Learning from the ‘Neo Tokyo Plan’

KIM HYUN-YE
The author is a Tokyo correspondent of the JoongAng Ilbo.

Tokyo Bay is the sea off Tokyo, Japan. There was an ambitious plan to create a new capital there by reclaiming the waters off Tokyo. It was the “Neo Tokyo Plan.”

Back in 1959, people flocked to Tokyo en masse. Tokyo’s population grew from 3.49 million in 1945 to 10 million in 1960. A private think tank called the Industrial Planning Conference stepped up to solve the problems of the capital, suffering from hellish commutes.

Yasuzaemon Matsunaga, a businessman nicknamed as the “King of Electricity,” set up the think tank in 1956 to reconstruct post-war Japan. High-profile politicians, businessmen and scholars participated in the conference and presented 16 reports to the government. Many of their recommendations were realized. The title of the eighth report was “Neo Tokyo.” Hisaakira Kano, who organized this plan at the time, named the new capital “Yamato.”

The new Tokyo initiative was as follows: Reclaim 200 million pyeong (661.2 square miles) of the 300-million-pyeong Tokyo Bay, in the shape of a spatula, and build homes, factories, airports, trade centers, government offices and motorways there.

Reclamation alone takes about 15 years. The area is larger than the current 23 districts of Tokyo. After the act of bringing in the soil needed for reclamation became a concern, Kano came up with the idea of destroying a mountain by causing something like an underground nuclear explosion. “This is not a far-fetched dream but a necessary plan,” Kano claimed. As the oil shock in the 1970s made the Japanese economy struggle, the plan was scrapped.

Sixty-four years have passed since. What is Japan’s plan for Tokyo now? The Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s report on 2040 Tokyo begins with the following lines: “The population of Tokyo is expected to peak at 13.98 million in 2025 and decline to 13.46 million in 2040. That year, one in three residents in Tokyo will be elderly.”

The report — aimed at making Tokyo the world’s No. 1 city in tandem with an aging society and technological advancements like self-driving and AI — also says: “Establishing a multi-functional intensive urban structure that serves functions as the capital as a whole.” It refers to drawing a megapolis of 33 million people by including nearby Chiba and Kanagawa Prefectures around Tokyo, to reflect social changes rather than adhering to Tokyo alone.

The People Power Party (PPP)’s recent plan to incorporate Gimpo City into Seoul is heating up across the country. It is intended to make Seoul a world-class city. But I am confused as it lacks the master plan that details what kind of a future capital the PPP aspires to make. If the idea really did not come from the government’s calculation to win votes ahead of the next parliamentary elections on April 10, it could be better to take a sincere approach to the future of Seoul.