The 71-year-old scion of a real estate family, Mori inaugurated his latest city, Omotesando Hills, in one of Tokyo’s most fashionable neighborhoods last month. There, well-heeled residents can now live just above some of the priciest retail shops on Earth, wandering sparkling hallways where $1,000 Jimmy Choo heels sell alongside $21 ice creams. “What the Guggenheim does with art, we do with shops,” Mori said in an interview at Roppongi Hills. “That is the only difference.”
– Minoru Mori, real estate developer and Mariko’s uncle
Conspicuous Consumption Shapes New Tokyo Skyline [washpost]