Tokyo is in the throes of a particularly bold face-lift. In the cause of urban regeneration, massive high-rises are shooting up in Shinagawa, Shinbashi, Roppongi and Shinjuku, transforming the skyline of metropolitan Tokyo. On the ground, wrecking trucks clear more land, demolishing old homes and felling trees.
Amid this frenzy, however, at least one beautiful wooden house stands as a beacon of conservation, saved by the combined efforts of its owner and citizens and spared the wrecker's ball of Japan's outrageously high inheritance tax. This rare success owes much to a commonly shared love of the elegant Yasuda House, which stands, enveloped in thick woods, on the heights of Sendagi in northwest Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward.
The 85-year-old, two-story house is a fine example of an elite businessman's residence. The house is named after Zenshiro Yasuda, son-in-law of Zenjiro Yasuda (1838-1921), who founded the Yasuda financial and industrial zaiba- tsu. Kusuo, Zenshiro's son, inherited it from his father and lived there until his death in 1995.