Tokyo International Cruise Terminal

The global cruise market is undergoing unprecedentedly major changes, with the rapid growth of the cruising population and the increasing size of passenger ships. The cruise market is expected to grow in a rush, backed by economic growth in Asia, and particularly in China. The situation required Tokyo, as the entrance to the capital region, to adapt to rising cruise demand. Therefore, the city decided to develop a new passenger ship terminal in a maritime sub‐city center, able to accommodate the world’s largest cruise ships, and to do it in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. To handle various large cruise ships, this plan has a large and highly flexible space, where it can also host diverse events. The exterior design, which resembles Japanese temple architecture, is clad in open-looking glass, with deep curvilinear eaves, and balconies surround the four corners. This is also an unparalleled plan to build a terminal on reclaimed land in the waters of the maritime sub‐city center. It won the approval (structural rating) of the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for its special structural form, which unifies the building form with the civil engineering structure.