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The story
NHK’s “Japan’s Hard-to-Clean Buildings Directory” featured Shinjuku’s Cocoon Tower, with Morning Musume。’26 member Rio Sakurai brought on as host. The show explores a building’s structure and charm through the lens of window cleaning, and this episode’s subject was a cocoon-shaped skyscraper standing 50 stories and 200 meters tall. On 5ch, threads buzzed with reactions to the broadcast starting a few minutes late, surprise that the L-shaped earthquake/typhoon info ticker varies by region, and praise for Sakurai’s composed hosting.
Japanese building architecture draws worldwide attention for its striking designs and advanced technology. As more buildings take on bold, unconventional shapes, it’s often hard to imagine how their windows even get cleaned.
Using window cleaning as an entry point actually reveals a building’s deeper appeal.
This time, the stage is Cocoon Tower, the symbolic skyscraper of Nishi-Shinjuku — a mysterious, cocoon-like shape standing 50 stories and 200 meters tall.
Source: web.nhk / original article here
What people said
Today at 10:15 PM, #CocoonTower will be featured on TV!
"Japan's Hard-to-Clean Buildings Directory"
Network: NHK General
Air date/time: 9/21 (Mon, holiday) 22:15–22:45
Cast: [Hosts] Ken Yajima, Rio Sakurai (Morning Musume。)
[Guests] Noritaka Tange (architect), Hiroshi Miyazawa (architecture media editor-in-chief)
#IPUT (International Professional University of Technology in Tokyo)
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/HSssyApagAEScfd.jpg:orig#.jpg
6:00 PM · Sep 21, 2026
turns out it just hadn't started lol
Chiba and Kanagawa are bad, especially Ichihara city
It's normal here @Iwate
That's the building Hello! Project owes a lot to
Are there even successors being trained for it?
People who climb steel towers
are literally everywhere
So it's viewable even on cheap TVs
Several vocational schools run by the same corporation share the building
All that's left is fires
Fires are Anju's department (nickname for Hello! Project group ANGERME)
It's a drama set in a library
They used to hold Hello! Project photobook release events there sometimes back in the day, but haven't heard of any lately
Wait, that place was in the basement of this building?
I always go underground to get there so I never realized
She deals with them every week lol
Being Sanma's sparring partner isn't just for show
Cause: strong winds twisted two suspension wires
https://kumanichi.com/sites/default/files/images/newspack/2026-07PN2026071401001495.-.-.CI0003.jpg
She's so competent it doesn't feel out of place
No way it's that cheap
Background and Talking Points
“Japan’s Hard-to-Clean Buildings Directory” is an NHK feature that showcases architectural ingenuity through the lens of window-washing work, and this episode focused on Cocoon Tower, the symbolic landmark of Nishi-Shinjuku. In the thread, one explanation notes that NHK displays the L-shaped earthquake/typhoon information ticker via a data-broadcasting system so that it’s viewable regardless of region or TV model, answering the simple question of why its approach differs from commercial broadcasters. Meanwhile, the reply about the window cleaners’ daily wage cites no source and remains pure speculation, so it should be taken with caution. An architect and an architecture-media editor-in-chief also appeared as guests on the show, but the thread’s interest centered mainly on the hosting dynamic, with little discussion of the architectural details themselves.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “■ Rio Sakurai ■ Japan’s Hard-to-Clean Buildings Directory: Shinjuku Cocoon Tower ■ NHK 22:30-23:00 ■“.
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