NTT DoCoMo Yoyogi Building (Docomo Tower)

A supertall NTT DoCoMo building just south of Shinjuku, known for its clock tower and Empire State Building–like silhouette.

Use

Office tower

Area

Shibuya City

Completed

2000

Floors

27 above ground

Height

240 m

Developer

NTT DoCoMo

A “clock tower” rising south of Shinjuku

Sendagaya, Shibuya City, Tokyo. On the south side of Shinjuku Station, in the Yoyogi area, stands a strikingly tower-like high-rise: the NTT DoCoMo Yoyogi Building, commonly known as “Docomo Tower.” Completed in 2000, it has 27 floors above ground and a height of 240 m.

What this building is best known for is its distinctive design. The silhouette tapering in steps toward the crown, and the large clock mounted on its upper part, are often said to recall the Empire State Building in New York. While the high-rises of Shinjuku are mostly based on square glass boxes, the form of this tower, emphasizing verticality, can be picked out at a glance even from afar. Walking around Shinjuku Station and happening to look up at the southern sky, you catch sight of this tower — an experience more than a few people will have had.

An office building, and yet

The owner is NTT DoCoMo, and by use it is classified as an office building. What sets it a little apart from an ordinary supertall office, however, is that much of its upper portion is said to be given over not to working space for people but to space for telecommunications equipment. The fact that it was planned as a core facility of a telecom carrier supporting mobile-phone infrastructure is said to be reflected in its tower-like form.

Its height of 240 m is on a scale that stands alongside the cluster of high-rises in the Shinjuku subcenter. At the same time, administratively it is located not in Shinjuku Ward but in Shibuya Ward; recognized as a “tower of Shinjuku,” it strictly stands in a borderland between Shinjuku and the Yoyogi–Sendagaya area. This quirk of location is one of the interesting points in talking about Docomo Tower.

Summary

The NTT DoCoMo Yoyogi Building is a supertall completed in 2000, with 27 floors above ground and a height of 240 m. Its symbolic figure, crowned with a clock tower, holds a striking presence even within the Shinjuku-area skyline. Beyond its scale as a high-rise, what makes this building distinctive is the way its function as “a tower supporting telecommunications infrastructure” is united with its appearance as a city landmark. When you visit Shinjuku, turn your gaze just south of the station.