Pix4Japan: July 2025

2025-07-16

Takanawa Gateway Station Part 2

If this scene speaks to you, prints and downloads are available:

・Order prints, digital downloads, or commercial licenses

・Explore gifts and merchandise

Timestamp: 2025/07/16・17:34

Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter

ISO 1000 for 1/250 sec. at ƒ/2

Velvia/Vivid film simulation

100 Colors at Takanawa Gateway
エマニュエル・ムホーが描く「１００色の道」

Just outside Takanawa Gateway Station in Tokyo’s Minato Ward, French-born, Tokyo-based artist and architect Emmanuelle Moureaux’s ｢100 Colors No. 53｣ bursts into view the moment you step out of the South Exit.

This installation features vertical slats painted in 100 distinct hues, each engraved with a year from 2025 to 2125 covering 100 years of 100 hues of the rainbow.

Moureaux’s choice of layered slats echoes a point she made in a Japan Times interview earlier this year, where she explained how Tokyo’s urban landscape inspires her work:

“Moureaux uses the term ‘layers’ to describe the way Tokyo is built, where various different elements are layered one on top of the other in any given space. She says she draws inspiration from this abundance of colors and layers.”

--Ran Kawai, Japan Times, January 31, 2025

Before visiting Takanawa Gateway Station and exploring the emerging Takanawa Gateway City development, I knew nothing about this artwork nor the artist herself. So it was a pleasant surprise to come upon this installment, and learning about Moureaux.

I often travel to cities from Aichi Prefecture to Nagano Prefecture, but almost always for work, either accompanying a client or photographing a property for real estate listings.

This time was different, as I left the pro gear, suit, and tie at home and set out with no agenda other than to explore. Wandering familiar streets with a fresh perspective is always rewarding.

Inevitably, I stumble upon something new: a tiny Shinto shrine, a Buddhist temple tucked between two high-rise condos, a new public artwork, or perhaps a cozy coffee shop run by a couple in their 80s.

Sources for a deeper dive:

https://www.pix4japan.com/blog/20250528-100colors-53

If this scene speaks to you, prints and downloads are available:

・Order prints, digital downloads, or commercial licenses

・Explore gifts and merchandise

Timestamp: 2025/07/16・17:45

Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter

ISO 250 for 1/250 sec. at ƒ/2

Velvia/Vivid film simulation

If this scene speaks to you, prints and downloads are available:

・Order prints, digital downloads, or commercial licenses

・Explore gifts and merchandise

Timestamp: 2025/07/16・17:47

Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter

ISO 3200 for 1/40 sec. at ƒ/8

Velvia/Vivid film simulation

If this scene speaks to you, prints and downloads are available:

・Order prints, digital downloads, or commercial licenses

・Explore gifts and merchandise

Timestamp: 2025/07/16・17:47

Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter

ISO 3200 for 1/60 sec. at ƒ/8

Velvia/Vivid film simulation

If this scene speaks to you, prints and downloads are available:

・Order prints, digital downloads, or commercial licenses

・Explore gifts and merchandise

Timestamp: 2025/07/16・18:38

Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter

ISO 250 for 1/250 sec. at ƒ/2

Velvia/Vivid film simulation

Gift Store | Become a Patron | Prints・Downloads・Licensing

Unauthorized use for AI training is strictly prohibited.

Visit www.pix4japan.com to learn more.

Takanawa Gateway Station - Part 1

If this scene speaks to you, prints and downloads are available:

・Order prints, digital downloads, or commercial licenses

・Explore gifts and merchandise

“100 Colors No. 53” art installation just outside the South Exit of Takanawa Gateway Station in Tokyo, Japan

Timestamp: 2025/07/16・17:33
Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter
ISO 3200 for 1/210 sec. at ƒ/9
Velvia/Vivid film simulation

A Century in 100 Colors: Emmanuelle Moureaux’s Takanawa Gateway Installation
エマニュエル・ムホーによる高輪ゲートウェイのアート作品「100色の道」で描く100年の時の流れ

The French artist and architect Emmanuelle Moureaux created this vibrant rainbow installation, 100 Colors No. 53, just outside the North Exit of Takanawa Gateway Station on Tokyo’s Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku Lines, which is just one stop north of Shinagawa Station.

Moureaux, who has lived in Tokyo since 1996, based the 100 Colors Series on a concept called shikiri (色切), which means "dividing and creating space through colors." This piece, displayed in Gateway Park, is the 53rd work in the series. Previous installations have appeared in locations worldwide, including São Paulo (Brazil, 2021), Downtown Dubai (UAE, 2018), Brussels (Belgium, 2017), and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (US, 2015), as well as sites across Japan.

True to its name, each piece in the series incorporates 100 colors. For No. 53, each vertical slat is engraved with a year from 2025 to 2125, symbolizing “the passage of time in 100 colors.”

This area was once home to the Tamachi Depot. Old satellite images from November 2014 show the depot in its final days before the massive Takanawa Gateway City redevelopment began. The project is transforming the rail yard into a modern urban district with a new train station, four high-rise towers, office and retail space, luxury residences, schools, and entertainment facilities.

When I visited, my plan was simply to check out the new station, explore the high-rises, and maybe capture a few street shots. I hadn’t expected to find this striking artwork at the base of two gleaming steel-and-glass towers, so stumbling upon it was a welcome surprise.

There’s something refreshing about visiting Tokyo as a tourist with my small, lightweight camera, rather than as a my normal salaryman carrying a briefcase and wearing a necktie. It changes the pace, the perspective, and the way I see the city.

Links to Google Maps and sources for a deeper dive: