Sensoji Temple and a group of neighborhood residents filed a lawsuit Thursday to halt construction of a skyscraper in its vicinity in Tokyo's Asakusa district.
In the lawsuit filed with the Tokyo District Court, the plaintiffs want to force the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to cancel the 133-meter-tall, 37-story condominium, which is to stand several hundred meters west of the Buddhist temple, a popular tourist spot.
"If systems regarding urban development are abused to allow haphazard construction of large-scale buildings, it would cause a rapid change in the atmosphere of the district and impair the temple's dignity," Sensoji said in a statement.
The plaintiffs said they are not opposed to construction of the condominium itself but are trying to nullify the type of permission the metropolitan government gave for the project.