Delayed Reconstruction

This past weekend we also ended up hanging around Tokyo Station as that is one of the limited number of places where you can get on the Shinkansen.  Chad had heard somewhere about a massive renovation of one historic side of the station.  So we walked over to check it out.  Even though it's a construction zone, it was still open for people to walk through.  Many of the dividers to keep people out of certain areas had photos of the station and information about it's history.

Turns out that the station (built in 1914) was bombed during WWII and only partially rebuilt afterwards.  Now it's being completely refurbished to a pre-war state.  This includes, among other things a huge, luxury hotel which we hope to stay in at some point.  Here's a news article about the renovation and history of the station.

It was interesting because you don't see much architecture like this at all in Tokyo.  My photos don't really show it that well, but it's pretty much squatted down in the middle of shiny metal and glass skyscrapers.