Stephen Wiltshire in Tokyo
In May 2005 Stephen was invited to Tokyo, to complete his biggest ever panoramic drawing of this vibrant city, well known for its modern architecture.
Stephen has always been astonished by skyscrapers, and Tokyo offered a great and exciting challenge for him. First he visited the heliport where he went on a helicopter ride over the city.
One of Stephen's extraordinary abilities is to memorise landscapes up to the highest detail. During this flight he had a thorough look at the view of the Japanese capital from the helicopter, including thousands of buildings, towers, highways, cars, buses, even down to intricate details of trees and windows. Following the 30 minute ride, Stephen seemed to be very excited and ready for the challenge.
Right after landing he had the opportunity to visit one of the tallest and most recent architectural developments of Tokyo, the Mori building at Roppongi Hills. Up on the roof above the 54th floor, an amazing scene burst upon his view. Stephen had another look at areas which he had not seen from the helicopter, and after a short while he was ready to start his masterpiece. After a short discussion he was ready to start the 10 meters long panoramic artwork. From this moment Stephen had only his exceptional memory to recall and draw the full landscape building by building.
Throughout the 7 days Stephen sketched from morning to evening. He seemed to be so fascinated that only his 6 o'clock beep from his watch could stop him for the day.
A special canvas had been set up in Seijo Studio for the occassion where the camera crew could follow Stephen's every movements.
Day after day the 360 degrees view was slowly emerging and gradually built up to the most amazing drawing of Tokyo drawing ever produced.
Images
ANA Hotel, Tokyo
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Heliport in Tokyo
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Mori Building, Tokyo
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Stephen starts drawing
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Stephen behind the 10 metres canvas
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Tokyo Panorama by Stephen Wiltshire
buy Tokyo Panorama print
On his fourth visit to the city, Stephen stars in his Friday night one hour chat show with celeb hosts in Tokyo to coincide with opening the worlds tallest tower the Sky Tree. Check out his photo album Tokyo 2012. more