Op-ed in favor of Jingu Gaien redevelopment lacks veracity
TOKYO — I read with some dismay a recent op-ed from Bloomberg which supports the Meiji Jingu Redevelopment project and paints opponents of the plan as being in “opposition to any change.”
The piece, written by Gearoid Reidy, is guilty of misinformation, to use a term currently popular in Washington D.C. It is a disservice to the those individuals who have real concerns about the project and who have spent the past several months protesting in public and fighting in court to block it.
In case you are not familiar with the scheme to redevelop Jingu Gaien, a park and sports center in central Tokyo that dates back to 1926, here is a brief review. The area is home to 2,000 trees including a row of iconic gingkos, as well as rugby pitch and a beloved baseball stadium where Babe Ruth once played, one which the Yakult Swallows have used for more than half a century
The project jointly involves Mitsui Fudosan, Itochu, the Japan Sports Council, Yomiuri Holdings and the Meiji Shrine religious corporation. The latter owns all of the real estate involved with the exception of Prince Chichibunomiya Stadium, which is the property of the national government. The redevelopment plan envisions demolishing and rebuilding the baseball and rugby stadiums, which would switch locations, with the ballpark becoming the center of a business and shopping complex featuring skyscrapers of 60, 50 and 30 stories. A 20-story hotel will also be built unto the infield stands. The new rugby pitch, for its part, would feature a dome and artificial turf and double as a concert venue. Several hundred trees will be cut down to make room for it all.
Opponents of this venture believe it puts profit ahead of the wishes of local residents who, as it turns out, were not properly notified of the redevelopment before it was approved by the city.
Academy Award-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, shortly before his death from cancer, wrote an open letter to the Tokyo governor expressing his particular concern about the “precious trees of Jingu” and begged her to reconsider her approval. Famed novelist Haruki Murakami also spoke out against the project in interviews and podcasts, saying “once something is destroyed, it can never be replaced.”
The Bloomberg article claims that trees that are chopped down will actually be replaced with greenery that, in total, will increase total green space from the present 25% to 30%. That information, however, comes straight from the PR department of the developers. It sneakily refers to the surface area of green involved but neglects to include information that the 100-year-old trees will be traded for small new saplings — which will take decades to grow — and that planter boxes will be placed on the roof of the hotel attached to the infield stands in the ballpark, among other spots, and also counted as “green space.” The overall volume of greenery will in fact be reduced.
The baseball stadium is certainly in dire need of renovation, as the magazine Shukan Besuboru recently pointed out. It needs more parking, a wider concourse, elevators, wheelchair access and safer stairways — which in their present state are more suitable for mountain goats.
But comparing Meiji Jingu Stadium, as Bloomberg does, to the Hiroshima Carp’s beloved old Municipal Stadium, which was replaced by the shiny, and impressive, new Hiroshima Municipal Stadium elsewhere in the city, is disingenuous. The Hiroshima venue is not surrounded by tall buildings that create wind tunnels and shadows on the playing field, in contrast to the proposed design for the new Meiji Jingu Kyujo, which will permanently destroy the rustic ambience the present facility is so famous for. It will make an afternoon at the ballpark more akin to an outing at the shopping mall. Indeed the planned enterprise has been derided by critics as bearing an uncanny similarity to the LaLaPort Tokyo Bay complex with its 440 specialty stores in various zones ranging from fashion, home decor, and character shops to restaurants, a food court and a high-rise hotel.
If this project were being done with the benefit of Tokyoites in mind instead of lucre for the developers, the new park would be renovated on the spot in the manner of Koshien Stadium, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field — with the Swallows finding a new temporary home elsewhere until construction is completed. Ditto for the rugby pitch. Not only is the new ballpark design less than ideal for baseball, it threatens to destroy the roots of the gingko trees the new outfield stands will abut.
The Bloomberg article argues that Tokyo’s beauty lies in its relentless change, that Tokyo’s stock of incredible buildings and world-class public transport are only possible precisely because of its commitment to constant rebirth.
Well, yes, but ever changing does not mean building a cookie cutter high-rise and shopping mall on every corner or allowing greedy developers to destroy an oasis of green that has long been a national treasure, all in the pursuit of more money.
One need only to look at Tokyo Station to see the results of keeping developers honest.
That’s not “backyard provincialism.”
It’s common sense.
NOTE: Attached is the proposed redevelopment design, courtesy of Rochelle Kopp who is leading the court case to block it, with her comments.
A Shows the new baseball facility with planter boxes on the roof of the hotel and a narrow area atop the left field stands.
B Shows the part (rump) of the National Memorial Archives Forest that isn’t going to be decimated by building the new rugby stadium. However, it’s hard to imagine these trees won’t be hurt by constructing a huge building next to them. Also they are now going to be in the shadow of the stadium. Experts say they are likely to all die.
C Shows rooftop green areas.
Please keep fighting the good fight!
Keep on slugging against this redevelopment plan. This was a solid hit.