As Japan rebuilt and regained its footing after the war, Tokyo reemerged as the engine and emblem of national progress – of not just recovery but economic growth. Leading up to the 1964 Olympic Games, the host city upgraded its physical infrastructure, erected tall buildings, and made sure Tokyo was clean and shiny to demonstrate to the world the nation’s rebirth as a remodernized, peaceful, and prosperous Japan. Over the course of the 1960s, as gross national income more than doubled and Japan became the second largest economy in the world, a middle class ideal took root of a nuclear family with a husband who worked a white-collar job, a wife who managed the home, and household income enough to purchase electric appliances and to save toward buying a home. Tokyo was at the vanguard of the embrace and the achievement of middle class aspirations, with urban living in a danchi or apartment complex within the grasp of more and more Tokyoites and the relatively affordable suburbs beckoning more and more people. But by the late 1960s, middle class dreams were also tinged with disappointment about cramped apartments, long commutes, and the environmental costs of high economic growth.