3 discoveries
A free Setagaya park built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, still centered on a 50-meter pagoda-shaped concrete tower rising out of a reflecting pool — Tokyo's most overlooked Olympic relic.
A Western-style fortress in Hakodate built as a perfect five-pointed star — best seen from the tower above, and unforgettable in spring when 1,600 cherry trees turn the whole star pink.
A former landfill on the edge of Sapporo, reborn as a vast piece of land-art by sculptor Isamu Noguchi: geometric grass pyramids, a glass pyramid, and a fountain that performs like a show.
