Chapter 3. On the path to becoming a member of the incumbent carrier group." Nippon Cargo Airlines. Retrieved on February 18, 2010.
Two airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Union de Transports Aériens, at one time had offices in the building.Taylor, Chris and Nicko Goncharoff. Japan. Lonely Planet, 1997. 243. Retrieved from Google Books on February 19, 2010. , .Directory of Foreign Residents, Volume 31. Japan Times, 1978. 479. Retrieved from Google Books (original from the University of Michigan, digitized December 9, 2008) on February 19, 2010.
PwC had offices on the 15th floor of the building."PwC office locations in Japan." PwC. 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 kazoku.
In popular culture The Kasumigaseki Building is the main subject of the film Chōkōsō no Akebono, which was backed by Kajima Construction, 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, a huge indoor stadium.
References
External links
Kasumigaseki Building Official site (in Japanese)