Japan Guide
Tokyo
Harajuku
As well as the wooded grounds of Meiji-jingū, Harajuku is also blessed with Tokyo's largest park, Yoyogi-kōen, a favourite spot for joggers and bonneted groups of kindergarten kids with their minders. In 1964 the land was used for the Olympic athletes' village, after which it became Yoyogi-kōen. Two of the stadia, built for the Olympics, remain the area's most famous architectural features. The main building of Tange Kenzō's Yoyogi National Stadium is a dead ringer for Noah's ark, and its steel suspension roof was a structural engineering marvel at the time. The smaller stadium, used for basketball, is like the sharp end of a giant swirling seashell.