Towada Kanko / Cruise boat

Pleasure cruiser on Lake Towada (十和田湖), a double-caldera lake and the largest crater lake on Honshu. Aomori-ken, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Nebuta House / Aomori

Architects: molo (Stephanie Forsythe + Todd MacAllen), 2011. Centre dedicated to the Nebuta festival, a significant summer event in the city. The building has an envelope of 820 hand-crafted steel ribbons, coated in enamel. Aomori, Aomori-ken, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

MSCP / Aomori

Mixed-use building, predominantly multi-storey car-parking. 1 Chome-9-5 Furukawa, Aomori-shi, Aomori-ken, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Antique Kanban / Japan

Detail from an antique hanging signboard displayed in the Aomori Museum of History (あおもり北のまほろば歴史館). Aomori-shi, Aomori-ken, Tōhoku-chihō, Japan.

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

A-Factory / Aomori

JR East Aomori Business Development Company Co. Ltd. / Tsutomu Fujima / Masamichi Katayama, c.2010. Inside, everything to do with apples, including cider tasting — Aomori Prefecture being Japan's largest producer of the fruit. Aomori-shi, Aomori-ken, Tōhoku-chihō, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Bay Bridge / Aomori

Architects/Engineers: Kaihatsu-Toranomon Consultant Co., Ltd., 1992. Dramatic cable-stayed bridge of 1219m length. Aomori-shi, Aomori-ken, Tōhoku-chihō, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Aomori Bay Bridge / Reflection

Reflection of the Aomori Bay Bridge with autumn leaves. Aomori Bay Bridge. Aomori-shi, Aomori-ken, Tōhoku-chihō, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

'ASPAM' / Aomori

Architects: Nikken Sekkei Ltd., (株式会社日建設計 Kabushiki-gaisha Nikken Sekkei), 1986. The Aomori Prefecture Tourist Center (青森県観光物産館 アスパム) is a 76m tall building in the shape of an A, representing the first letter of Aomori Prefecture and Aomori city. Behind, the equally remarkable Aomori Bay Bridge. Aomori-shi, Aomori-ken, Tōhoku-chihō, Japan.

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Sun Mall / Ichibancho

Long-distance shopping arcade, one of several in the city of Sendai. Miyagi-ken, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

DoCoMo Bldg / Sendai

Architects: NTT Power and Building Facilities, 2004. 150m high, 21 floors above ground, full name: NTT DoCoMo Tohoku Building. Viewed from Kotodai Park, Sendai, Miyagi-ken, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Pillar Box / Yamadera

Outside Yamadera (山寺 lit. "Mountain Temple") railway station. Yamagata-ken, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Sendai Mediatheque / Lift

Architect: Toyo Ito (伊東 豊雄 b.1941), opened 2001. Interior detail including elevator shaft encased by steel tubes. Jozenji-Dori, Sendai, Miyagi-ken, Japan.

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

O-Y-P / Sendai

4 Chome Tsutsujigaoka, Miyagino-ku, Sendai-shi, Miyagi-ken, Japan.

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Lake Chuzenji / Autumn

Autumn colours surrounding Lake Chuzenji (中禅寺湖, Chūzenjiko), at an elevation of 1,269 m (4,124 ft) in the mountains above the town of Nikko. Tochigi-ken, Japan.

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Ishidorii / Nikko

Stone torii of 1618 at the front approach to the Toshogu 東照宮 shrine. The Kyushu granite pillars have a shock-absorbing join and the transom is in three sections, all successfully providing earthquake resistance. Designated an Important Cultural Property, within a huge World Heritage Site. Nikko, Tochigi-ken, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Shinkyo Bridge / Nikko

The Shinkyo Bridge (神橋, Shinkyō, "sacred bridge") stands at the entrance to Nikko's shrines and temples. The present bridge was constructed in 1636 [info source: japan-guide.com]. Ranked in the top three of Japan's finest bridges and designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural property in 1999. Nikko, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Drinks Vending / Tokyo

Hot and cold drinks, alcoholic drinks, soup, snacks, noodles, umbrellas — millions of vending machines in Japan. They also glow cheerily in the night-time streets. Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Ueno Station / night

Reconstructed post-WW2 although looking like the 1930 building that was destroyed. The station serves 11 railway lines—mostly Shinkansen—and 2 Metro lines. Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

'Eve' / by Rodin

1945 bronze cast of Eve from original sculpture made 1907 by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). Forecourt of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan.

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

NMWA / Tokyo

Architect: Le Corbusier, 1959. The National Museum of Western Art (国立西洋美術館 Kokuritsu Seiyō Bijutsukan, Musée National des Beaux-Arts de l’Occident) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only example of Corbusier's work in the Far East. Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Toshogu Shrine / lanterns

Stone lanterns alongside the approach to the C17 Toshogu Shrine (Shinto) in Ueno Park. Ishidōrō first appeared in Japanese temples and shrines in the C6, originally as votive lamps. Now popular in Japanese garden design as well as in religious context. Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

TNM Heiseikan / detail

Exterior detail of the Tokyo National Museum's Heseikan building, by Yasui Architects Design Office, c.1999. Showing SE elevation stairway from the garden of the Honkan building. Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

National Museum / Tokyo

Tokyo National Museum (東京国立博物館 Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan), established 1872 although moved to this site in Ueno Park in 1882. The present Honkan building designed in the "emperor's crown style" by Jin Watanabe, 1938, replacing an earlier building destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Listed as an Important Cultural Property and Tokyo's oldest national museum. Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

MOMAT / Tokyo

Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art (東京国立近代美術館 Tōkyō Kokuritsu Kindai Bijutsukan). Original architect: Kunio Maekawa, 1952. Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

East Gardens / Imperial Palace

View across the Imperial Palace East Gardens (皇居東御苑, Kōkyo Higashi Gyoen). Beyond are high-rises in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Noh Stage / Cerulean Tower

Noh Theatre stage, opened 2001, in basement level B2F of the Cerulean Tower in Shibuya. The modern Noh stage has a pitched roof, bridge with handrail and pine trees, to represent the form's outdoor origins. It is constructed of Japanese cypress timber. Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

OIOI / Ueno

Night view of the Marui (OIOI) department store in Ueno, Tokyo, Japan. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Columbia Point / SE16

Architects: Colin Lucas, Philip Bottomley et al. at the LCC/GLC, c.1964. One of two high-rise point blocks erected on the Canada Estate, along with several groups of four-storey maisonette blocks. Surrey Quays, London Borough of Southwark.

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Niagara Court / Canada Estate

Architects: Colin Lucas, Philip Bottomley et al. at the LCC/GLC, c.1964. Maisonette cluster block, part of the Canada Estate built on the site of the disused Brandram's Works, commissioned by Bermondsey Metropolitan Borough Council in 1962. Now London Borough of Southwark. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Scotia Court / stairs

Architects: Colin Lucas, Philip Bottomley et al. at the LCC/GLC, c.1964. Upper-level access for one of the four-storey cluster blocks. Part of the Canada Estate, built on the site of the disused Brandram's Works, commissioned by Bermondsey Metropolitan Borough Council in 1962. Now London Borough of Southwark. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Gate / St James's Park

Architect: Sir Aston Webb, c.1901-11. Portland stone piers with ball-finials, iron ornamental gates "of Louis XV/Louis XVI derivation" [info. source: Grade II listing]. City of Westminster, London. 

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Sparkford House / SW11

Architects: Colin Lucas, Philip Bottomley et al. at the LCC/GLC, c.1963. Each of the point block's twenty-one floors accommodates four flats. In the foreground, one of six four-storey ‘cluster blocks’ of maisonettes, also part of the Somerset Estate. Battersea, London Borough of Wandsworth.

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Philip Bottomley London public architect: The Canada, Somerset, and Westbury estates vimeo.com/274798040