Tokyo - NEO-TOKYO 3: In the Club?

In this walk, we’re exploring how Tokyo has allowed authorities, developers, and people around the world to reimagine what a city might be, in the last fifty years. In this episode, we see how Roppongi’s military past has more or less vanished, replaced first by nightclubs, more recently by luxury towers and integrated developments.

We start on the southeast corner of Roppongi Hills, make our way into the “Artelligent City.” We pass through the Mōri garden, which nods to the site’s early modern incarnation as a lordly suburban villa, and then through the walls, up into the plaza, where we shelter under a spider, in the shadow of the towering but squat Mori Tower. Descending to the street and heading towards Roppongi Crossing, we can still find some remnants of the district’s previous incarnation as a playground for foreigners, celebrities, and mobsters. More prominent are the other two corners of Roppongi’s “art triangle,” the National Art Center and the various art spaces of Tokyo Midtown, together with the offices and condos that are sprouting in between. Invisible are any signs of Roppongi’s military past, though the American military maintains a heliport and a newspaper not too far away. The second half of the episode sees more of the same, as we walk up and down the slopes into Azabu, past embassy housing and more soaring towers. We end the episode contemplating the Mori Building Company’s latest project, Azabudai Hills, currently under construction, which promises to create a “modern urban village,” but threatens to put the 1958 Tokyo Tower and the 1975 headquarters of a new religion in the shade.

You can follow the walk on this map: bit.ly/3D1IwMP

And you can find the full transcript here: bit.ly/43odN7q

See a sneak peek on TikTok: tiktok.com/@walkhistoricity

and Instagram: instagram.com/WALKHISTORICITY

WRITER AND PRESENTER: Angus Lockyer

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic

This series was supported by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. Find out more at: gbsf.org.uk

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