Tokyo's preparations for the 2020 Summer Olympics have not come without controversy. In July, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scrapped star architect Zaha Hadid's design for the new National Stadium due in part to spiraling construction costs. Prominent Japanese voices also had been raised, including by architects Fumihiko Maki, Toyo Ito and Sou Fujimoto, against a design they saw as too big for its surroundings, overshadowing Kenzo Tange's iconic National Stadium built for the 1964 Olympics.

Hadid's architectural firm has since launched a campaign to get Tokyo to reinstate its scrapped design, describing it as "the only way to achieve value for money in the market."

That emphasis on maximizing value for money in today's Japan, as well as across much of Asia, is sadly changing urban landscapes. Out with the old, and in with the newest shopping mall or shiny glass tower.