The Palaceside Building appears in the latest issue (on sale February 8) of Hanako (Magazine House, second and fourth Thursdays each month), which sends information Tokyo women can really enjoy (photo at right below is the cover).
A nearly 100-page special, “In love with kissaten,” is in two large parts: “New-generation masters of neo kissaten” and “A first retro kissaten.” The Palaceside Building is in “History of kissaten and famous shops in buildings,” further in “Famous shops in Showa buildings,” a cor
ner (photo above). The corner’s intro says “Buildings born in the high-growth era are a lineup of distinctive landmarks. We want to explore every corner together with the kissaten that have marked history,” and adds a stylish line: “It is also fun, coffee in hand, to imagine street corners and the energy of working people in the high-growth years.”
So the building and ninth-floor Alaska were taken up. Almost the entire right page of a two-page spread is used. The left page features Cattleya in the New Shinbashi Building and Pont Neuf in the Shinbashi Station-front Building.
The building is introduced with six photos — the familiar exterior (captioned “the beautiful white cylinders rising at the east and west ends are the landmark”), the roof garden, the “Stairway of Dreams” linking the first floor and first basement, the west-entrance canopy (the “umbrella”), the futuristic elevator-core interior, and the round window cut in the marble dividing the east B1 men’s and women’s restrooms — and the line “With its bold design it has won many awards, including the 20 selected modernist buildings.”
Alaska, too, has photos of the Imperial Palace view from the windows, curry and coffee, and the café corner straight ahead (north) as you enter, with the copy “You can fully enjoy superb lunch and Tokyo scenery.”
If you have the chance, please read Hanako.