On April 26, the Japan Branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites(ICOMOS), the advisory body to UNESCO, presented an alternative proposal to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for the redevelopment of Jingu Gaien.
According to the proposal, the stadium and the rugby field would be rebuilt at their current locations, without switching them as would be done in the government’s plan. Some of the roads in the park would be converted to walking paths to create space, and trees that were planned to be cut down can be left in place. As a result of these and other measures, the number of trees to be cut will be reduced to two.
You can see the news reports on this proposal at the following links: (Japanese only)
You can also read the full text of the report on the ICOMOS website.
The media coverage of this proposal received considerable attention on social media sites. Many citizens were happy to learn that there is a way that Jingu Gaien can be redeveloped that does not require large-scale sacrifice of trees.
Unfortunately, however, at her regularly-scheduled press conference on April 28, Governor Koike expressed a negative opinion about the ICOMOS proposal, saying, "This project is based on the premise that the sports facilities will be rebuilt on their original sites. We believe there are many issues with that, such as the problem of continuity of the sports competitions to be held there.” Is ensuring that sports events are uninterrupted more important than the lives of a thousand trees? It is hard to understand that way of thinking.
Furthermore, the ability to hold sports events continuously would not even be an issue if, instead of tearing them down completely and rebuilding them, we chose to renovate the existing baseball and rugby stadiums. In fact, this past week I attended a meeting with government officials to discuss the redevelopment of Jingu Gaien. My question to them was, "Have you done a comparative study on the possibility of renovating, rather than rebuilding, the rugby stadium?" The reply was that as far as they know, no such comparative study has been done. The same is likely true of the baseball stadium as well.
Renovating rather than building would decrease the burden on the environment and should also be better financially. At the very least, the option of renovation should be considered. I hope the government, which has the responsibility of using taxpayers' money wisely, will at least look into it. It is irresponsible for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to simply assume without any data that rebuilding is the only way to go.
At the same press conference, Governor Koike said that the government’s plan would "enhance the greenery," but calling chopping down 1,000 trees "enhancement of greenery" is simply ridiculous.
Koike also used the phrase "we will preserve the trees as much as possible" in her remarks at the press conference. Governor Koike has repeatedly said this, but the fact is that creating space for high-rise buildings and commercial facilities leads to a domino effect that makes cutting down hundreds of trees inevitable. Unless what is being built and where is not changed, it will not be possible to preserve the trees. I really wish that Koike would stop using this empty phrase.
The plans for Jingu Gaien should not be decided unilaterally by commercial interests and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. There needs to be an open process involving citizens, in which multiple proposals and the associated trade-offs of each are carefully considered. Through this petition, I will continue to demand a forum for such open discussion and debate. Thank you for your continued support.
(About the photo at the top of this update -- NHK published a backgrounder on the Jingu Gaien redevelopment debate, and included a bit about this petition! This photo is from the press conference on March 2nd, when I presented the request letter to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government).