Architecture – Willem's Planet

January 12, 2026January 15, 2026

Monday/ Kabukicho Tower and Ginza 🌇

On Monday I went up to the 17th-floor observation deck of the Kabukicho Tower. It offers a nice view of the trains running into and out of Shinjuku station.

The other photos are from Ginza shopping district around sunset.
Everything in Ginza is art— the buildings, the lamp posts, the manhole covers in the pavement, all the way down to the metro stations below ground.
The clocks are from inside the Wako Building, owned by Seiko watch corporation.

I took the Marounochi Line back to Shinjuku just before the onset of rush hour (rush hour starts at around 5.30 pm).

January 11, 2026January 11, 2026

Sunday 🌞

Sunday was bright and mild (57 °F/ 14 °C) here in Shinjuku.
The streets around Shinjuku station were closed for traffic all day.

A little parade of sorts came by, featuring bands and groups for firefighter and disaster support, and little league baseball teams. Elsewhere there was a protest for the war in Ukraine (offering support for Ukraine).

There are a Teslas on the streets, but not many. In the picture with the black Tesla, the hotel is on the left.
The beautiful building with the wavy top is Tokyu Kabukicho Towerー 48-story skyscraper completed in 2023. It was designed by Yuko Nagayama & Associates and developed by Shimizu Corporation. [Wikipedia]

At Shinjuku Station’s East Exit, the giant 3D cat is still there, entertaining crowds near the crosswalk for Studio Alta.

January 9, 2026January 9, 2026

Friday/ arrival in Tokyo 🗼

There’s a thundering (digital) waterfall in the check-in and departures area at Singapore’s Changi airport.
And watch out for the 3-D jaguar inside the secure area that will pounce on you!

Changi airport’s layout feels different than the standard airport floor layout.
There are no check-in counters, and I had to look around to find out where to take my tagged luggage for check-in.
(It is handled by fully automated stations with conveyor belts that swallow your bags.)

The security check is done right at the gate with its dedicated waiting area.
So no bottled water or other large liquids can be carried onto the plane. There are no toilets right by the gate’s waiting area as you wait to board.
(So what happens if it turns out there is a 30 min or 1 hr delay with the boarding process? Can you go out and come back in through the security check?)

All went according to schedule, though, and off we were on the 6 hr 16 min flight to Tokyo’s Haneda airport.
We were northeast bound with a flight path that had Viet Nam to the west, and going between Taiwan to the north and the Philippines to the south.

It was still Friday night rush hour on Tokyo’s trains upon my arrival, and I would have had to navigate my way out of Shinjuku station with bags in tow, the busiest of them all. (A station that handles 3.6 million passengers every day).
So Go Taxi it was, and the US $55 fare that brought me right to the entrance of the hotel was totally worth it.

January 7, 2026January 7, 2026

Wednesday/ Chinatown, Singapore 🏫

Singapore has one of the oldest Chinatowns in the world.
The area around Pagoda Street has been a hub for the Chinese immigrants in Singapore since 1330.
To this day it has traditional shophouses, but also modern stores and busy street markets.

I sipped my coffee outside the Starbucks on Smith Street, while listening to a beautiful song in a language I will never understand or learn 😢, as the smell of freshly cut durian from a nearby vendor wafted through the air.

The mosque is Masjid Jamae (built in 1820), and the Hindu temple is Sri Mariamman. These are the sources of strange sounds—very, very strange to the Western ear— the calls to prayer from the mosque, and clanging and chants from the inside the Hindu temple.

The last two pictures are is of the main plaza in Chinatown.
I love the public space with the old-timers that are there just to shoot the breeze, or to play a game of checkers.

December 29, 2025December 29, 2025

Monday/ Ream National Park, Cambodia 🇰🇭

The Diamond Princess arrived at Preah Sihanouk (Sihanoukville) at 7 am this morning.

The tour bus that took us to Ream National Park and the beaches on the Gulf of Thailand first made its way through Sihanoukville, with a stop at the ‘love monument’. The love monument is a a massive copper sculpture depicting the legendary Khmer couple Prince Preah Thong and Naga Princess Neang Neak, symbolizing the origin of Khmer civilization and culture, located at a major roundabout facing the sea.

There were a lot of abandoned buildings lining the streets Sihanoukville: many of them projects by Chinese investors and entrepreneurs that were abandoned after the Covid pandemic had forced the stoppage of work on them.

The next stop was at a Buddhist compound with several temples, and Buddhas. (Theravada Buddhism is practiced by over 90% of the population).

After that it was off to the beaches of Sampounch Island, and the national park. We did a little motor boat cruise through the mangroves and walked on an elevated plank walkway through the forest. There was not a single bird in sight, but we ran into a few long-tailed macaques right at the end of the walk.

The other beach pictures and the crab, the gecko, the snake and the giant tree are near the beach at the Ream Boutique Hotel. We had lunch there, and a dip in the lukewarm waters of the Gulf of Thailand.

December 27, 2025December 28, 2025

Saturday/ Ho Chi Minh City 🇻🇳

The Diamond Princess arrived at the deep-water port of Phú Mỹ at 8 am on Saturday morning.

It’s almost a 2-hour drive from Phú Mỹ to the sprawling city of Ho Chi Minh. Our tour bus ran alongside and across the rivers of the Mekong Delta*, and the route included a segment of National Route 1 with toll plazas. It is the beginning of the rice planting season. Rice is a staple food in Viet Nam.

*Home to the endangered Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas), known for reaching nearly 10 feet and over 600 pounds.

As we approached the city, we saw tall apartment buildings (what we would call condominiums in the States). These go for a fortune in Vietnamese Dong— 5 billion, about US$200,000— and are strictly for rich people. The supertall skyscraper in the pictures is that of the 81-story Landmark 81 tower (completed 2018).

Our first stop in Saigon* was at an art studio and gallery with Vietnamese lacquer art, or Sơn Mài. *The central part of Ho Chi Minh City still goes by the name of Saigon.

The next stop was at Ho Chi Minh City History Museum with its lovely water lily pond and displays of the forces that occupied the territory of what is known as Viet Nam today.

I asked Google AI Overview for a summary:
Vietnam’s history is marked by occupation and resistance, starting with over a millennium of Chinese rule (c. 111 BCE–938 CE), followed by internal dynasties and expansion south. French colonization from the 1880s led to French Indochina, briefly interrupted by Japanese occupation during WWII, sparking the Viet Minh independence movement. After WWII, France tried to reclaim control, leading to the First Indochina War (1946-1954), ending with French defeat and Vietnam’s division, ultimately leading to the Vietnam War (US involvement) and communist unification in 1975.

Next was the Saigon Central Post Office with a portrait of Ho Chi Minh inside. (Ho Chi Minh was the man that led a long and ultimately successful campaign to make Vietnam independent. He was president of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969.)

Look for my picture of the Pittman Apartments building from which people were airlifted from during the Fall of Saigon in April 1975 (famously captured in Hubert van Es’s iconic photo). It’s painted yellow and light brown and has several antennas attached to it.

We made a quick stop at a Buddhist Temple, and then went to the swank Windsor Plaza Hotel for lunch. I loved the dragon on my little can of Bia Saigon Special beer.

The next stop was at the Independence Palace (also called Reunification Palace) , a building that played a central role in the Viet Nam war. It was designed by architect Ngô Viết Thụ. Construction started in 1962 and it was completed by 1966. It was the home and workplace of the president of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).

The final stop for the day was at Ben Thanh market.
It has some 1,500 booths inside and it was crowded, so I went outside and took a few pictures instead.

December 26, 2025December 26, 2025

Friday/ Nha Trang, Viet Nam 🇻🇳

The Diamond Princess arrived at the pier in Cam Ranh at 7 am this morning.

My coach bus excursion to Nha Trang was a whirlwind tour consisting of a visit to Po Nagar Temple, a short cruise on Cai River, and visits to an ancient house built from ebony wood, a mat weaving shop and an arts & crafts market.

December 22, 2025December 24, 2025

Monday/ the Gardens by the Bay 🌴

The Gardens by the Bay is a futuristic nature park spanning 101 hectares of reclaimed land right in the center of the city.

The Flower Dome is the world’s largest glass greenhouse and features a spectacular ensemble of plants, trees and flowers from all over the world.

December 22, 2025

Sunday night / the Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade 🏙️

These pictures are all from the Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade where the Marina Bay Sands Hotel is.

The hotel’s grand opening was in February 2011.
It was designed by Moshe Safdie Architects (Safdie Architects), and features three tilted hotel towers linked by a massive, surfboard-like SkyPark at the top, housing gardens, restaurants, and the famous infinity pool, inspired by a deck of cards.

The sphere in the water is an Apple store and the building with the petals of a flower is the ArtScience Museum.

After sunset, there was a laser and fountain show.

December 7, 2025December 7, 2025

Sunday/ a little architecture tour 🏢

I braved the cold wind outside to do a little self-directed architecture tour on First Hill today.
I wanted to take a look at the The Graystone Seattle on Columbia Avenue and the Museum House complex with its twin towers.

The Graystone at 800 Columbia St was actually built in 2021 (how time flies). It has 31 stories and 271 units. This is the view from the parking lot on 8th Avenue, looking northeast. (On the right, just a block or so away, is the Museum House complex with its twin towers).

Now I am on Columbia Street, walking up hill. I should have taken a picture without the tree! but there is a waterfall feature on the right that obscures the street view into the condo’s gym somewhat. There are several other amenities of course, such as a rooftop deck and meeting rooms and all that.

Here’s the view of the downtown skyline, looking towards the west. Interstate 5 is close by, but at a much lower level which dampens any traffic noise one might hear.

Now walking to the Museum House complex on Terry Avenue.
This apartment building opened in March, and features a north tower and a south tower, each with 32 stories. It offers 506 rental units.

Looking up at the main facade of the building. The skybridge is all the way up on Floor 31.

First Hill has several hospitals and buildings with clinics and doctors’ offices inside. This is Cabrini Center on Boren Avenue, completed in 1973 with 18 towers.

St. James Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral located at 804 Ninth Avenue. It was dedicated in 1907.

All right. The sun is going to set soon and I am heading to the waterfront.
Here’s a look at the traffic on I-5 (looking south).

Beautiful colors reflected by the windows of the Crowne Plaza hotel in downtown. The hotel was completed in 1980 and has 18 floors.

Seattle’s weird library with its faceted frames of glass and steel has 11 floors. It opened in May 2004 to the public.

Further south along 4th Avenue is the Columbia Tower, at 76 stories still the tallest structure in the state of Washington. (Getting squeezed out of view from here a little bit by the F5 Tower in front of it that opened in 2017).

Heading down to the waterfront now. It’s good that I snapped this picture of the sun behind the clouds, because it was gone for the day just a few minutes later.

Seattle has 33 fire stations and the one on the waterfront is No 5. The original Fire Station No. 5 building opened here at this location in 1902.

Here are the first cars rolling onto the Walla Walla ferry at Colman Dock (Seattle Ferry Terminal), for its departure to Bremerton.
Look at the windsock and choppy water: there is a strong breeze.

On my way back to the G-line bus stop. Here is “What Goes Up Must Come Down” — the giant paddle-ball sculpture by Catherine Mayer at 2nd Avenue and Spring St. It is about 42 feet tall and made of fiberglass and steel.

November 23, 2025December 2, 2025

Sunday/ lunch and a concert 🎻

Three of us had a lovely lunch at Mister A’s restaurant in downtown San Diego. The restaurant is on the 12th floor of the Manchester Financial Building and offers great views of downtown, the Coronado Bridge and even the runways at San Diego International airport.

After lunch* we made our way down 5th Avenue to Jacobs Music Center to attend a live performance by the San Diego Symphony of the music that was composed for the animated movie Flow (released 2024).

*Mine was a king salmon ‘Wellington’ (shown below).

November 19, 2025December 2, 2025

Wednesday/ cubes and rectangles 🏢

Here’s another picture from last night, taken from the Melrose Avenue overlook.

It’s a study of the cubes and rectangles that make up the Nexus Seattle condominium tower (on the left) and the Kinects Tower apartment complex to its right.

November 9, 2025December 2, 2025

Sunday/ Gracie Mansion beckons 🏡

Reporter Eliza Shapiro writes for the New York Times:
Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, recently spent a weekday morning blanketing the floor of his $2,300-a-month apartment with towels. The sink was leaking, and the super had been summoned.

That wasn’t the only frustration.

“My wife and I have just talked about the fact that a one-bedroom is a little too small for us now,” he said recently on “The New Yorker Radio Hour,” after detailing the plumbing troubles.

Assuming Mr. Mamdani decides to move into Gracie Mansion, New York City’s official mayoral residence, he is unlikely to be dealing personally with such workaday problems much longer. Nor will his new digs feel quite so snug.

It is hard to overstate the difference between Mr. Mamdani’s current home, a modest rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria, Queens, and Gracie Mansion, a 226-year-old, 11,000-square-foot home on the Upper East Side, with gleaming mirrors reflecting the light of chandeliers, faux mahogany doors, a vast lawn with apple and fig trees and a vegetable garden occasionally plagued by rabbits.

‘Gracie Mansion, on the other hand, was once described by a New York Times reporter as a “pale lemon cake of a house.” It sits at the top of Carl Schurz Park, abutting the F.D.R. Drive, and offers sweeping views of the East River from its summertime veranda.’ – from Eliza Shapiro’s report for the NYT
_________________________________________________________________________
The federal-style mansion was built in 1799 and consists of the original two-story house and an annex built in 1966.
The original house is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

November 2, 2025December 2, 2025

Sunday/ along Columbia Street ️️🏙️

I took the G Line bus to the waterfront, and walked back up along Columbia Street in downtown Seattle to take a few pictures.
The tallest building in Seattle is on Columbia Street: the 76-story Columbia Center, which rises 937 feet (286 m) and was completed in 1985.

I went back to the waterfront to watch the sun set.
Sunset is now at 4.49 pm.

Blue skies and golden leaves on the way to the G Line bus stop on 17th Avenue E and Madison Street.

The view an hour or so before sunset from the Marion Street Ferry Walkway, looking north along Alaskan Way.

There’s the Columbia Center, reflected on the marble wall by First Avenue.

The Columbia Center (1985, 76 stories) is in the middle of the picture, with the Seattle Municipal Tower (1990, 57 stories).
On the right is the Pacific Building (1971, 22 stories).

There goes the last of the leaves on the gingko tree at 215 Columbia Street.
This building was originally the Seattle Chamber of Commerce Building (1924), and is now the Northwest Title Insurance Company Building (since 2007).

The Net, formerly known as The Marion, is a planned high-rise office building. In its current design iteration, it is to be 36 stories tall.

Six skyscrapers in one picture.
Clockwise from the top right corner: the Columbia Center (1985), the Seattle Municipal Tower (1990), the F5 Tower (2017), 901 Fifth Avenue (1973), Fourth and Madison Building (2002), DocuSign Tower (1983).

Buildings close to Alaskan Way by the waterfront. I like the pastel colors reflected in the window panes facing the setting sun.

Sunset with the Seattle Ferry Terminal (Colman Dock, Pier 52) on the left.
The ferry is the Kaleetan, getting ready to depart for Bainbridge Island.

October 22, 2025October 23, 2025

Wednesday/ wholesale destruction 💀

Headlines and picture from the New York Times.

Jess Bidgood writes for the New York Times, referring to the destruction of the East Wing of the White House:
It wasn’t so long ago that Trump was promising his plan to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the grounds “won’t interfere with the current building.” In fact, my colleague Luke Broadwater reported today that the entire wing, which is historically the domain of the first lady, will be razed in the project.
Images of the demolition, which began on Monday as a precursor to the construction of a $200 million ballroom, have rocketed around the globe, swiftly becoming political fodder and a perfect Rorschach test for a deeply polarizing presidency.

Jess Bidgood writing for the New York Times: Trump, ever the developer, has certainly spent a lot of time building things at the White House. He paved over the lawn in the Rose Garden to create a patio. He has added gold filigree to the Oval Office and ornate chandeliers to the Cabinet Room, remaking the White House with an indelible imprint of Mar-a-Lago maximalism that is all but certain to outlast his presidency.

September 29, 2025September 30, 2025

Monday/ postcard from Seoul 🇰🇷

Hey! The postcard I had mailed to Seattle from the top of Seoul tower made it into my mailbox.

**Gyeongbok Palace**
Situated at No. 1 Sejong Road in the Jongno District of Seoul, the palace was originally built in 1395 as the palace of the King of Choson. It was listed as a cultural property on Jan. 1, 1963.

Mailed on Sat. Sept. 13, and processed on Mon. Sep. 15 at Seoul Yongsan Post Office, a stone’s throw from Seoul Tower.

**2021 Republic of Korea Definitives**
Issued Dec. 17, 2021
Perf. 13½ |Design: Ryu Ji-Hyeong |Engraving: Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation |Litho. |No watermark
#3555 500₩ Multicolored |Fruit cluster of bunge (Crataegus pinnatifida)
This tree is also called Chinese hawthorn and is known for its bright red fruit that is used in traditional East Asian medicine and foods (like candies and teas).
500₩ = US$ 0.36
[Source: stampworld.com]

September 18, 2025September 18, 2025

Thursday/ Shibuya at night 🌃

Thursday was my last full day here in Tokyo.

In the morning, I ran out to Uniqlo in Ginza to change my size M shirts that I had bought Wednesday night, for size L. (The line at the fitting room was too long yesterday and I took a chance with the size M).

Then I went out to a gallery called Ozeki with beautiful Japanese lantern lamp shades that a YouTuber had recommended. I bought a little round one that is folded flat for packing into a suitcase. (At this point in any overseas trip it is always a question if all the stuff I had bought, would fit in my suitcases.)

And for the evening I made a run out to the Mandarake store (books, cards, collectibles) in Shibyua. At 5.30 ish, it was almost too late. You don’t want to get crushed on the train by the commuters that go home.
At Shibuya Scramble Crossing: lots of crazy people and definitely too many foreigners taking selfies and annoying the locals, I’m sure.
Get out of my way!

September 17, 2025September 21, 2025

Wednesday/ Ginza district 🪭

On Wednesday night I did my mandatory (mandatory for me) walk-about along the main street in Ginza, Tokyo’s luxury shopping district. The street is named Chuo-dori, which translates to ‘Central Street’.
The sign in the first picture says ‘Ginza Block 6’.

Stores on Chuo-dori close at 7 or at 8. The Onitsuka Tiger store (Japanese footwear maker) was filled with sneaker aficionados right until closing time. Look for the storefront with the cool tiger neon sign in the pictures below.

September 16, 2025September 16, 2025

Tuesday/ Shibuya 🏙️

I took the Yamanote line to Shibuya station on Tuesday morning.
My reservation to visit the open air observation on top of the Shibuya Scramble Square Tower had rained out last week, so I wanted to give it another try.

That’s the **Shibuya Sky Deck**, the observation deck on top of the **Shibuya Scramble Square Tower** (the deck takes up the entire top of the tower).
The Tower is the tallest building in the Shibuya district of Tokyo and contains shops, offices, and event spaces in addition to the observation deck on its rooftop. The building and the observation deck opened in November 2019.
All of the windows on the four floors at the bottom form a giant display screen.

A photo from 1957 of Shibuya station that was in the lobby. The round dome in the foreground was part of a planetarium. It is still there but now part of a building called Shibuya Cultural Center.

My attempt of a panorama view of the **Shibuya Mark City Walkway**, a free elevated pathway connecting to Shibuya Station and offering excellent views of the Shibuya Scramble Crossing. During rush hour, the streets and station is flooded with office workers, and a major new walkway connecting the east and west sides of Shibuya Station is under construction, scheduled to be completed around 2030.

All right. Here is the Sky Deck, with its two levels.
It has a 10-ft high glass perimeter and netting. Even so, all backpacks, hats, loose items, have to be stowed in the locker room before you are allowed entry onto the deck. Cameras with straps (like mine) were OK. Yay.

There is the elevated walkway on the bottom left.
The famous Shibuya Scramble Crossing that the building was named after (four sides with one diagonal) is at the bottom right.

The structure with the black roof at the bottom of the green space is Yoyogi 1st National Gymnasium, built for the 1964 Summer Olympics.

And here is a telephoto lens look at Japan National Stadium, built for the 2020 Summer Olympics (that took place in 2021 because of the COVID pandemic). The 2025 World Athletics Championships is taking place there this week.

This is a Google office tower in the foreground. The subway trains are full of banners and posted ads about the new Google Cloud with AI.

This very tall smokestack next to the Yamanote railway line belongs to the Shibuya Incineration Plant, and the trains to its right are by Ebisu train station south of Sibuya.

This view has both the SkyTree tower (gray, far away in the distance on the city skyline) and Tokyo Tower (far right, red and white lattice structure) in.

A mosaic of turquoise and gray tiles.
This is the **Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs**, a high-end, eight-level department store featuring fashion, housewares, dining and gourmet food hall on the ground floor.

A closer look at **Tokyo Tower**.
To its left is *Azabudai* Hills (麻布台ヒルズ, *Azabudai* Hiruzu)— a complex of three skyscrapers from a major new mixed-use urban development completed in 2023. The complex features Japan’s tallest building, shops, restaurants, offices, and the teamLab Borderless digital art museum.

I am sure this map baffles many people that look at it.
It sits in the middle of the Sky Deck and uses an azimuthal equidistant projection to show how the world extends beyond the horizons seen from the deck. It’s possible to recognize the continent of Australia in there, but the blob at the bottom is actually Africa.
Look for Vancouver at NW (7, 563 km/ 4,699 mi away), closest to where Seattle is.
I guess my question is: why does Shibuya show 40,030 km away (on the other side of Earth?). If Sapporo is 837 km to the North, should it not show 0 for Shibuya instead?

September 14, 2025

Sunday/ Lotte World Tower 🌐

I could not very well go up Seoul Tower, and leave Lotto World Tower out, right?

So off I went today to Lotto World Tower, even though it was a 40 minute train ride out there.

There is an express double-car elevator that whisks the humans inside up to the 117th floor* in one minute flat. I felt a little vertigo, and my ears popped on the way up. There no view to the outside, just display screens on the sides and ceiling of the car.

*The Seoul Sky observation deck in the Lotte World Tower spans seven floors, from floors 117 to 123.