And yet, in its own way, it is typical of many of the new buildings in the Japanese capital.
The Japanese capital is in competition with Istanbul and Madrid, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision to be made this September.
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The prince arrived in the Japanese capital on Monday evening after the Nikkei share index slumped to its lowest for 26 years.
In 1964, the able-bodied athletes went to Tokyo for the Olympics and shortly afterward the Japanese capital also played host to the disabled athletes.
The volcano, which last erupted just over 300 years ago, lies to the south-west of Tokyo and is visible from the Japanese capital on a clear day.
Asia's oft-claimed miracle economic growth consisted of two parts: productive investment that resulted from Western and Japanese capital and technology, and non-productive investment that Asians made with their own savings.
These low rates have not inspired the Japanese to put capital into either machinery or houses.
Relatively low profitability has not often prevented major Japanese firms from attracting capital, either debt or equity.
It also ended its liquid-crystal display venture with rival Samsung, while inking a new capital alliance with Japanese electronics and camera maker Olympus Corp. to strengthen its medical equipment business.
The first is raising capital from foreign investors for cash-strapped Japanese firms. (For example, Japanese banks have issued lots of securities to bolster their depleted capital.) The second is the trickle of privatisations and new issues.
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Delta Capital is talking to Japanese universities about leasing their land, building dormitories and managing them.
Over the past two years Barclays Capital has doubled its Japanese equity business staffing to 290 persons.
Only 10% of Japanese firms use leases to finance capital investment, versus one-third in the U.S., so there's plenty of room to expand.
Since mid-1999 the U.S. and Japanese markets and the Morgan Stanley Capital International EAFE Index of European and Asian stocks are all off between 13% and 22%.
Crew debuted its first chambray suit this spring cut in a rigid Japanese variety made in the denim capital of Kojima and reports that it's already a top seller.
Like Hanoi, Laos introduced economic reforms in 1986 and as in Vietnam they led to visible progress - new roads, international hotels, a modern Japanese-funded airport in the capital.
Financial deregulation would also enable Japanese entrepreneurs to tap new sources of capital.
Much of what is special about Japanese capitalism simply reflects the inadequate rewards that capital has attracted.
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With capital insufficient to support their assets, Japanese banks have almost stopped lending at home.
Indeed anyone who bought silver since March 18 when the central banks engaged in coordinated intervention to stem the rising Japanese yen, is not only under water facing capital losses, it is also costing them much more to remain long.
That would send capital flooding back into Japan--making Japanese stocks strong relative to all else.
For one thing, the Japanese financed their purchases in the United States with private capital.
Two years ago the McKinsey Global Institute published a study indicating that Japanese managers use their workers 45% less productively and capital 37% less productively than do their U.S. counterparts.
The VAR calculations and predictions of default behavior at Citigroup turned out to be as useless for determining an adequate margin of capital as the 18-foot breakwater the Japanese built to protect Fukushima.
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Many Japanese SMEs have the technology and knowledge base, yet are capital-poor with exorbitantly high labor and materials operations costs relative to Chinese firms.
U.S., European and Japanese companies involved in more traditional industries have less access to capital these days and may be less likely strategic buyers than in the past.
"People outside Japan are clearly viewing Shirakawa's track record negatively, " said Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics, referring to the renewed interest in Japanese equities by foreign investors anticipating more easing under Mr. Kuroda.
It has said that North Korea's nuclear programme will be a main priority in Japan's efforts to normalise relations with North Korea following an historic visit in September to the country's capital, Pyongyang, by Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister.
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