Sep 14, 2014 - 1 min read

Greenest Building in Tokyo

Japan's first farm to office scheme

Community writer

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Sandwiched between towering skyscrapers in the heart of Ōtemachi’s busiest intersection is the PASONA headquarters draped in flowers and lush green vines. Since 2010, PASONA’s ambitious urban farming project has become one of the largest farm to table office schemes in Japan. Looking more like a backdrop to a sci-fi thriller than a multinational staffing firm, this conspicuous nine-storey building is home to over two hundred species of plants, veggies, fruits and grains. While a vegetable factory neatly line the seminar halls, you have tomatoes and chili vines dangling from the ceilings of temperature controlled conference rooms. Surely even the earliest Monday meetings will be a pleasant one!

Next time you are in Ōtemachi, stop by the ground floor cafe and have a bite of PASONA’s fresh produce! The first three floors of the farming area is available to the general public but just don’t go around flashing your cameras too much, this is after all an actual office space.

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By Connie Ng

Community writer

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Lester Goh 9 years ago

This is so going to be my graduation thesis. While the idea of a 100% self-sustainable building has be floating around for age now, this is probably one of the few farming-office mixed used development. Of course, the culture of farming has to be put forth to the workers (they really are shovelling arent they), but i'm excited for this idea.

Anonymous 10 years ago

Short but nice shots of Pasona's downtown office/farm. I visited this office several years ago and in the meeting room where I met a senior manager, I was surprised to see the most amazing plump, ripe tomatoes hanging from the ceiling. I wanted to pick and eat one right there. But since I was trying to sell them something, I thought I should behave myself...!

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