Jane's Walk in Kagurazaka 2018

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 19^th 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.

Okubo Street Widening Project, that will divide the walkable Kagurazaka

TBS-TV of Tokyo broadcasted the issue of widening the Okubo Street (Radial Road No. 25 of TMG: Tokyo Metropolitan Government) that runs in the middle of Kagurazaka, on 7^th January. They questioned about the road development putting the 2020 Olympic games as a trigger, showed sympathy for those who had to evacuate their properties, worried that the road could divide the district and commercial street, and that the traffic volume of the road was decreasing.

Interview by TV staff on the site. Behind the fence is where buildings were
demolished for street widening project by TMG

           On the other hand, they did not mention on the following issues;

-       It will probably take long years for the road development. Currently only 10% of the land is acquired.

-       During the period, the acquired property will be vacant, surrounded by metal fence. It may be possible to use those land by the support of local ward government.

-       No collaboration or relationship is seen between the road development plan and land use or building design along the road.

In the TV program, the answer by TMG about the reason to develop the street was shown as “smoothen the traffic of some major streets in central Tokyo”. But as shown in the figure below, the traffic volumes of major streets in the area are either slightly decreasing or remain the same.

No appropriate reason is found to develop more streets for automobile, but it is promoted just because it was officially decided, not considering the drastic change of social conditions. What is officially decided as a city plan is only the route and width, and distribution of space can be changed by amending the project plan. The current plan, to make two lanes for each direction should be changed. One lane for each is and will be enough. Widened space, if cannot avoid to widen it, should be used for pedestrians, not for automobiles. In case of emergency, the space may be used for special vehicles. It is possible to design a street in that way.

 Some parts of street have already been constructed or widened. This part, from Korakuen, has few pedestrians and automobiles. Only a few passers feel comfortable, and the district is widely divided into two. We cannot believe that this is an ideal image of Tokyo in the 21^st century.

 The Shinjuku Ward designated Kagurazaka as an area of “Community Development Promotion District” in 1988. In 1991 the “Kagurazaka Machizukuri-Community Development- Organization” was organized by the residents and merchants, and in 1992 it made the “Kagurazaka Machizukuri –Community Development- Plan”. Later in 2003 the Ikimachi Club, a not-for-profit organization, and in 2004 the Kagurazaka Koryukai were founded, which both have been active in the community development and vitalization. With the local government Shinjuku Ward, we citizens have been working on Machizukuri- Community Development- for nearly 30 years.

  On the other hand, the concept of widening of Okubo Street by TMG is to smoothen and speed-up of the major roads. We want to ask you now, who are the streets for? In the central Tokyo, are streets still have to be for automobiles and cannot be for pedestrians? If TMG is going to spend as much as 13.1 billion yen to widen the Okubo Street, it has to be for the citizens and pedestrians who walk on the street.

The issue of Okubo Street Widening will be on TV

The issue of widening Okubo Street that runs through the center of Kagurazaka will be on TBS TV, channel 6, from 1 PM on Sunday Jan.7th. The plan, made in 1946 and had been frozen for about 70 years, is now going on, and may divide the walkable district into two. New concept is needed for our future.

The site facing to the Kagurazaka-Ue crossing. There used to be shops but they were demolished to prepare for road widening. It's been vacant for more than one year, and for more years it will be so.

 

 

The model of the district. Blue: already demolished, Yellow: to be demolished

Car-Free Kagurazaka Festival

The 46^th annual Kagurazaka Festival was done for 4 days, from 26^th to 29^th July. The first two days were for street market of Japanese Lantern Cherry “Hoozuki” ,food & drink market. Evening town walking tour guided by the NPO Ikimachi Club was also done. The latter two days were for Owaodori Street Dancing Parade. 

        The Kagurazaka Street was car-free during the dancing parade for years, and car-free was applied the first two days for the first time this year. The street market is placed on the border of sidewalk and traffic lane, and the congestion level on the sidewalk was far beyond capacity, especially around the Bishamonten Temple which is the main quad of the festival, and the merchants association has been requesting to the police to make the street car-free during the period of market. But it was not accepted because the police considered it difficult to stop the traffic for four nights in a row. But it was finally realized because the risk of traffic accident has risen high, and it was not comfortable for either pedestrians or drivers.

         It was expected that congestion level would be lower, but actually it was about the same, especially around Bishamonten, because more people came. Traffic lane was full with pedestrians too, and many people were sitting on the curb and eating and drinking what they bought at the markets. So it was confirmed that people like to sit at where possible even though the physical environment is not so great, when they have food and/or drink. It is a public life, but having too many people is not quite desirable. Many people avoided this crowd. The evening tour did not have so many attendants, as it was not easy and comfortable to reach and find to the reception. Having too many visitors can be a problem.

         Car-free for the market evenings was a new challenge and overall was successful to provide more space for pedestrians. The layout of the market to make more access ways between the sidewalk and traffic lane should be considered. 

Sidewalk at Bishamonten Temple, Kagurazaka Street

Kagurazaka Street, car-free, traffic lane

Many people were sitting along the curb

Shops demolished for Okubo Street Widening

Several shops and restaurant facing to the Kagurazaka-Ue crossing have mostly been demolished. More demolishing is planned (shown in yellow).　The widened space should be used for pedestrians, not for through traffic. The community is worried about divided by the wide road with more through traffic.

Before demolished, there were two shops and a restaurant facing to the crossing.

Now the shops are gone.

The street will be widened to 30 meters, even though traffic volume is decreasing.

Historic Alley District Preservation Committee Meeting on March 21

Today, the 6th "Historic Alley District Preservation Committee Meeting" was held in Kagurazaka. The committee is placed under the Kagurazaka Machidukuri Koryukai, a local community development organization. The local government announced the policy to preserve the historic townscape and also improve the safety measures, and basically approved. Survey and discussion to reach to agreement with each stakeholders will be started. The minimum width of alley will be 2.7m and district plan will be made.

Preserving the Scenic Features in the Kagurazaka Alley District

   The Wakana Inn along the Hyogo Alley stopped operation, and the property right may be transferred. The Kagurazaka 3-4-5 Chome District Plan was enforced in 2007 by the Shinjuku Local Government, partially amended in 2011. Now the plan is facing a challenge - is this plan effective to preserve the special historic townscape?

   The Kagurazaka Machizukuri (Community Design) Koryukai formed a special committee to make a better and more effective district plan to preserve the district. Six years have passed since the residents and local government officials discussed on the issue, and the plan has not been authorized yet. In such condition, to preserve the special historic features of the district, we believe it essential to speak out, get more residents and Kagurazaka supporters involved, and have more wisdom concentrated to make it a stronger movement.

  The Wakana Inn was an important symbol of historic and cultural feature of Kagurazaka. We sincerely hope it will not be lost, and ask those whom concerned and the local government to follow the manner of land use in the context of community development and management done in the past 25+ years.

  It is the very basic thing, that the townscape of the district, which is the treasure of Kagurazaka, is preserved by the residents’ actions. We will broaden our actions through “Save the Kagurazaka” movement. We sincerely appreciate your support.

                             Yokichi ISHII (Master of Sukeroku)