Features

Tokyo: All that glitters

28 May 2015 by Jenny Southan
While its economy has faced challenges, Tokyo remains one of the world’s biggest powerhouses – and with an Olympics approaching, it’s set to step up a gear, reports Jenny Southan I am sitting on a golden throne shaped like a giant snail shell. The long underground room, beneath the frenzied streets of Kabukicho, is covered from floor to ceiling in digital displays, mirrored panels, glowing glass tiles and psychedelic crystals. It’s like going to a Japanese version of a Las Vegas pleasure palace at Christmas, on acid. At the far end, two men dressed as Daft Punk-style droids play smooth jazz on electric guitars. It’s the strangest place I have ever had a meeting. A hallucinogenic vision of Japanese pop culture, somewhere between cabaret and carnival, the futuristic Robot Restaurant (pictured left) opened three years ago at a cost of ¥10 billion (£54 million). As the spectacle unfolds downstairs, groups of salarymen watch agog, chopsticks in hand, as troupes of geishas twirl parasols, and half-naked fembots battle giant smoke-breathing snakes with laser eyes. Nine years ago I was working in Tokyo as an English teacher, and this is the first time I have been back since. Living here as an expat can be a challenge – from navigating the language barrier to adapting to foreign bureaucracy – but the capital is a fascinating megalopolis where age-old beliefs, traditions and festivals run alongside Western ideologies, high technology and rampant consumerism. Shinto and Buddhism provide the spiritual roots of society, but as one man tells me: “The true religion of Japan is work.” In the 2014 IESE Cities in Motion Index from the University of Navarra, Tokyo was ranked number one in the world (out of 135 cities) based on “smart” indicators such as human capital, urban planning, public management, internet outreach, transport and the economy. It was also rated fourth (behind New York, London and Paris) in AT Kearney’s Global Cities Index 2014, which evaluates business activity, cultural experience, political engagement and information exchange, among other things. However, just as the Japanese can be formal and conservative on the surface, yet zany and boisterous underneath, signs of cognitive dissonance extend to the country as a whole. When it comes to equality between men and women, Japan lags far behind – the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2014 put it in 104th position. The Cities in Motion Index also found Tokyo fell short when it came to social cohesion. MONEY MATTERS With a population of 38 million people in the greater metropolitan area, Tokyo spreads far and dense across 2,000 sq km. On a clear day you can see Mount Fuji, but the metropolis looks best at night, when the streets are illuminated with signs stretching up the sides of buildings and the tops of towers are picked out in red by gently pulsing aircraft warning lights. It’s against this backdrop that the capital of the world’s third-largest economy pumps its monetary lifeblood. The Tokyo Stock Exchange has almost 2,300 listed companies with a combined market value of more than US$5 trillion dollars. This puts it behind only the US and China, although Hong Kong is set to overtake. Unemployment has fallen to 3.4 per cent, but gross public debt in Japan is still 246 per cent of its GDP (more than double that of the US). The ageing population also presents problems. Managing the necessary reforms is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. After two decades of deflation, his tri-part plan to boost the economy combines aggressive monetary easing, concerted fiscal stimulus, and structural reforms to increase productivity. He has also stressed the importance of innovation, especially in the realm of big data and the internet. Philippe Roux-Dessarps, general manager of the Park Hyatt hotel, says: “Japan’s economy is still soft and it is unsure if ‘Abenomics’ has been successful, [but it has] devalued the Yen versus other major currencies.” This means travellers will likely find it more affordable. OLYMPIAN QUEST In August, Abe will lead commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the Second World War. It will also be a time to reflect on how, in 1964, Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics – the first chance Japan had after the war to present itself to the world as a stable nation on the road to recovery. About US$10 billion (at today’s rate of exchange) was spent on the Games – the equivalent to the nation’s entire budget at the time – while the country’s first shinkansen bullet trains, between Tokyo and Osaka, went into service just before the event. Fittingly, the Olympics and Paralympics will be returning to Tokyo in 2020, 75 years after the war; and there are plans to introduce the world’s fastest Maglev train – capable of travelling at 603km/ph – between Tokyo and Nagoya in 2027. Hidetoshi Fujisawa, executive director of Tokyo 2020’s communication and engagement bureau, says: “The 2020 Games will enable Japan, now a mature economy, to promote future changes throughout the world and leave a positive legacy for future generations.” Its estimated net contribution to the economy is predicted to be ¥3 trillion (£16 billion). Preparations are well under way. Kasumigaoka National stadium, which was used in the 1964 Olympics, is being rebuilt in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The 70-metre-high structure has been designed by Zaha Hadid, but renderings of what it will look like have not been well received. Its budget has almost been cut in half to ¥169 billion (£902 million), and Japanese architect Arata Isozaki has described its alien form as being “like a turtle waiting for Japan to sink so that it can swim away”. LEGACY PLANNING Where possible, all venues will be within 8km of the Olympic Village by Tokyo Bay. Here, athletes will find a mini eco-city powered by hydrogen filling stations, and as part of the legacy, there are plans to turn the site into a town for 10,000 people after. Nearby on the Sumida River, the 80-year-old Tsukiji fish market will move 3km south to the island of Toyosu at the end of next year so that the new Loop Line 2 artery – connecting central Tokyo with the Olympic Village – can be completed. While most of the 14km Loop Line 2 is above ground, a 1.4km section connecting Shimbashi with Toranamon has an underground expressway for cars and 13-metre-wide pavements for pedestrians. Unveiled in March, it has been described as “Tokyo’s answer to the Champs-Elysées” and is planted with almost 200 trees. At the heart of the emerging Toranamon business district, and directly above the tunnel, is the 52-floor Toranamon Hills skyscraper, completed last June. Surrounded by 6,000 sqm of green space for outdoor yoga, it houses offices, residences and restaurants, as well as an Andaz hotel with 164 rooms and a rooftop bar (click here for a review). Other recent openings include the luxurious Aman, which occupies the top six levels of the 38-floor Otemachi tower near Tokyo station, and was unveiled in December. It has 84 rooms starting from 71 sqm, a 2,500 sqm spa with communal onsen bathing, and a 30-metre pool with panoramic views of the city. In April, the 970-room Hotel Gracery, which has seven special Godzilla-themed rooms, arrived in Shinjuku. Next year, the Hoshinoya Tokyo will open in Otemachi as the capital’s first high-end ryokan – a Japanese-style property with 84 suites with tatami floors. Nearby competitors include the Shangri-La, the Peninsula and the 100-year-old Tokyo Station hotel. There is also the Mandarin Oriental, which hosted “best restaurant in the world” Noma as a six-week residency at the beginning of the year. Head chef René Redzepi made waves among food critics for serving live shrimps covered in ants, but this didn’t seem to put off the 3,456 people who managed to get a reservation, or the 62,000 others who were on the waiting list. VISITOR BOOST Margaret Mann, convention manager for the Japan National Tourism Organisation (jnto.go.jp), says: “The number of visitors to Japan rose by 29.4 per cent last year to 13.4 million, a record high.” By the time the Games begin, the country hopes to be welcoming 20 million a year, of which half will be coming to Tokyo. During the Olympics, 920,000 visitors a day are expected. To cope with increased demand, by 2020, annual flight departures and arrivals at Haneda airport will rise by 39,000 (from 447,000 today), and 40,000 at Narita (from 270,000). There are also plans for new underground lines from both airports to Tokyo station that will cut journey times from 30 minutes to 18 minutes for Haneda, and 55 minutes to 36 minutes for Narita by about 2025. In April, Narita’s new Terminal 3 was unveiled, with colour-coded running tracks along corridors to lead passengers to departures and arrivals. A spokesman for tour operator Inside Japan (insidejapantours.com) says: “The transport infrastructure in Tokyo is second to none. It is reasonably easy to use, and cheap.” The capital has also been ranked the safest in the world in The Economist’s Safe Cities Index 2015. During my visit, I am consistently impressed by the level of service – from the airport staff who guide you through the terminal, and the white-gloved taxi drivers, to the sales assistants who wrap whatever you buy beautifully, and the cleaners (dressed in pink or blue) who bow as you get off the bullet train. Walking around the trendy streets of Harajuku and Shibuya, I can see this part of Tokyo is now trumping the likes of Brooklyn, with its concentration of vintage stores, quirky boutiques and designer outlets. Other parts of the city continue to be more specialised, such as Kappabashi, which is known for kitchenware and plastic replica food, and Akihabara, for electronics and manga. Golden Gai in Shinjuku, meanwhile, has a maze of 280 tiny dive bars in ramshackle old buildings. It’s not far from the Robot Restaurant but feels a world apart. There have been rumours this area will be destroyed to make way for Olympic development, but so far this remains unconfirmed. With any luck, Tokyo will realise success in the next decade will rely just as much on soft power in the form of culture and creativity, as on strengthening its economy. British Airways flies daily from London Heathrow to Tokyo Haneda and Narita. ba.com  
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