Walking Between Slums and Skyscrapers: Illusions of Open Space in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Shanghai

Part Two: Between Global Flows and Carnal Flows: Walking in Tokyo

?mi฀Two฀ Bettwaso฀Gtobal฀Flows฀aod฀Carnal฀Fi©w:฀ Walking฀in฀Tokyo฀ 58฀Betwee n฀Global฀Flows฀and฀Carnal฀Flows฀ The฀power฀of฀a฀landscape฀does฀not฀derive฀from฀the฀fact฀that฀it฀offers฀itself฀as฀ a฀spectacle,฀but฀rather฀from฀the฀fact฀that,฀as฀mirror฀and฀mirage,฀it฀presents฀ any฀susceptible฀viewer฀with฀an฀image฀at฀once฀true฀and฀false฀of฀a฀creative฀ capacity฀which฀the฀subject฀(or฀Ego)฀is฀able,฀during฀a฀moment฀of฀marvellous฀ self-deception,฀to฀claim฀as฀his฀own.฀ Henri฀Lefebvre฀ I฀was฀born฀and฀grew฀up฀in฀Tokyo,฀so฀I฀grew฀up฀with฀those฀buildings.฀I฀was฀ small,฀and฀buildings฀were฀small฀at฀first.฀Then฀buildings฀became฀bigger฀as฀I฀ grew฀up.฀That฀strange฀intimacy฀with฀the฀buildings฀and฀the฀city฀is฀analogous฀ to฀the฀mixed฀feelings฀for฀the฀parents:฀affections฀and฀fears฀are฀two฀sides฀of฀ the฀same฀coin.฀ Shinya฀Tsukamoto฀ 1 his part of the book looks at the relationships among walking, violence, and globalizatio n i n Tokyo. I will juxtapose th e representation o f space of Tokyo, the official accoun t of an efficient, affluen t informationa l cit y of the future, with representational space, the private account dramatizing walking in Tokyo in Shinya Tsukamoto's films Tetsuo: The Iron Man series and Tokyo Fist. In thi s social/urba n account , I will examin e som e significan t urba n restructuring projects during Tokyo's formation into a global city in the 1980s to demonstrate how the Tokyo metropolis invites its inhabitants to identif y with the city's new image and find their sense of self firmly anchored in it. In other words , th e globa l cit y prescribe s a model relationshi p betwee n th e inhabitants and the capitalist space to its best advantage. In this sense, Tokyo is Henri Lefebvre's capitalis t abstract space par excellence, which promote s flexible accumulatio n o f capital at the cost of the inhabitants' everyday-lif e space by means of mimesis. Following Plato's use of mimesis as a means of aesthetic education for the elite class, imposing models for the guardians to emulate so as to reproduce ideal social relations, Lefebvre employs the term to elucidat e th e predicamen t facin g th e occupant s o f th e abstrac t space . According to Lefebvre, the operative logic of abstract space is twofold: elevated subjectivity and civic consciousness shaped by the global city are inextricably bound u p with th e abstraction o f the bodily experiences o f the city-users . Deprived of the space of the body, the city-user becomes a body in an ever fragmentary space, a space that reduces the totality of life to the visual. With Walking฀in฀Tokyo฀5 9฀ an emphasi s o n th e function an d effect s o f mimesis, my discussion o f th e urban plan s and assorte d buildin g project s o f Tokyo in th e 1980 s aims t o show the model subject position projected for Tokyoites to emulate by urban plans and the construction boom, both as instruments of abstract space Th e ideal inhabitants of the new Tokyo are defined a s proud users of the global city even if their concret e space o f everyday life becomes compresse d an d abstracted a t a galvanizing speed I n short, in abstract space the conceive d space overrides the concrete space of everyday life Ohkawabashi River City 21, a housing project built in 1986 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Housing Supply Corporation for thos e who gave up their nolonger -affordable livin g space in central Tokyo to make room for office space, shows how the violence of abstract space contains the conflicts it engenders Forced t o leave their homes under th e pressure of rising rent and propert y tax or the maneuver of land purchase agencies, a large number of downtown residents moved to Ohkawabashi River City 21 x A s the name of the project suggests, the composite o f two high-rise tower s and seven othe r medium scaled residential buildings builds a miniature city in itself, a city ready fo r the twenty-first centur y T o maintain the affinity betwee n th e residents and the city center psychologically and physically, a new bridge...