[Jingu Gaien petition update] Why it’s important and what’s been happening

Today’s topics:

*Today (10/22) is the anniversary of the founding of Meiji Jingu Gaien

*Why should we protect the trees?

*What is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's responsibility regarding the redevelopment?

*What is the ICOMOS Heritage Alert?

*The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's request to the developer and the postponement of tree cutting

*Koike looking toward next year's Tokyo gubernatorial election

Today is the anniversary of the founding of Meiji Jingu Gaien

Meiji Jingu Gaien was built as a place for the people to relax, dedicated to the memory of Emperor Meiji. It was built as a national project with donations from the public of money and trees, and volunteer labor of over 100,000 young people, organized by the prominent businessman Eiichi Shibusawa. It was completed in 1926 and dedicated to the Meiji Jingu on October 22. At that time, the Hosankai (group that organized the creation of Jingu Gaien) submitted a request to Meiji Jingu. This was a list of things that Meiji Shrine to adhere to for the future of Jingu Gaien. This was the "Hope for the Future of Jingu Gaien," which strictly stipulated the philosophy behind the construction of Jingu Gaien, as well as the intended purpose and method of its use. This document, translated into modern Japanese, can be read here: https://note.com/nagato_hagi/n/n1d771ec0478b

Note: At the time of its creation, only the facilities were "dedicated" to Meiji Jingu by the Hosankai, and all the land was leased free of charge as state-owned land. The land was not given to Meiji Jingu until 1956, after the war.

Today is also a good opportunity to reflect on why this effort is important.

Why should we protect the trees?

Trees in the urban environment play an important role in mitigating the heat island effect by reducing temperatures through their shade, and in contributing to decarbonization by absorbing CO2. The older and larger the volume of a tree, the greater its capacity to do so.

As climate change due to global warming rapidly progresses, Tokyo summers are getting hotter and hotter. We must carefully protect our mature trees.

Protecting and increasing the number of trees is a global trend currently being promoted in cities such as Paris and New York. In addition, the trees in Jingu Gaien are a cultural heritage of the city with historical value, planted 100 years ago in a precisely planned landscape design. They are also common property of the people, given that they were created by the hands of the people. Trees, including the ecosystem that nurtures them, are living things, and cannot be simply transplanted or replaced by planting new trees.

We must not allow irreplaceable and precious trees to be lost due to redevelopment.

What is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's responsibility in the redevelopment project?

I believe that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Governor Koike have three major ways in which they bear responsibility for this project.

First, the redevelopment plan for Jingu Gaien was originally conceived by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. It did not originate from the financial problems of Meiji Jingu, as is now being claimed.

There is a record that in 2012, the then deputy governor and technical director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government presented the Jingu Gaien redevelopment plan to former Prime Minister Mori and told him that they would now need to persuade Meiji Jingu to go ahead with this plan. Therefore, the theory that Meiji Shrine is in financial difficulties is a theory that was added later. This record is public information and anyone can view it on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's website: https://www.toshiseibi.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/bosai/toshi_saisei/saisei07_05.htm

The second reason is that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been actively promoting the plan by collaborating (one could say colluding) with the developers in the planning process. The city basically put the entire project on the fast track.

In addition, I believe that the TMG is responsible for steamrolling the Environmental Assessment Committee. The city approved the environmental assessment report despite the fact that the chairman of the Environmental Assessment Committee said that he could not give the go-ahead yet. It was also the Tokyo Metropolitan Government that secretly asked Shinjuku Ward (which has the authority to grant permits and approvals) to change the landscape protection area criteria for Jingu Gaien from the most restrictive to a category that would allow for redevelopment. The fact that this was happening was not disclosed at all, and by the time we, the citizens, learned about it, everything had been decided.

We cannot allow such an undemocratic plan to go forward.

Third, Governor Koike is the highest authority who approved this redevelopment plan and she has the authority to stop it if she thinks there is a problem with the plan. Nevertheless, the governor is trying to pass off this redevelopment as a private project, as if she is not responsible for it. The lawsuit we are currently filing to rescind the approval for the redevelopment of Jingu Gaien is an administrative lawsuit against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, or Governor Koike, to hold them accountable for the project.

What is the ICOMOS Heritage Alert?

ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) is UNESCO's Advisory Committee on World Heritage, an authoritative international expert organization with the participation of 130 countries.

Heritage Alerts are statements issued to promote the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage, to point out problems from an academic perspective in response to crises facing cultural heritage, and to promote solutions for the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage for future generations.

The Japanese National Committee of ICOMOS has been concerned about the Jingu Gaien redevelopment project since early on, and has sounded the alarm by making numerous recommendations and requests to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the project proponents, including tree felling, a survey of the actual condition of the rows of ginkgo trees, and verification of the environmental assessment.

However, all neither the Tokyo Metropolitan Government nor the developers have taken any of ICOMOS’ statements seriously.

As the project plan progressed, the grave fact that Jingu Gaien was under threat became even clearer, and this sense of crisis was conveyed to and shared by the headquarters of ICOMOS, which issued a Heritage Alert on September 7th with unprecedented speed.

However, none of the parties that were named in the Heritage Alert, including Prime Minister Kishida, the heads of the relevant ministries and agencies, the governor and metropolitan assembly of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the mayors and ward assemblies of the municipalities concerned, and the four developers, have yet to issue a formal response. In other words, they apparently have decided to just ignore it.

Do they understand that Japan's awareness of cultural heritage protection and environmental issues are being severely questioned by the global community?

Tokyo Metropolitan Government's request to the developers and the postponement of the tree cutting

On September 12, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government made a request to the developers of the Jingu Gaien area for "tree preservation in urban development in the Jingu Gaien area," noting that the study on tree preservation indicated in the environmental impact assessment report has not yet been submitted, and requesting the developer to provide concrete measures for tree preservation before starting to cut down the trees.

Although the Tokyo Metropolitan Government denies this action had any connection with the Heritage Alert, I still believe that there was an actual impact. For the party that gave the approval in the first place to then issue such a request later can only be seen as a defensive move.

I believe that Governor Koike did not anticipate that public opposition would become so strong. In other words, she underestimated how much the public cares about Jingu Gaien.

Then, on September 29, the developers suddenly announced that the tree cutting would be postponed until January.

Although some people are welcoming this as a positive development, I think that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the developers are just trying to buy time to calm down the criticism. The logging was merely postponed, not cancelled, and they are in all likelihood just biding their time until things are calmer.

I wrote in detail about this in the last update:  https://www.change.org/p/protect-jingu-gaien-s-trees-rethink-the-development-plan/u/31956046

Koike looking toward next year's Tokyo gubernatorial election

Right now, Governor Koike probably has next July’s Tokyo gubernatorial election on her mind. For this reason, we assume that she has temporarily halted the tree-cutting and is taking a wait-and-see approach. However, simply postponing the project is only a temporary measure. Governor Koike probably did not expect the Jingu Gaien project to generate so much opposition, and she must be thinking that she must avoid as much damage as possible that could affect next year's gubernatorial election.

This may be the reason why she is talking about a new "green biz" campaign, but we citizens are not stupid and can see through such superficial deceptions.

In the past, Governor Koike betrayed the citizens of Tokyo by stalling for time to review the Tsukiji market relocation plan, dodging criticism, and then eventually going ahead with the plan as planned.

This time, instead of trying to cover up and divert attention from the problems at Jingu Gaien, she should instruct the developer to rethink the unpopular plan, taking into account the opinions of citizens and experts.

This is the only way for Koike to protect her re-election chances.

Several articles have come out lately with this same view. More details in the Japanese language version of this update: https://www.change.org/p/%E7%A5%9E%E5%AE%AE%E5%A4%96%E8%8B%911000%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E6%A8%B9%E6%9C%A8%E3%82%92%E5%88%87%E3%82%89%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%81%A7-%E5%86%8D%E9%96%8B%E7%99%BA%E8%A8%88%E7%94%BB%E3%81%AF%E8%A6%8B%E7%9B%B4%E3%81%97%E3%82%92/u/32025719?recently_published=true