Jane’s Walk in Tokyo 2018
Saturday, April 28 11:00-16:00
City Organizer - Shunji SUZUKI
Supported by the NPO Ikimachi Club
Meeting Point : Morito Hall of Tokyo Science University
This year, Jane’s Walk in Tokyo provided six different courses lead by six walk leaders. The day began with introductory lecture on Jane Jacobs by the organizer, followed by brief description of walking course and themes, then the participants picked a course to walk. Each course had a theme to observe the vicinity of Kagurazaka, a downtown community with the sense of both tradition and modern nicely mixed The themes for each course were Community, Literature, Townscape, Development, Innovation and Road Widening. Under the clear blue sky, the participants had good communication while walking and presented what they had found after the walks. When we look at a city with the eyes focused on specific issues, we find a lot. And by sharing what we saw, we learn a lot. Total number of participants was thirty-three.
Route 1: Theme-Community, Walk Leader - Takayuki FUJINO
- Kagurazaka is having strong development pressure, new high rise condo are being built one after another. The local community Not-for-Profit (NPO) members negotiated with the developer, and it agreed to make a gallery and community space open to the public. The community is learning the way to deal with developers and always thinking what to do next.
- In the Akagi-Shitamachi, dense and mixed neighborhood of residential and industrial, old factories are getting converted to shops and apartment. Preserving the old façade gives old but new atmosphere to the area.
Route 2: Theme-Exploring the world of novelist NATSUME Soseki, Walk Leader-Atsuko MASUI
- Recalled the big figure of literature who lived in the area, as walking through the narrow residential alleys. By looking back the past, we could recognize good character of the area and felt the rich culture.
Route 3: Theme-Townscape, Walk Leader-Tadashi NISHITANI
- The course began with a short lecture by using photo of the old days of the area.
- Surprised to find that the streets in the area have not changed much since the 19th century. There is close relationship between streets and townscape.
- The surrounding area has changed a lot with big scale redevelopment, and Kagurazaka’s character stands out by keeping its human scale.
Route 4: Theme-Development, Walk Leader-Takehiko YAMAMOTO
- Walked the three main streets in the vicinity. Kagurazaka was flourishing but the other two had almost no pedestrians. Where does the difference come from?
- Kagurazaka Street is about 10 meters wide. People walk slowly, going into the shops. On the other two, streets are wider and people walk faster and just go through. In Kagurazaka, streets and shops have friendly relationship, and shops have narrow width and are lined up without spaces in between.
- The condition of Kagurazaka meet Jacobs’ “four dispensable conditions”, especially “short blocks” and “old buildings”.
Route 5: Theme-Innovation, Walk Leader-Kaoru YAMASHITA
- In the “narrow alley” district, small scale re-building or renovation projects are getting done. It was more than expected. There are a lot of foreign cuisine in the neighborhood, and variety of visitors were there, young and old, men and women, Japanese and international.
- Some buildings have been renovated while preserving the exterior, and converted to restaurants or shops.
Route 6: Theme-Road Widening, Walk Leader-Shunji SUZUKI
- Okubo Street that runs through the center of Kagurazaka area is getting widened. The plan was authorized in 1946. Even though the social/traffic conditions have changed drastically, Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) still sticks to the outdated plan. The traffic is decreasing and there is no need to widen the road from traffic viewpoint.
- Some lands have been purchased by TMG and have been kept vacant, surrounded by bare fence. In some areas along “to be widened road”, shopping streets were demolished and have been kept vacant for more than 10 years. We observed such sites today.
- It is the time to use our public space for pedestrians, not for automobiles. In the area, public transit systems are quite developed and provide good services, many residents and visitors use public transit.
