Tokyo Metropolitan Government Buildings, Shinjuku

Completed in 1991. It has been said that the principal architect, Tange Kenzo, was trying to evoke the Notre Dame cathedral (as with Tokyo Tower, Paris again provides the model). But the twin towers, seen here on the left, resemble more what a present day version of Kafka's castle might look like - impressive to be sure but also cold, bureaucratic, and vaguely sinister. Inside, 13,000 employees toil on behalf of Tokyo's government, all under the notoriously right wing governor Ishihara Shintaro (who is on the threshold of yet another likely reelection in the coming weeks).