Koike: “This has to be put to a stop, immediately! The voices against Jingu Gaien are getting too loud. We need to do something to shut them up, pronto.”
Staff 1: “Yea, it was unlucky timing that Southern All Stars issued a new song about Jingu Gaien, followed right after by ICOMOS’ Heritage Alert.”
Staff 2: “That Southern All Stars song has a catchy tune. And now there are posters promoting it all over town, and Kuwata-san is getting lots of interviews.”
Staff 3: “And the Heritage Alert sure got a lot of attention, both in Japan and abroad.”
Koike: “Yes that’s right. That got everyone looking at the project again, just when the developers were hoping that things would be calm so they could start cutting trees this month.”
Staff 1: “The press coverage really does seem to be getting momentum. Two popular TV shows, Hodo 1930 and Sunday Morning, covered them last week.”
Staff 2: “That pesky American consultant’s petition gained over 1000 followers in a day when Sunday Morning ran its story.”
Staff 3: “And then she delivered a petition to the Education Ministry the next day! Ugh!”
Koike: “Yea, the last thing I need is the Education Ministry on my back.”
Staff 1: “It’s amazing how hands off they have been up until now, considering that their affiliated organization is one of the developers…”
Koike: “We can worry about that later. But now today, I have really had it up to here and we need to do something right away. Last night, Haruki Murakami spoke out about Jingu Gaien again. And you know how much people love him. Then today, Toyo Keizai is out with two long stories on Jingu Gaien, featuring that super popular young academic Kohei Saito. And Diamond had the nerve to run a story with the title “With even Southern All Stars speaking out against the Jingu Gaien redevelopment, will Governor Koike flip flop yet again?”!
Koike: “We need to do something now, and stop all this talk about Jingu Gaien. I’m starting to worry it’s going to hurt my election chances next year. Can’t we get the developers to throw the critics a bone somehow?”
Koike: “Remember with the Olympic public viewing at Yoyogi Park, the last topic that American consultant made noise about? Public talk about it was getting loud, so I made a big deal of cancelling the public viewing and it created positive headlines. But we went ahead and built the stage and other structures – we didn’t want to take work away from our friend the construction company. Can’t we do something similar with Jingu Gaien – something that will turn down the heat, but not really change the ultimate plan?”
Staff 1: “Here’s an idea, why don’t we have the developers announce that they will postpone cutting any trees until next January? They can’t cut any trees right now anyway, given that public opinion is so strong.
Koike: “Good idea. That will make a good headline. Then they can cut the trees later, when things are calmer and hopefully people won’t be paying attention.”
Staff 2: “I have another idea. Remember how last year the developers manipulated the numbers, and made it look like they were going to cut down 40% fewer trees, even though the plan was completely unchanged? And then the press swallowed it hook, line and sinker, and we got a slew of headlines that said “40% reduction”?
Koike: “Yep, that was a good one. Can we try it again?”
Staff 2: “I don’t see why not.”
Staff 3: “How about the developer announces that they are going to change the plan so that fewer trees will be cut. But in actuality, just move some “cut” trees to the “transplant” category, so the numbers look better.”
Staff 1: “And rather than announcing it right away, they can say that they will announce the details in December. Then for the next couple of months, we can say “the developer is working on a plan to decrease the number of trees cut.” That will shut up the opponents for awhile.
Staff 2: “In December everyone is busy with year end stuff so they will be distracted. Perfect time to announce something without it attracting much attention.”
Koike: “Perfect plan. This will quiet things down about Jingu Gaien for awhile, and maybe if we were lucky the public will forget about, and the activists will think they have won and will get out of our hair. Tell the developers to hurry up and announce it today!”
☆☆☆☆☆
Yesterday, September 29, the developers suddenly announced that the tree cutting would be postponed. While we are delighted that the trees at Jingu Gaien won’t be cut down immediately, we suspect that something like the imaginary conversation above is close to the truth, and that yesterday’s announcement is merely the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the developer’s way of trying to quiet the opposition.
Yesterday’s announcement does not represent any change to the plan, they are still going to cut down the trees at some point. And as for the plan revisions that will be announced in December, we will wait and see what they look like. I’m guessing they are just going to play with the numbers, for example saying that some trees will be transplanted rather than cut down.
Yesterday's announcement does not represent what we are asking for: that the entire plan be rethought, based on input from citizens and experts. Again, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the developers are working behind closed doors without any citizen involvement.
Also yesterday the developers also released their comment on the ICOMOS Heritage Alert. The combative tone of this response suggests that they are not taking the Heritage Alert seriously. It seems like they want to ignore ICOMOS headquarters the way they have been ignoring ICOMOS up until now.
So while we are glad that the trees have a reprieve from being cut down, right now is the time to continue raising our voices. As soon as we get quiet, tree cutting will commence! Let’s continue to hold the developers, Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the National Government responsible, and ask them to reconsider this project from scratch.