You don’t need me to tell you that Tokyo is full of surprises. Well, still, it would be fair to say that the Reiyukai Shakaden is a noteworthy kind of surprise. It’s beyond huge, you would need a helicopter (which I don’t yet own) to fully grasp its size (you could also get a viewpoint from the Tokyo tower nearby). Yet it is somehow…hidden. Leave it to the Japanese to perform such a trick! It’s sandwiched between high office towers and small houses, and you access it through such an unassuming little street that there is no way you could guess that it would lead to something this big.

But, then again, if I may say, it’s almost a negative shape. See, its shiny black exterior is so dark, it’s almost sucking out matter. That’s the closest I have ever felt to looking at a black hole (Sorry Neil, very sorry Matthew). It’s not a scary feeling, but more a feeling of…disappearance, like being swallowed by a bigger presence.

And you can get in! The building is open to the public and you can wander the vast halls and admire the mesmerizing mirror effects and that subtle shade of red granite.

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It’s here, 1-7-8 Azabudai, Minato-ku
It was built in 1975 and also shelters 400 tons of water, to be used in case of a catastrophe.