About two years ago Audi Japan opened its first showroom in a spectacular glass structure, known as the Audi Forum (left), located just 2 minute's walk from Meiji Jingumae subway station in the Harajuku area of Tokyo. The Forum is not only pleasing to look at, it caused a bit of a stir, since auto dealers in Japan are not usually found in such beautiful buildings (click for enlarged view).
While all of Audi's showrooms are not quite so enticing, last week they opened another attractive location in the Toyosu area of Tokyo, which adjoins Tokyo Bay (below). It's hardly comparable to the Forum, but believe me, it's a lot better than the typical dealership in this town.
In Tokyo, every new tasteful building is welcome indeed; for a long time Japan lagged behind other countries in terms of delivering exciting, tasteful, modern and practical architecture for both commercial and residential uses. Thankfully, the latest generation of builders "gets it," and slowly but surely Japan's architectural landscape is improving. Tokyo has been blessed with some pretty spectacular buildings in the past few years (I'll show you a new addition to the Aoyama area next week), and it's been great to see local hotels revamping and modernizing like crazy too.
