Orizuru Tower (おりづるタワー) おりづるタワー
From the 12th floor you launch a paper crane down a 50 m glass wall, 90 m from the Dome.
The building opened in 1978 as the offices of Tokyo Marine Fire Insurance (‘Hiroshima Tōkyō Kaijō Bldg.’): eight storeys with a pale beige façade, deliberately designed in a subdued style so that the side facing the Peace Park would have no signs on the roof. In 2010 Hiroshima Mazda bought it and renamed it ‘Hiroshima Mazda Ōtemachi Building’; in 2013 it announced a renovation to bring it up to the 1981 earthquake-resistance standards and chose to rework the existing building rather than demolish it, precisely because it stands in the UNESCO buffer zone of the Genbaku Dome, under a municipal ordinance that restricts the appearance of buildings seen from the park. The architect Sanbuichi Hiroshi began work in December 2014: he stripped off the façade to leave only the structure, reducing the building's weight and improving its earthquake resistance, and covered the walls in greenery. It opened in two stages in 2016 under the new name Orizuru Tower: the 1st floor (café and shop) and the terrace on 11 July, the rest in September. The total cost was about 7 billion yen, all borne by Hiroshima Mazda, with no public funds. Since October 2024 it has been run by a dedicated company, Orizuru Tower Co.
Hiroshima
Kenchō-mae, Hondōri, Hiroshima Bus Center
