Economist.com Cities Guide: Tokyo Briefing - August 2005

News this month

An awkward moment

The heat of an already stifling Tokyo summer increased by several degrees on August 8th, when the upper house of parliament rejected a bill that would have privatised the sprawling savings-deposit operations of Japan's post office. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had much staked on the thorny piece of legislation, but found himself thwarted by a rebellion in the ranks of his own Liberal Democratic Party, a resilient but often uncomfortable conglomerate of factions, which he has done little to unify.

Before the vote, Mr Koizumi threatened upper-house rebels with dissolution of the lower house in the event of a No vote—a threat that provoked little practical worry, as politicians in the upper house serve fixed terms and will not face election for at least another two years. As good as his word, Mr Koizumi dissolved the lower house and called for a general election on September 11th. Japanese politics, said one former cabinet secretary, have rarely been this unpredictable.

Pastures new

A series of sweeping changes to Japanese agricultural law will, from September 1st, make a dramatic difference to rural parts of the country. But the greatest impact so far has been on Tokyo. The reforms are a response to the ageing population in the Japanese countryside, where the number of farmers has dropped from 7m to 3.6m over 25 years. The changes to the law mean that, for the first time since the first world war, private-sector companies will be able to own, work and lease farmland. In the past two weeks, more than 100 new entities have been registered in the capital to do just that.

Anticipating the emergence of a new employment market, Pasona, a large employment agency, has become the first such firm to set up a division in its Tokyo office that will find jobs for young urbanites in the paddies and greenhouses of rural Japan. The company has even built an underground hydroponics farm in a vault below its office to provide agricultural training to its recruits, who are expected to arrive at the rate of about 300 per month.

A fledgling property bubble

Japanese property prices have been falling since 1992, and the dwindling value of land assets bought during the bubble remains a misery for most. But what is true for 99% of Japan is not the case for a few pockets of Tokyo, where, according to the national tax agency, land prices climbed by an average of 0.4% in the first six months of 2005. Prices are surging most strongly in the districts surrounding the glitzy office and shopping malls in the centre of town. These developments have induced a variety of phenomena, including the city's first serious up-market hotel war in decades, as the likes of the Grand Hyatt, Four Seasons and Conrad compete for business travellers visiting the big investment banks. With a new Mandarin Oriental and Ritz-Carlton joining the fray shortly, competition is expected to intensify.

Tokyo's fledgling property bubble is also being inflated by a series of vast condominium projects in Shibaura, a long-overlooked area of reclaimed land to the east of the city, where Tokyo's emerging army of single working women are choosing to settle in pet-friendly flats with a bay view.

Up-and-coming Akihabara

The most striking transformation of a central Tokyo district has been around the old electronics market of Akihabara. Since the 1970s, the area has maintained a down-at-heel image, offset only by its importance to the hordes of technology enthusiasts who flock to its neon-lit alleys in search of the latest gadget. But recent months have seen a spectacular face-lift for the area, as property developers cotton on to the significant spending power of the district's regular customers.

In late July, two towering glass-and-steel office blocks, two restaurant complexes and a digital university opened their doors in what was previously a street best avoided. By the end of August, Akihabara's rise to respectability will be complete, as the tape is cut on a new high-speed railway linking it to Tsukuba, a city an hour north of Tokyo, where some of the country's foremost scientific research takes place.

Money in the kitty

Sanrio, a Japanese character goods company that makes its fortune from the “Hello Kitty” range, sold a diamond-encrusted pendant bearing the image of its iconic white cat for $50,000. The buyer made his cash purchase just two minutes after the trinket went on sale at the Mitsukoshi department store in central Tokyo.

Sanrio, meanwhile, has been looking for other ways to appeal to adult customers, and has turned its attention to the disposable income of Tokyo's businesswomen. It now sells a DVD showing the cartoon exploits of Charmmy Kitty, a cartoon character, as a stress-relieving tool for high-powered executives. The cartoon contains no words, just a series of comforting sounds and images. Executive stress is clearly an issue among the capital's female elite: Charmmy Kitty has been an instant success with its target audience, selling out in many of Tokyo's shops within hours.

Goodbye Mr Watanabe

The Japanese underworld was rocked by the news that Yoshinori Watanabe was stepping down as the kumicho or boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate. The 64-year-old yakuza boss, who has commanded the country's largest organised crime family for 16 years, cited persistent ill health as his reason for retirement. Others have speculated that his departure has more to do with a ruling by the supreme court last November, making it possible for the head of a syndicate to be held personally liable for all civil cases arising from crimes committed by members.

Catch if you can

August 2005

Miwa Yanagi

Until November 6th 2005

Miwa Yanagi, a young artist from Kobe, first drew the attention of the art world in the early 1990s, with a series of striking photographs of immaculately uniformed elevator girls in Japanese department stores. Since then, her work has remained focused on the changing psyche of the modern Japanese woman. Her current exhibition at the Hara Museum, entitled “The Incredible Tale of the Innocent Old Lady and the Heartless Young Girl”, is worth investigating. The mix of photographs and videos explores how young Japanese women imagine they will look when they are old.

The Hara Museum is hard to reach on foot, so hop in a taxi at Shinagawa station for a five-minute journey (about ¥660).

Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, 4-7-25 Kita Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo. Tel: +81 (03) 3445-0651. Open Tues-Sun 11am-5pm, Wed until 8pm. The museum's website publishes information in English.

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