The National Diet Building, the legislature of Japan's parliamentary democracy, is located just south of the Imperial Palace in Tōkyō. Completed in 1936, its unusual architecture reflects elements of German, East Asian, and ancient Mideastern monumental architecture. From the outside it was surprisingly difficult to get a good photo of it, but I edited this one to get a closer view.
In central Tōkyō to help our younger son, security was very tight at the U.S. Embassy, and rather light around the Diet. The building is not gray like it usually appears in photos, but more like sandstone.
“In academic life, someone comes in my room and asks me to explain an economic problem —a hard one— and I do. And then they say, ‘Thank you,’ and leave my office. In government, someone asks me to explain a hard economic problem, I do, and they look at me and say, ‘You’re an asshole.’ ”