Economist.com Cities Guide: Tokyo Briefing - December 2005

News this month

All shook up

Earthquake anxiety always runs high in Japan, which accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s stronger tremors. But nerves have been more fraught than usual recently, thanks to a scandal over the safety of about 60 buildings in and around Tokyo. Hidetsugu Aneha, an architect, allegedly used false data to certify structures as earthquake-safe, when in fact many of them risk collapsing during a modest tremor. Several of Mr Aneha's buildings have been evacuated since the fraud was revealed last month. The infrastructure ministry has promised to help relocate displaced families, and investigate all structures linked to the architect.

Such measures have done little to allay fears that other buildings, thought to be safe, do not meet official safety standards. Anxiety only grew when the government reported in December that 1,460 structures it had ordered to meet such standards have yet to begin repairs. Local newspapers have offered advice on how to calm earthquake fears, but the solution can be expensive: the only sure way of knowing whether a building meets government standards is to conduct an electromagnetic wave test, which costs around ¥2,000 (about $16) per square metre.

Tunnel vision

Japan’s public construction projects tend to be spectacular: the ten-kilometre-long Aqualine motorway that crosses Tokyo Bay and the vast suspension bridges that run to Yokohama are undeniably grand. Now planners are working to promote one of the most ambitious projects to date: the 11km-long Tokyo Tunnelix—as its constructors, the Metropolitan Expressway Company, call it—will burrow 30 metres below the capital to carry traffic through the notoriously congested Shinjuku district. Due for completion in 2007, the tunnel is part of a scheme to improve Tokyo’s clogged road system.

Though work has been underway for years, the tunnel has gone largely unnoticed, with construction almost entirely out of sight. To draw attention to the project, the Metropolitan Expressway Company invited the press to visit the tunnel in late November. It is hardly surprising that planners are keen to sell their work to the public: because of the tunnel’s depth, it costs taxpayers about ¥100m per metre, twice as much as a normal motorway.

It'sss good for you

News that there are now more than 1m Japanese people aged over 90 years has sent Tokyo’s urbanites scurrying to the countryside to learn the secrets of longevity. Although Japan’s lengthy average lifespan is a national phenomenon, there are pockets of the country where the trend is more pronounced, particularly in the rural areas north of Hiroshima and in the south-eastern prefecture of Kagoshima.

Playing to the city-dwellers’ fascination with rustic health, Kagoshima has published a series of advertisements touting the health benefits of the Habu snake, a highly poisonous local viper whose low-fat, calcium-rich meat is said to prolong the lives of locals on Amami Island, south of Kagoshima. The Amami Kanko Habu Centre has been flooded with enquiries since the ads were placed, and has begun planning for an influx of snake-eaters from Japan’s big cities.

Tokyo's Golden Age

Japanese investors helped create a spike in the international price of gold in early December, when the precious metal reached over $500 an ounce. Individual Japanese gold bugs have traditionally reacted to rising gold prices by selling gold, but with the yen set to plunge against the dollar by the largest yearly margin since 1979, Japanese investors are buying gold to diversify their portfolios.

Record winter bonuses at Japanese corporations may have further boosted the gold-buying spree, according to managers of the Gold Shop, in the heart of Tokyo’s Otemachi financial district. Businessmen, with extra cash in their pockets, may be reluctant to dip their toes into equities just yet (despite a soaring Nikkei); property is always a gamble; and post-office savings earn virtually nothing. If winter bonuses aren’t invested in something high-tech, like a giant LCD television or a digital camera, chances are they will go towards a distinctly low-tech gold ingot.

The last laugh

When “manga cafés” started cropping up in Tokyo 20 years ago, they were designed with a simple purpose: to provide otaku, as geeky comic lovers are known, with a cheap and comfortable spot to indulge their passion. Over time, this mission expanded. Cafés began catering to different breeds of otaku by providing video-game consoles, board games and booths for watching anime cartoons. Later, when café proprietors realised that businessmen were using manga cafés as low-cost hotels, they made armchairs more luxurious and improved the food.

Now some manga cafés are taking one step further and trying to appeal to women. These cafés provide such services as germanium baths, facials and organic menus. Some even include gyms and nail salons, while others lure customers with karaoke. Comics are a peripheral attraction.

Catch if you can

December 2005

Naofumi Maruyama: Between morning and night

Until December 17th 2005

Shugo Satani, a prominent art dealer, has just moved his gallery to a new address that is even more out of the way than before. To celebrate the reopening, Mr Satani is holding an exhibition of works by Naofumi Maruyama, who paints with acrylics on cotton. Mr Maruyama has grown popular in recent years, and his art has been included in two big shows at the Mori Art Museum. The works in this gallery show are energetic, colourful and delicate—and well worth the hassle of getting to the gallery.

Shugoarts, Kiyosumi 1-3-2, Koto-Ku, Tokyo. Tel: +81 (03) 5621-6434. Take the Hanzomon Line to Kiyosumi-shirakawa, exit A3. Open: Tues-Sat, 12pm-7pm. For more information, visit the gallery’s website.

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