A large arched arcade in the center of the East Wing of Keio University's Mita Campus

Walking along Sakurada Avenue—National Route 1 in Mita—I was suddenly confronted by a massive, imposing structure wrapped in seemingly historic red brick. This is the East Building of Keio University’s Mita Campus. With its meticulously laid brickwork and noble silhouette, the facade exudes the heavy, dignified aura of centuries past.

But one mustn't be so easily deceived.

This building was actually completed in the year 2000. Having stood for barely a quarter-of-a-century, it is, in truth, a piece of grand architectural bluffing—a modern structure dressed in retro drag. After all, the very same campus harbors genuine historic titans: the Old Library and the Mita Speech Hall, both built in the Meiji era and designated as Important Cultural Properties. Boasting well over a century of heritage, these authentic elders make the East Building look like a wet-behind-the-ears novice whose ink has scarcely dried.

Yet, what truly caught my eye about this upstart of a building was not the carefully crafted nostalgia of its facade, but rather the colossal, arched void pierced clean through its center. If its only purpose were to let pedestrians pass through a gate, there would be absolutely no need for such an extravagant arcade, one that aggressively carves out several stories of prime real estate. A simple walkway on the ground floor would have sufficed. In architectural parlance, such an open, colonnaded space beneath a building is called a portico. My cynical mind immediately began to speculate: why go through the immense expense and effort to construct such a dramatic vacuum?

Determined to uncover the motive behind this grand emptiness, I crossed over to the opposite side of the avenue and took a long, hard look through the filter of the pedestrian crosswalk.

And there it was.

Framed flawlessly inside the mouth of that shadowy tunnel was a glimpse of the beautiful red brick of the Old Library—the university’s ultimate symbol of knowledge and heritage. The extravagant void was, in fact, a carefully orchestrated stage wing, designed to project the luminous intellect of the ivory tower onto the bustling public street below.

Yet, directly in the foreground of this grand theatrical gesture, the everyday world went on. Under the glare of the afternoon sun, pedestrians holding parasols ambled across the crosswalk, utterly indifferent to the architectural drama framing the sacred light of academia behind them.