Peter J.M. Nas (ed.)，Directors of Urban Change in Asia， Routledge Advances in AsiaーPacific Studies， Routledge， 2005

  Peter J.M. Nas (ed.)，Directors of Urban Change in Asia， Routledge Advances in AsiaーPacific Studies， Routledge， 2005

13

Tokyo

A speculator and builders’ paradise

Shuji Funo

 

Introduction

From its origin as a small castle town[1] until the end of the Edo Era (1603-1868), urbanization in Tokyo (formerly know as Edo) seems to have followed an orthogenetic process. The Tokugawa Shogunate closed Japan to foreign countries with the exception of the port of Deshima at Nagasaki (opened to only the Dutch) from 1641 to 1853.[2] Japan continued to stay at the periphery of European World Economy, though the silver from Iwami Ginzan (silver mine) exported through Deshima did make a small contribution. Japan accepted no immigrants from outside during this so-called sakoku (seclusion) era.  It is, therefore, a unique example of urbanization within the formation of the Modern World System.

In the mid-seventeenth century, Tokyo’s population reached one million - matching London and Paris - although its huge urban village form did not resemble its European counterparts. Japanese society gradually opened to the world since 1853. Imperial rule was restored in 1868, and Edo was renamed Tokyo, meaning Eastern Kyoto (Capital), as the new capital of Japan in 1869. Tokyo today is a mega city.[3] The city has transformed from a huge village to a global capital centre over the past 150 years.

Edo[4] was established as the Shogun’s capital, even though Kyoto (where the Emperor resided) remained the formal capital of Japan. The Tokugawa Bakufu Shogunate controlled all of Japan, including Kyoto. It is obvious that the directors of Edo were the Shoguns, who introduced control systems for both land and people in the early Edo period. Political authority in Japan was divided amongst a centralized and bureaucratised military regime and some 250 bureaucratised feudal domains called Han. Daimyōs, the governors of the Han, were obliged to visit Edo with levies for the Shogun once a year (sankin kōtai system). They were classified according to their degree of loyalty, and were given land and goods based on the Shogun’s evaluation of their accomplishments.

All building lots[5] were arranged hierarchically around the Edo castle in the centre. Edo’s spiral pattern of moats and roads, as if the centric power of Shogun absorbed the power of people, is very unique. Daimyōs more faithful to the Shogun received larger residential sites nearer to Edo castle. Edo was a highly controlled city where residential quarters among classes (Hudai Daimyōs (insiders), Tozama Daimyōs (outsiders), hatamoto/gokenin (antrustion/inmate), chōnin (townspeople)) were strictly segregated according to hierarchy of Edo society (Si Nou Kou Shō (samurai (knight)-farmers-craftsman-merchant) system).

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 1. Diagram of Edo spatial structure (After M. Naito 1967).

 

Following the Meiji Restoration, the Emperor moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, which at last became the capital of Japan both nominally and actually. The Emperors, however, did not become the directors of Tokyo. The New Meiji Government took the initiative in restructuring Edo as a modern capital comparable to European capitals such as London and Paris. The central government invited and hired foreign engineers to create the new face of the city before reaching the same level of industrialization in western countries. The modernization of Tokyo in a Western image was the prime objective.

The directors of Tokyo were the Meiji Governors, who were advised by western architects and urban planners and promoted modern city planning. From the Meiji Restoration onward, Japan continued to import concepts and systems of urban planning from the west, including Baron G.E. Haussemann’s grand projects of Paris in late nineteenth century; the Nazi national land planning during the Second World War; the Greater London Plan after the Second World War; and the German B (Bebauungs)-Plan of the early 1980s.

Also important for Tokyo were the disasters – wars and earthquakes – that changed the city dramatically. The ‘scrap and build’ process was a real driving force of Tokyo’s transformation. The directors of urban change, especially after the 1960s, were speculators and builders. Twice destroyed in the twentieth century (by earthquake in 1923 and aerial bombardment in 1945), Tokyo emerged as a speculator and builders’ paradise, a true global city, in the 1980s. Today, Tokyo is comprised of over 12 million inhabitants and one-fourth of the Japanese population lives in the greater metropolitan area.[6] The mega-city seems to be awaiting another catastrophe unless measures to change its over-centralization are taken.

Notwithstanding all the changes, there is one invariant area, which Roland Barthes (1915-80)[7] called ‘void’ or ‘vacant’, in the centre of Tokyo. That is the Emperor’s palace complex, where Edo castle was once located. It is remarkable that this mega-city has been able to preserve a large natural precinct in its centre for over 400 years.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 2. Edo in late seventeenth century (After T. Tamai 1989 and Shinban Edo Oezu, New Edo Large Pictorial Map).

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 3. Edo just before Meiji Restoration (Edo Kiriezu).

 

 

Dreams of occidentalists: Towards a Western-style capital

Due to the drastic change of social system by Meiji Restoration, Tokyo’s population dropped from one million to about 600,000. One of the most urgent tasks of Meiji New Government was to remodel Edo into a modern capital. In 1869, Japan’s first railway was opened and the first steam locomotive started running in 1872 between from Shimbashi to Yokohama. In 1885, a cabinet system of government was adopted and Japan established a modern nation-state political system, drafting the Constitution of the Japanese Empire in 1889.

Two projects are symbolic of modern urban planning[8] in Tokyo. One is the Ginza renga gai (Ginza Brick Quarter) project (1872–77), and the other is the Hibiya Kanchō Shūtyū Keikaku (Governmental Offices Concentration project) (1886–87) at Kasumigaseki.

The Ginza district, where many merchants and craftsmen had gathered in the Edo period, was becoming a new centre of Western civilization because of its location near Tsukiji (a protected settlement for foreigners) to the east and Shinbashi (connected to Yokohama’s international port) to the south. The Ginza renga gai project was launched to refashion the entire Ginza district in red brick after the great fire of 1872. Brick was adopted not only for fire protection, but also to create a showpiece with a European flavour.

 The directors of this project were Shigenobu Ohkuma[9] (1838–1922), the Minister of Finance, and Kaoru Inoue[10] (1835–1915), the Deputy Minister. Together with many other bureaucrats, they lived in the Ginza area and were key proponents of Western civilization. English architect Thomas James Waters[11] with his brother Albert Waters were invited to prepare plans for the area. Construction took nearly a decade and the project was completed in 1877. 2,855 buildings were made, one third of which were two-storey brick buildings with colonnade and balconies. The streets were lined with maples, willows and gaslights, creating the first commercial street with a European atmosphere in Japan. Georgian-style streetscape were transferred to the Far East and suddenly emerged in the central part of Tokyo in this manner. The project, however, was not welcomed by residents. Newspapers at that time criticised the project as unsuitable for Japanese climate and claimed that this planning would encourage beriberi outbreaks. Almost all trees withered and died. The brick structures were soon abandoned because of frequent earthquakes in Japan.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 4. Ginza Brick Quarter Project 1872.

 

Most of the daimyō land plots in the vicinity of the new Imperial Palace (Edo castle) were claimed by various agencies of new government as sites for offices. The project to build Central Business District for government offices was launched after the Cabinet System was adopted in 1885.

The Director who proposed the project was again Kaoru Inoue, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and an enthusiastic occidentalist. First, he designated an English architect Josiah Condor,[12] the father of modern Japanese architecture and designer of the Rokumeikan (an elaborate hotel and a symbol of Western Civilization in 1883) to make plans for new office blocks, which were never implemented. Later, Herman Ende (a professor of the Bau-akademie and a technical adivisor of O.E.L.F. von Bismarck, the first Prime Minister of Deutsches Reich and Willhelm Böckman[13] from Germany) were invited to plan and design this Central District of Tokyo. They prepared a master plan which included a central Assembly Hall far bigger than that of the German Empire (built four years before), based on baroque urban planning concepts.

The project was not implemented because of financial concerns raised by James Hobrecht, a civil engineer responsible for the Berlin Plan in 1862. Hobrecht had carried out many projects in Moscow, Cairo, and Alexandria in addition to Berlin, and was the most famous of foreign engineers invited to Japan during Meiji Era. Ende edited the project and only two buildings were constructed on the site (half of which is now Hibiya Park), the first example of a western public park in Tokyo.

Amidst the planning of the flamboyant projects like Ginza Brick Quarter, the Hibiya Governmental Offices Concentration Projects and Mitsubishi Londontown projects,[14] various strategies called Shikukaisei (urban block improvement) to reform Tokyo were discussed. In 1880, the governor of Tokyo Michiyuki Matsuda(1839–82) published the first Shikukaisei program. Akimasa Yoshikawa (1841–1920), the next governor, followed up the program supported by the Ministry of Interior. The major concern of Yoshikawa’s program was to revitalize and develop transportation networks that could be the base of modern industries via an international port (although Matsuda’s plan laid more stress on commercial development). The Capital of the Great Japanese Empire or a Metropolis for modern capitalism, that was the issue.

The directors of this effort were Ministry of Interior headed by Aritomo Yamagata[15] (1838–1922) and newly rising entrepreneurs like Eiichi Shibusawa (1840–1931) who founded the first national bank in 1877. The first legislation in Japan to facilitate city planning, Tokyo Shikukaisei Jorei, was enforced in 1888. It was a 16-point initiative that created a city planning board and set in motion various improvements to infrastructure, especially in the downtown area. The greatest attention was given to road construction. The model was the Great Reform of Paris by Baron Georges-Eugene Haussemann (1809–91). However, because of cholera outbreaks, special attention was given to the water supply and sewage removal, and consequently, road network reform was interrupted.[16]

The fruits that Tokyo Shikukaisei accomplished until 1916 were enlargement of streets for trams, establishment of water supply and sewage treatment and installation of Hibiya Park. Most of sites of the Daimyō’s residences and temples were converted for newly needed facilities.

 

Dreams of nationalists or colonists: Towards an ideal city

The Industrial Revolution in Japan started in the 1880s and Tokyo absorbed a huge migratory population from rural areas. The population reached nearly two million at the beginning of twentieth century. Three famous slum areas called hinminkutu (caves of the poor people) appeared within Tokyo from the 1890s onward. During the Taisho Era (1912–26), the number of wage earners increased in the Japanese cities, and an increasing proportion of citizens came to lead consumer lifestyles. The Japanese economy was already involved in the world economy in 1920s. The population of Tokyo had reached 3.7 million in 1920.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 5. Tokyo in 1910 (Dainihon Rikuti Sokuryoubu, Department of survey of land, Great Japan, original scale 1:20,000).

 

Tokyo had become so large that Tokyo shi (municipal government) could not manage the urban and housing problems. Therefore, legislation was established to control and regulate the urban expansion. The Toshi Keikaku Hou (Town Planning Act) was adopted in 1919 along with Shigaichi Kenchikubutu Hou, the first Municipal Area Building Law in Japan. The word toshi keikaku, or urban planning, was used for the first time in late 1920s. The emphasis continued to be on infrastructure development in order to establish modern industry. These acts and building codes adopted a Zoning System to delineate Fire-protection Zones and to identify districts within the city for special uses. It also provided for land readjustment such as the straightening of roads and property lines in suburban areas expected to transform from farms to houses. The concepts and methods of land readjustment were taken from Adiches[17] Law of Germany.

Japanese architects opened their eyes to urban issues in the latter part of Meiji Era, but could not yet afford to carry out urban projects.  A typical example is Shigeyoshi Fukuda (1887–1971), a city architect and engineer who launched the ‘New Tokyo’ Plan in 1918. He estimated that the population of Tokyo would be 6.76 million after 50 years (1961) and that its area would grow 3.6 times, assuming a density of 250 persons/hectare. His ‘New Tokyo’ Plan was based on this individual idea and remained unrealised.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 6. The ‘New Tokyo’ Plan by S. Fukuda, 1918.

 

   The idea of ‘Garden City’ was introduced to Japan in 1907 via a book titled ‘Denen Toshi’.[18] This was published by Ministry of Interior technocrats who wanted to enliven rural regions. However, the theory and true aim of the ‘Garden City’ was not understood in Japan. The naming of ‘Denen Toshi’ caught the interest of entrepreneurs as they developed suburbs into residential quarters.  The ‘Denen Toshi’ company was established by Eiichi Shibusawa in 1918 and developed 3 settlements, one of which is called Denen Chofu (today one of the richest areas in Tokyo).

In September 1923, the Great Kantō Earthquake[19] struck Tokyo and resulting fires burned down the city centre. It reduced 60 percent of Tokyo to ashes, reverting it physically to the beginning of Meiji restoration. This might be said to be the first true opportunity to change Tokyo, since the resulting reconstruction projects were actually based on the first comprehensive reform proposals.

 Shimpei Gotō[20] (1857–1929), mayor of Tokyo (1920–23), was appointed to lead the reconstruction and drew up plans. He was a national figure with experience as an administrator in Taiwan (Formosa), Manchuria (North Eastern China), and had played a leading role to draft Toshi Keikaku Hou (Town Planning Act 1919). Gotō established the Tokyo Institute for Municipal Research soon after he had become mayor in 1920, inviting Charles Austin Beard[21] (1874–1948) as a principal advisor and proposing a master plan for the city even prior to the emergency. His plan included new street lines and wider streets, reorganization of the rail network, improvements to water and sewer systems, and creation of open spaces.

Gotō is often considered as the father of modern urban planning in Japan. Only few elements of the master plan, however, were actually accomplished, because of its cost and the opposition of powerful landowners. Land acquisition was a major issue of urban planning from the beginning.

The Dōjunkai (Foundation for Restoration after the Great Kantō earthquake), was established with donations from foreign countries, and became the first body supplying public housing in Japan. It began to build collective houses as well as detached and semi-detached houses. It also initiated slums upgrading projects and carried out land readjustments.

The Showa Era (1926–89) has difficult beginnings because of the Great Earthquake and the World Economic Crisis (1929). In addition Japan was heading for war (1931–45). Wartime planning, however, created new changes in Tokyo as new transportation systems were introduced. In 1927 Japan’s first subway line opened, in 1931 Tokyo Airport was completed in Haneda, and in 1941 the Port of Tokyo was opened. In 1932, the outline of Tokyo was expanded by combining adjacent 82 towns and villages into what was called Dai Tokyo[22] (Greater Tokyo). By 1935, the number of people living in Tokyo had reached 6.36 million, comparable to the populations of New York and London. In 1943, the dual administrative system of Tokyo-fu and Tokyo-shi was abolished, and were consolidated to form Tokyo Metropolis. The Metropolitan administrative system was thus established, and a governor was appointed.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 7. Dai Tokyo 1932.

 

In 1941, the Pacific War broke out. Ironically, the only realized examples of Japanese modern urban planning took place in its colonies in Taiwan, Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula. The Datong City Plan and Dalian Plan in China were famous Japanese colonial projects. Japanese architects considered the colony as an experimental field to realize ideals of modern architecture and city planning. Colonial urban planning reminds us that top to bottom urban planning requires political power and will to realize it. The power of the state as a whole was director to implement colonial urban planning. Japanese architects and planners were indebted to Nazi planning concepts during this period.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 8. Datong City Plan, China, 1939.

 

A central government committee proposed the ‘Tokyo Green Belt Plan’ in 1939. The plan included a green belt encircling Tokyo for protection of scenic spots and also for air defence, but never materialized due to the lack of time and financial resources. Here the director was war itself.

In the final phase of the Second World War, Tokyo was bombed 102 times, including the heaviest air raid on 10 March 1945, in which many citizens lost property or were killed.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 9. Dai Tokyo Chiku Keikaku (Greater Tokyo Regional Planning Model) 1940.

 

Dreams of futurists: Towards an international metropolis

The war came to an end on 15 August 1945, when Japan’ acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration. Much of Tokyo had been in ruins by the bombings and by October 1945, the population had fallen to 3.49 million, half its level in 1940. Tokyo again reverted to tabula rasa.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 10. Tokyo Ruins by Bombing 1945.

 

　The shortage[23] of dwelling units, lost and needed for families coming back from colonies outside was estimated at 4.2 million at the conclusion of the war. Building shelters and managing daily life was very hard.  It took few years to commence the reconstruction plan. Eiyo Ishikawa[24](1893–1955), the Tokyo government’s chief planner, had already prepared a ‘War Damage Rehabilitation Plan’ during the war, adopting a symmetrical radial and ring-road network with spaced green belts, and identifying of land uses through zoning. It was too idealistic to be implemented. This concept of symmetrical radial and ring-road network with spaced green belts, however, had continued to the influential model until Kenzo Tange (1913–) proposed the linear model in 1960. Dai Tokyo Tiku Keikaku (Greater Tokyo Regional Planning Model) of 1940 was also based on this concept such as those of S. Fukuda’s plan and S. Gotō’s plan.

From the end of the War onward, the director was GHQ of the American Occupation Forces until Japan’s return to international community via the San Francisco peace treaty in 1951. One year after the war, the Special City Planning Law was enacted and large-scale reconstruction plans were made by architects and planners for several cities. In May 1947, the Constitution of Japan, based on the doctrine of democratic sovereignty and the Local Government Act was promulgated. The first Governor of Tokyo was elected under the new system. In 1949, Tokyo Metropolis started the 23-ku system. The Capital Construction Law was passed in 1950. This law established the Capital Construction Committee; a national organization devoted to the goal of Tokyo’s reconstruction, and created the Emergency Five-Year Capital Construction Plan. However, due to severe economic conditions, it was impossible to effectively realize these plans and problems were left for the next generation to solve. Land readjustment projects were planned in many districts of Tokyo but decision-making was overly time consuming. Competitions for reconstruction programs were held, but the ruined economy did not permit their implementation.

The real reconstruction started with the outbreak of Korean War (1950–53), and special procurement demand arising from the War. The Japanese economy steadily recovered during the 1950s and post-war economic reconstruction was completed roughly ten years later. A Capital Region Development Plan was seriously considered in order to control the excessive population concentration. To this end, a Capital Region Development Law[25] was enacted in 1956 to replace the Capital Construction Law of 1950. This co-centric radial plan was modelled after the Greater London Plan(1944) by Sir Patrick Abercrombie(1879–1957), and was based on the idea of strong controls. Laws were promoting the construction of industrial satellite cities and restricting factory locations in existing urbanized. Earlier in 1955, the Japan Housing Corporation[26] had been established as a semi-public organization to carry out large-scale housing construction and housing site development in metropolitan areas. Their activities ushered a new era in town construction in Japan. New towns intended for middle-income level families were built one after another in the suburbs.[27] It should be noted that new towns created in Japan were very different from the self-contained new towns of England, which both provided work, places and housing. This was the inevitable result of the conditions prevailing in Japan at the time.

In the 1960s Japan entered a period of high-level economic growth. In 1962, the population of Tokyo broke the 10 million mark. In 1964, the Olympic games were held in Tokyo and the super express bullet train (shinkansen) opened, forming the basis for Tokyo’s current prosperity. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics transformed Tokyo’s landscape radically by virtue of the Metropolitan highway (Shuto Kōsoku) and other facilities like the Yoyogi National Gymnasium designed by a world famous architect, K. Tange. Tokyo began to change from horizontal city to vertical city since mid-1960s.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 11. Tokyo Plan 1960, Kenzo Tange.

 

From late 1950s to early 1960s, Japanese architects raised hands to be the ‘directors’ as if they could lead the directions of Japanese cities. K. Tange proposed the ‘Tokyo Plan 1960’ following Kiyonori Kikutake’s (1928–) ‘City on the Sea’ (1958) and ‘Tower City’ (1959). The ‘Tokyo Plan 1960,’ which insisted on a linear structure rather than a radial system, intended to change structure of Tokyo radically, but was only pie in the sky. Many architects, including Noriaki Kurokawa (1934-) (‘Rurban City’, ‘Spiral City’) and Fumihiko Maki (1928–) (‘Group Form’), who had belonged to the Metabolism Group launched ideal projects for the future city. Arata Isozaki (1931–) proposed a project called ‘The City in the Air’.

Prominent urban projects by star architects were proposed for a period of two or three years in the beginning of the 1960s. Realization was of no concern and the proposals lacked procedural and financial considerations. However, one image of the future city was temporarily realized at the sites of ‘Expo ’70’. Another rare case, K. Kikutake’s ‘City on the Sea’ (1958), was realized as ‘Aqua polis’ in 1975.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 12. City on the Sea, Kiyonori Kikutake 1959.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 13. Aqua Polis, Okinawa, Kiyonori Kikutake 1975.

 

On the other hand, rapid expansion of urbanized areas, shortage of housing, increased land-use prices and confusion in land ownership became apparent in metropolitan areas. Solving these problems became an extremely urgent policy issue. Planning in Tokyo began to move in new direction from mid-1960s, because little was done to create better living environments at that time, and citizens still suffered from severe water shortages and air pollution. Minobe Ryokichi[28] (1904–84), a professor who criticized urban policy from a socialist-communist perspective, was elected as governor in 1967. He made an appeal to recover clean rivers and blue skies and promised to work toward a more healthful Tokyo. The ‘Town Planning Law’ was revised in 1968 long after the first version of 1919.

 

The Post-Modern City Tokyo at its Zenith

By the beginning of the 1970s, the excesses of high-level economic growth became apparent through environmental problems such as air, river, and noise pollution. At the same time, the Energy Crisis of 1973 brought the period of high-level economic growth to a halt. Saving energy and resources became a real issue to avoid catastrophe. Development shifted from outward urban expansion towards the fuller development of already urbanized areas. Urban planning and housing paradigms shifted from large-scale development to small-scale projects, from new construction to urban renewal, from high-rise flats to low-middle rise town houses, and from quantity of dwelling units to quality of life. This situation Tokyo stood resembles that of the end of the 20th century.

Japan’s stable growth period, however, was followed by a ‘bubble economy’. In 1980’s, Tokyo enjoyed rapid economic growth again via its increasing internationalisation and the emergence of information society. Tokyo became one of the world’s most vital and attractive major cities, boasting advanced technology, information, culture and fashion, as well as a high level of public safety.

Suzuki Shunichi occupied the seat of governor after Minobe in 1979, serving four terms until 1995. He called his vision for the city ‘My Town Tokyo’. His administration put together a series of three comprehensive plans in 1982, 1986 and 1990. The biggest difference from the previous administration was their emphasis on the Central Business District and other major commercial districts, where construction of large, showy projects was intended to advance Tokyo as an international business centre and metropolis. New Tokyo City Hall[29] located in Shinjuku designed by K. Tange (an intimate friend of the governor S. Suzuki from 1960s) is the symbol of Tokyo’s zenith.

The urban issues Tokyo faced in the mid-1980s were quite different from those it had faced in the past. The city had reached its limits for horizontal expansion. The ‘Tokyo Problem’ and ‘Tokyo Reform’ became pressing issues for debate. Scholars and critics discussed the negative effects of Tokyo’s political, economic and cultural dominance, as well as possibilities for relocating the Japanese capital.

Tokyo’s status as one of the world’s financial centres attracted an unprecedented influx of foreign businessmen and workers in the 1980s. The resulting demand for centrally located office space and 24-hour facilities sparked a speculative building rush that dramatically transformed the cityscape. Western architects with post-modern designs were invited to give Tokyo a fashionable facelift, befitting its status as a global city.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 14. Post Modern Building Shinjuku 2ban Kan, designed by Minoru Takeyama 1978.

 

Further urban development necessitated the search for new frontiers. The first frontier identified was the unused public land in the city centre. Investors snapped up downtown properties, while large real estate companies launched re-development projects. Many of these destroyed the fabric of existing downtown communities. The second frontier was the sky. Tokyo still had more space in the air than New York. The project called ‘Manhattan Project’, revived after a long hiatus, started to renew Marunouchi area (the former Mitsubishi London town), the Central Business District around Tokyo Station. The third frontier was the under the ground, the so-called geo front. A project to create an underground city with 500,000 inhabitants was seriously proposed. The fourth and final frontier was the Tokyo waterfront, hitherto the home to dockyards and factories. Factories of heavy industries moved out according to the change of industrial structure. The tertiary industries evidently became the key industries of Tokyo in the 1980s.

New technologies, production systems, and building materials shaped Tokyo’s urban transformation. Since 1960s sealed aluminium sash systems have been de rigueur, meaning that all dwelling units are now air-conditioned. So-called intelligent office buildings came into fashion in the 1980s. Domed, climate-controlled stadiums allow baseball games to be played in the midst of storms. The daily lives of Tokyo’s citizens have become completely divorced from nature. Most space in Tokyo is artificially controlled by computer. Electronic conglomerates enjoying symbiotic relations with the government are prominent players in this development process, as are the large construction companies, which still wield considerable political power. Tokyo is a temporary metropolis that is constantly changing within this reiterative ‘scrap and build’ process, the city is losing its historical memory.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 15. Great Hanshin Earthquake.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 16. Tokyo from the Space 2000 (TMG)

 

Never ending Tokyo projects: Scrap and build process

At the beginning of the 1990’s the bubble economy collapsed and Suzuki-era ended in 1995. The waterfront became a principal issue in the gubernatorial election of 1995. How to redevelop the waterfront had become the major topic of early 1990s. Under the title ‘Urban Frontier’, the ‘World City Exposition Tokyo ‘96’ directed expansion towards Tokyo Bay. To hold exposition and equip infrastructures for the development after is a well-worn device in Japan.

A promise to electors to halt waterfront development led to the election of Yukio Aoshima, better known as a TV comedian, as Governor. His abandonment of the ‘World City Exposition Tokyo ’96 - Urban Frontier’ symbolized the end of the ‘bubble economy’ and its infinite expansion. It is also very symbolic that the Great Hanshin Earthquake[30] in the same year revealed the weakness of Japan’s tradition of urban planning.

Standing at the dawn of a new historical starting phase at the beginning of the 21st century, Tokyo still suffers from financial difficulties created by the ‘bubble economy’. The paradigm of urban planning is shifting again. Instead of large-scale projects here is greater interest in creating communities and enriching the people’s immediate environment, and a greater interest in creating an urban culture. ‘Sustainable City’ or ‘Compact City’ is becoming a new slogan, replacing the ‘Expanding City’ or ‘Mega-City’.

Looking back at this overview of the history of urban planning in Tokyo, several general trends are evident.

Lack of originality: Concepts and systems of urban planning have always been imported from western countries, such as Baron Haussemann’s grand project of Paris, Nazi ideas on national land planning, the Greater London plan, and the German B-plan. It is not a bad idea to learn from other systems, but they do not necessarily work well in different context. Ideas and methods need to be rooted in the realities of Japan.

Absence of subjectivity and the passiveness of people: In Japan, it is not clear who is planning and designing the city. The local government is controlled by the central government and cannot decide on any matter related to urban planning. In addition, there is no system for participation and advocacy.

Weakness of urban planning finance: There are no special funds allocated for urban planning. They depend on the annual budgets. Policies may easily be changed by the mayor, who may be replaced in the next election. Unstable planning boards are also problematic. Officials in local government change from one board to another frequently. Professionals in urban planning are needed on urban planning boards.

Immaturity of public consciousness to limit the power of private urban planning: Japan is said to be the freest country in the world for the design of buildings. This is because of the loose relation between the Building Code and the Urban Planning Law (block regulations). The cityscape is chaotic, as a result of architects responsible for this situation enjoy the freedom.

The ‘scrap and build’ urban process: For half a century after the war the ‘scrap and build’ process has been repeated. Urban planning has neglected the urban historical heritage. The resulting poor quality urban stock remains a big problem.

 

The politically powerful construction industry was one of the drivers of rapid post-war economic growth. Relying heavily on the ‘scrap and build’ method, concrete and steel transformed the Japanese landscape. In the late 1960s, construction accounted for over 20 percent of GDP. High growth gave way to a period of stable but lower growth in the wake of the 1973 Energy Crisis; heavy industries lost ground to light science and technology industries. The focus of urban development shifted again from outward expansion to the full development of already urbanized areas. Money generated by the speculative bubble of the 1980’s transformed Tokyo into a global city, wired to the dynamic movements of the world capitalist economy.

The glory days of Tokyo with the ‘bubble economy’ had gone and Tokyo suffered from economic stagnation and post-bubble debt.

Nevertheless, a curious phenomenon appeared. Along the Tokyo waterfront many new office buildings and flats were built. The number of high-rise flats newly built in 2002 [31] is said to be unprecedented. This construction was driven by the speculative activities of real-estate agents and investors as before. The rumour of ‘The 2003 Problem’[32] – companies move to the waterfront, leaving older inner-city office buildings unoccupied-spread. The oversupply was obvious and predictable, but the individual realtors and developers continue to pursue their own short-term interests, even as they know they will later suffer.

The central government has tried to influence the fluctuating annual number of dwelling units built by reforming tax incentives. The current slogans of the central government are ‘Restructuring’ and ‘Urban Rebirth’. The central government has established a special board called ‘Urban Rebirth’ and has opted to deregulate building codes and urban planning laws to stimulate building activity. Local governments can now rezone areas and make decisions on the restructuring of districts. Most local governments, however, are suffering from financial constraints and lack of funds to realize new projects. Though policymakers believe promoting building activity through deregulation is the only way to economic recovery, the idea is actually ill conceived.

What is actually happening, however, is the hollowing out of the inner city. Ishihara Shintaro, governor of Tokyo Metropolitan Municipality, has declared sixteen policy goals, the first of which is to ‘Create an urban city that facilitates a balance of jobs and residences’. It consists of two strategies: ‘Promotion of inner city residence’ and ‘Fundamental reform of the Metropolitan housing system’. The former includes bringing workplaces and residential areas together in the suburban Tama area. The results have been disappointing.

 

FIGURE HERE

Figure 17. Priority Areas for Redevelopment in Central Tokyo 2004 (TMG).

 

Conclusion

Nobody controls a global city like Tokyo; nobody knows who is behind the constant change. Something invisible, which we might call the World Capitalist System, guides the transformation of the Japanese capital.

Tokyo has its natural limits. The city cannot grow indefinitely. What is first needed is decentralization and reorganization of the land based on the ecological balance in the region. The municipal government should strengthen the autonomy of urban community for risk management. Water, food and other daily necessities are needed in the neighbourhood units in case of disaster.

It is obvious that the city needs powerful leadership and the participation of citizens to implement new ideas. Unfortunately, while formal procedures for citizen involvement have been proposed, they do not function effectively. People are reluctant to participate when their private concerns are not affected. Though blackouts and drought already threaten the metropolitan area in summer, the current system of production and consumption of spaces, however, is controlled by profit margins rather than social or ecological responsibility. If the current trends remain unchanged, Tokyo awaits catastrophe, and another reconstruction.

 

References

Barthes R. (1970) L'empire des signes, Paris, : Skira.

Cybriwsky, R. (1998) Tokyo: The Shogun’s City at the Twenty-First Century, New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Fujimori, Terunobu (1982) Meiji no Tokyo Keikaku (Urban planning of Tokyo in the Meiji era), Tokyo: Iwanamishoten. [Japanese]

Funo, Shuji (1998) Toshi to Gekijou (City and theatre), Tokyo: Shokokusya. [Japanese]

--  (2003) ‘The declining capital’, in IIAS Newsletter, 31 July, Leiden: IIAS.

Goodman, G.K. (2000) Japan and the Dutch 1600-1853, Richmond:  Curzon.

Ishida, Yorifusa (1987) Nihon Kindai Toshi Keikaku no Hyakunen (The hundred years of modern urban planning in Japan), Tokyo: Zichitai Kenkyu-sha. [Japanese]

Ishida, Yorifusa (1992) Mikan no Tokyo Keikaku (The unaccomplished Tokyo projects), Tokyo:  Tikumashobou. [Japanese]

Jinnai, Hidenobu (1995) Tokyo a Spatial Anthropology: Translated by Kimiko Nishimura, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Karan, P.P. and Stapleton, K. (ed. ) (1997) The Japanese City, Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.

Koshizawa, Akira (1991) Tokyo no Toshikeikaku (Urban planning of Tokyo), Tokyo:Iwanamishoten. [Japanese]

Naito, Akira (1967) Edo to Edo Jou (Edo and Edo castle), Tokyo: Kasimasyuppankai. (Japanese)

Sassen, S. (1991) The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Seidensticker, E. (1980) Low City, High City: Tokyo from Edo to the Earthquake, Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle.

Seidensticker, E. (1990) Tokyo Rising: The City Since the Great Earthquake, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Tamai, Tetsuo (1986) Edo: Ushinawareta Toshikuukan wo yomu (Reading urban spaces lost), Tokyo: Heibonsha. [Japanese]

Tokyo to (Tokyo Metropolitan Government) (1989) Tokyo to no Toshi Keikaku Hyakunen (100 Years of urban planning in Tokyo), Tokyo: Tokyo to. [Japanese]

Watanabe, Shunichi (1993) Toshikeikaku no Tanjou (The birth of urban planning), TokyoKasiwashobou. [Japanese]

 

 

 

Notes

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[1] Archaeological evidence indicates that human settlement in the Kanto Plain dates back to prehistory. The origin of the city goes back to the foundation of a small castle called Edo in 1457, which was built by a feudal lord named Dokan Ohta, and was part of a small castle town before the end of sixteenth century.

[2] Many books and papers were written in Japanese in terms of the relationship between Japan and the Netherlands (see Goodman 2000).

[3] The population of Tokyo Metropolitan Government has grown to 12.17 million (as of 1 October  2001), 9.5 percent of Japan’s total population and the largest of the 47 prefectures. In contrast, Tokyo’s land area (2,187.0 square kilometers or 0.6 percent of the total area of Japan) is the third smallest of the prefectures. The population density is 5,565 persons per square kilometer, by far the densest prefecture in Japan. The 23-ku areas are home to 8.21 million persons, the Tama area to 3.94 million, and the Islands to 27,000. Tokyo has 5.518 million households, and the average household comprises 2.2 persons.

[4] Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616) occupied the town in 1590 and made it the central governmental city, establishing a military government, the Tokugawa Bakufu (Shogunate) at Edo, in 1603. The Edo era lasted for nearly 260 years until imperial rule was restored (the Meiji Restoration) in 1868.

[5] According to reliable records, Edo consisted of about 300 neighbourhood units in the Kanei Period (1624–44), which increased up to 933 units in 1713, and 1678 units in 1745. The estimated population was 350,000 in 1695 and 500,000 in 1721. It is the point for later discussion that Edo was a special governmental city where half of the inhabitants belonged to the Bushi class (nobility) who formally resided in the country. So the total number of inhabitants in Edo was over one million at the end of the eighteenth century, beyond those of London and Paris. It is said that Edo (in terms of population) was the largest city – or a huge urban village – in the world in early-nineteenth century.

[6] The Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area is made up of Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba. Approximately 26.3 percent of Japan’s total population lives in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Tokyo is a vast self-governing unit consisting of 23 ku (wards), 26 cities, 5 towns, and 8 villages, and is divided into two major areas – the 23 ku area and Tama area. The total areas of all 23 ku cover about 621 square kilometers. The Tama Area is adjacent to the 23-ku areas. The daytime population, broken down by area, shows 11.191 million in the 23-ku area, 3.348 million in the Tama Area, and 32,000 persons in the islands.

[7] See Barthes (1970).

[8] Y. Ishida (1987) divides the development of modern urban planning in Japan into following stages. (i) Introduction of European urban reform (1868–87), (ii) The Tokyo Urban Improvement Ordinance period (Shikukaisei Jorei) (1880–1918), (iii) The period establishing the urban planning system (1910–35), (iv) Wartime period (1931–45), (v) Reconstruction period (1945–54), (vi) Urban development (1955–68), (vii) Establishing new urban planning system (1968–85), (viii) Anti-planning during the ‘bubble economy’ (1982–93). If I add the period after Y. Ishida, (ix) Community design after the ‘bubble economy’ (1995–)

[9] Born in Saga Han of Kyushu island. Politician. The Prime Mister (1898.6–10). One of the leaders of Meiji Restoration. The founder of Waseda University.

[10] Born in Thoshu Han. Politician. The Mister of Foreign Affairs (1885–88).

[11] Thomas James Waters is known as an engineer who had worked in Shanghai before coming to Japan. The detail of his career is not known.

[12] Josiah Condor from England is respected as the father of the Japanese modern architects. He was invited to Japan at the request of Ministry of Technology (kouburyo) in 1877 and taught the first generation of students at Kobudaigakko (Institute of Technology) and designed a considerable number of buildings.

[13] Herman Ende was 57 years old at that time. Willhelm Böckman was Ende’s colleague of Ende & Beckmann Atelier. Richard Seel, Hermann Muthesius, Heinrich Mänz, Adolf Steghmüller, Oskara Emil Leopold Tietze were hired as architects according to Böckman’s recommendation.

[14] London town, which is located immediately south of the Imperial Palace and now called Marunouchi facing to Tokyo Central Station, was a creation of a private, family-owned business called Mitsubishi headed by Iwasaki.

[15] Born in Chōsyū han. Politician. The Prime Mister (1889.12–91.4).

[16] In terms of the urban planning in the Meiji-era (1868–1911), see T. Fujimori (1982), which is still the best material.

[17] The name of Mayor of Frankfurt am Main

[18] The word ‘Denen Toshi’ is used as the Japanese word translated from ‘garden city’, but means ‘rural city’ or ‘country town’ if the word is literally translated into English.

[19] 104,619 People, most of which had lived in the densely built up area, died or were missing and 300,000 houses were destroyed as a result of this disaster.

[20] Born in Mito han. Politician. Colonial Officer in Taiwan(1898. The first director of Mantetu (Manshu railroad company) in Manchuria (1906). The Postmaster and (1908). Minister of The Ministry of Interior (1916). The Minister of Foreign Affairs (1918). Mayor of Tokyo (1920).

[21] An American scholar on public administration, finance and politics who had started a similar institute in New York.

[22] The area is 55260 ha, which is 6 times of that of Tokyo-shi. Dai Tokyo was consisted of 35 ku (ward), the area of which is the same as the present 23-ku (wards) area.

[23] The number of dwelling units exceeded the number of households in 1968. It took about a quater century to recover the shortage of dwelling units.

[24] Civil engineer who graduated from Tokyo Imperial University. Engineer of Ministry of Interior. Director of Construction board of Tokyo shi. Professor of Waseda University.

[25] It soon became clear that the Capital Region Development Plan was unrealistic in its underestimation of industrial and population concentration pressures in the metropolis. In particular, the idea of green belts was totally ineffective in the face of the sprawl into suburbs during 1960s. As a result, a re-evaluation of the plan became necessary. The Capital Region Development Law was revised in 1965, and the second Capital Region Development Master Plan was established in 1968.

[26] The cooperation was disorganized in 2004 according to restructuring of governmental organization.

[27] The New Residential Built-up Area Development Law and the Law for Infrastructure Development of New Cities are notable as measures that dealt realistically with metropolitan development.

[28] He was a popular two-term governor until 1979. His ideas reoriented Tokyo city planning, but almost brought it to bankruptcy.

[29] The former Tokyo City Hall demolished had been located in Marunouchi Central District. The movement of city hall to the west, the former sub-centre Shinjuku shows the movement of centre of gravity of the city.

[30] In the early morning on January 17, 1995, the Great Hanshin Earthquake occurred. The building collapsed killed over 6,000 people, flying objects (furniture) and the fires. About 300,000 people have lost their houses and were compelled to live in the temporary shelters until the end of August 1995 when the emergency houses were barely completed.

[31] The population movement between Tokyo and other prefectures in 2000 shows that 444,000 persons moved into Tokyo while 391,000 moved out, a total movement of 835,000 and a net population increase of 37,000. Regarding total movement, the trend of depopulation has prevailed since 1967, with the exception of 1985. In 1997, there was a net population increase for the first time in 12 years, and 2000 again showed a net increase. Looking at the total movement between Tokyo and the three adjacent prefectures (Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures), 208,000 came into Tokyo with 205,000 moving out, representing a total movement of 413,000 persons or 47.6 percent of the total, a net population decline of 3,000. Concerning natural population movement, births numbered 101,000 and deaths numbered 84,000 for a net increase of 17,000 during 2000. The degree of net increases has declined yearly since 1972, with the exception of 1994 and 1996.

[32] See Funo (2003).