Arasaka Tower (Tokyo)

The Arasaka Tower in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan is the headquarters for the Megacorporation. Originally founded by Sasai Arasaka in the early 1900s. The tower is also known as the Boys In Black. Dark, tinted glass and black steel beams. The only deviations from black surfacing are the white, back lit Arasaka logo which appear near the tops of the tower. Arasaka Tower stands out in the Tokyo skyline, at 494 meters (1624 ft) roughly 150 stories it's the tallest skyscraper in the city.

Overview
Arasaka's Tokyo Tower is where the Corporation is headquartered and is an impressive place, projecting a large part of the corporation's public face. The special facilities, such as training camps and factories, don't follow the strict image guidelines applied to the Tokyo tower as they are less visible to the public. The tower is home to where a majority of the Arasaka family operated throughout the corporations history. Sasai Arasaka orginally founded this site when the company was founded as a manufacturing business supplying the Imperial Army. Saburo Arasaka operated in the tower as the CEO after his father passed in 1960, creating much of what the corporation is in the modern day. In the 2000s Saburo's eldest son Kei took over his position as CEO and became head of the board. His office was located near the top of the tower.

The Tokyo tower dominates the city skyline with it's black featureless windows and steel. As the the tallest tower in Tokyo, nicknamed the Boys In Black, it intimidates everyone not affiliated with the corporation. Though the plaza and classical Japanese Garden at the base of the tower are open to the public. As well as a Shinto shrine which can also be visited by anyone. The lobby is also open decorated with classical Japanese art. Besides the Steel Dragons bosozoku gang, no one has ever tried attacking the Arasaka HQ. Yorinobu Arasaka, Saburo's rebel son and famed rockerboy leader of the Steel Dragons, has attempted infiltrating it in the past.

In 2045, the Arasaka Corporation had been limited to the mainland and was only able to operate from the Tokyo Tower. Hanako Arasaka took the place of her older brother Kei after his death as the face of the corporation, however she spent most of her time working on a version of the Soulkiller while her father Saburo pulled the strings from behind.

Architecture
The towers are always black. Dark, tinted glass and black steel beams are typical. Arasaka designers eschew stone or unpainted metal. The only deviations from black surfacing are the white, back lit Arasaka logo which appear near the tops of the towers, and the landing areas and recreational terraces. It's the tallest skyscraper in Tokyo standing at 150 stories. In this super tall tower a good portion of space is usually occupied by some Arasaka subsidiaries owned by the corporation.

The split design was first designed in the Tokyo HQ, and later used for the Night City American Division HQ. About fourth of the way up the tower splits in two. The twin spires continue up in tandem to the building's full height. The twin towers are joined at regular intervals by enclosed skyways. Most of the skyways have windows and exposed walkways on their roofs, but those between the upper floors are usually windowless for security reasons. On the roof of the tower are landing pads for AV series craft, Osprey type airplanes, and helicopters.

There's a small landscaped area of greenery on sheltered terraces on the roof of the lower section from which the split towers emerge. These areas are for recreational use by Arasaka employees, and aren't open to the Japanese public. Arasaka Tokyo Tower maintains landscape plazas around the base of the tower. The plaza is up to 100 yards from the base of the tower, and is divided only by the main entrance concourse, various paths, and entrances to underground vehicular areas. There's also Shinto shrines and a Torigate located in the plaza, this is where Saburo would to meditate. The plaza is the only part open to the Japanese public but tightly patrolled and regulated.

There's also a subterranean level. It's not very deep, but it encompasses a lot of area beneath the entire plaza. The underground installations include the employee parking zone, loading docks, storage areas, auditorium, firing range, training area, and other facilities requiring more room than is available in the rest of the tower.

A system of freight and personnel elevators connects all levels of the tower, subterranean and elevated. Most personnel elevators do not run to all floors. Express elevators stop every ten floors and local elevators handle the intervening area. These restrictions can be overridden in an emergency or with executive clearance.

Interior and Facilities
The Arasaka Tokyo tower interior is elegant and well appointed. The black theme isn't as severe inside as out, although synthetic and natural black marble is common in the nicer areas of the tower interiors. Main lobbies are stylish and spacious. The decorations is a tasteful blend of modern and contemporary Japanese artwork and sculpture. Beyond the lobby most areas tend to be designed for functional elegance, with true luxury appearing only in the upper executive areas. Except for the lobby and public areas, the higher one gets in the tower the richer it will look. There is a great range between the simple, stark functionalism of the lower employee areas and the lavish elegance of the upper executive offices.

The facilities inside the tower includes gymnasiums, cafeterias, mechanical shops and computer engineering areas and surgery capable infirmary staffed by company medical personnel. There is also barracks for troops and guards, there's also a capsule hotel for lower executives and employees to sleep in if necessary, and suites and penthouses for upper level executives, special guests, and Arasaka family members who need to stay at the towers over night.

Vehicles
All vehicles can be transferred between installations at the corporations whim. Three or four Osprey type aircraft or helicopters and six to eight AV series vehicles are located near the top of the tower. Usually, one or two of each can be seen parked on the roof pads of the tower, but because of the maintenance and fuel facilities required, the craft are usually based out of a nearby Haneda Airport. AV-4s can use the underground vehicle area, but rarely do so because of the difficulty of running jet engines in enclosed spaces.

There's a large contingent of company cars and trucks available. These vehicles are stored in the underground parking area and loading docks. Most company owned cars and limousines are dark colored Lexus ZR-5000 security retrofits, but several other makes and models are kept on hand for incognito use. Some company cars are unmarked, and some have the Arasaka logo as a hood ornament or on the license plate. Trucks range in all sizes and types, from minivans and small pickups to big cross-country freights. In keeping with their diversity, the trucks come from several Japanese auto manufacturers, and are not limited to any single brand. Marked trucks are black and have white Arasaka logos on the doors or side panels. "Unmarked" trucks come in a variety of colors, and some have misleading markings on them.

The Tower also has a variety of the Arasaka manufactured vehicles at their disposal for sales and for company use. These are stored in restricted parts of the underground vehicular area. Vehicles prepped for sales are kept at warehouses in the industrial area of Tokyo bay, along with security equipment and weapons for sale. In a pinch, all sales equipment can be activated for combat. There are always one or two sales prepped units of the combat vehicles on hand at a tower, but these are used for advertising displays in public areas.

Personnel
The tower contains the top Arasaka officials, including the National Directors and Vice Presidents. Beneath the VR will be the Security Director, Sales Director, and Bank Director. The Tokyo tower has the offices for the corporation President (Kei Arasaka), executive vice presidents, board of directors, and other top officials. It also has a small R&D department for developers either not cleared for the Honshu R&D facility.

Guards and soldiers are quartered and trained at specialized facilities or the Hokkaido Training Camp. Sizable contingents are always billeted and maintained for purposes of on-site security, quick response and firefighting. Arasaka Tokyo tower should have between 100 to 200 guards and 50 and 100 soldiers billeted on site at any given time, although not all of those will be on duty or available. Larger contingents of guards and troops intended for client rotation are maintained in barracks located outside of Tokyo. Most of the soldiers and guards available will be typical contract types, but some will be elite solos. Around 15,000 people will be working out of the tower on any given day.

Security
Security in the Arasaka Tokyo tower is rigid. Quads of armed guards and soldiers patrol twenty-four hours a day. Sensitive installations are under 24 hour manned protection. Special response teams are on call at all times, prepared to scramble in defense of the tower or any Arasaka client requesting aid. Redundant security systems monitor computers, access, and traffic control. Netrunners are on duty at all times, scanning for intrusion from the Net. Air defense systems under computer and human control can be activated at a moment's notice. A special security center deep in the subterranean area monitor and coordinate the individual security systems and teams.

Trivia

 * Generally Tokyo skyscrapers are smaller, due to safety concerns. All buildings planning to be more than 50 meters must be earthquake-proof as possible and adhere to other strict structural standards.
 * The Arasaka Tokyo HQ different in each drawing of it from Cyberpunk 2020, but is consistently made up of two towers.