Jingu Gaien Redevelopment Plan

Established in 1925 commemorating Meiji Emperor and Empress, the Outer Garden of Meiji Jingu Shrine, or Jingu Gaien, has been offering urban comfort to the people in Tokyo metropolitan area as a sports park. There raised a dispute over the redevelopment plan in the garden between the residents around and the local governments. The question here is: business or environment?

The redevelopment plan is to rebuild a baseball stadium and a rugby stadium, and two tower buildings with shopping malls. Tokyo Metropolitan Government explains that there will be a large loan garden at the center for the events with legacy of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games such as playing with professional athletes or experiencing parasports. “This will be the stronghold of sports we can proud of to the world,” says TMG on the webpage.

 

The developer including Meiji Jingu Shrine or Mitsui Fudosan submitted the plan to TMG December 2022. With approval of TMG in February, the developers started the construction in March. According to the original plan, out of 1904 trees taller than three meters, 743 will be cut down, 275 will be moved, and 837 will be newly planted. New Jingu Gaien will be finished in 2036 with the total cost of ¥349 billion. 

 

The residents around the redeveloping area filed two lawsuits against TMG. One is demanding cancellation of approval of the redeveloping plan, and another is temporary suspension of the construction. The plaintiffs argue that the examination on the plan was insufficient, because the plan does not include about three thousand of trees smaller than three meters, which must be cut down.

 

On the trees smaller than three meters, it was not TMG but the government of Shinjuku Ward that approved cutting down three thousand trees in February. Jingu Gaien has been designated as “scenic area,” where the local government preserves good urban scenery. However, Shinjuku government had mitigated the regulation in 2020. Another lawsuit was filed against Shinjuku government in July, demanding cancellation of the approval of cutting three thousand trees down.

 

Those protests have obtained large supports. Ryuichi Sakamoto, a well-known musician deceased in March, wrote a letter to TMG Governor Yuriko Koike asking to reconsider the redevelopment, and a novelist Haruki Murakami announced his opposition to the plan. International Council on Monuments and Sites, a non-governmental organization for conservation of cultural heritage places, issued a Heritage Alert in September, requiring the project proponents to immediately withdraw the redevelopment project of Jungu Gaien.

 

In the background of the redevelopment plan, there is a financial difficulty of Meiji Jingu Shrine. The shrine financially depends for a large part on the income from Jingu Gaien. The redevelopment can improve its future financial balance. There is a discussion among the lawmakers in the Diet to support the shrine with crowdfunding.

 

On the other hand, there is a mood in Japan that is skeptical about the mixture of business and sports after the bribe scandal related to selecting the sponsors for Tokyo 2020 Games was revealed. Local governments, as well as national government, have to make its stance clear which side they will stand by, the people or business.

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