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198 chapter six Roppongi Remade redevelopment landscapes I begin with a reminder that remaking Roppongi is not just about the cleanup of a misbehaving nightclub district; the backdrop is also about reforming how people live in Tokyo and setting a new, high standard for Japanese urban life. For those with building in mind and who want to remake in fundamental ways the character of life in Tokyo, it is convenient that Roppongi has been bad: it can more easily be condemned to die, and public opinion will be supportive. With that accomplished, Roppongi’s demolition becomes easier and can be followed by the shaping of a new urban form. There will be little political support for the old Roppongi and, conveniently too, little opposition to what is new. “New Roppongi” can come upon the scene without scrutiny, quietly if that is convenient, and with fanfare if fanfare helps. We see that the construction state is not just cement happy, but crafty too. As established in chapter 2 in setting context for this narrative, Tokyo is a city that never sits still but is always building, rebuilding, and building some more. Because of Minato Ward’s centrality and location at the most active advancing edge of Tokyo’s central business district, it has been especially dynamic. It is not unusual to see buildings coming down one after the other, even those that seem perfectly functional, and new ones rising in their place. This is Roppongi’s story too. Step away from the neighborhood for two or three months, and there will be so many changes by the time you return that you might feel a bit disoriented. Gaien Higashi-dōri has become gap-toothed, meaning that there are now spaces between buildings that once stood neatly in line like straight teeth. Now buildings are missing, and I wonder who threw the punches that knocked those teeth loose. From across the street, we see that the gap frames perfectly Mori Tower, the glitzy steel and glass centerpiece of Roppongi Hills, the crowning achievement (so far) of the Mori Building Company, changer of Tokyo and collector of indecent fliers. The symbolism is inescapable: the Roppongi Hills version of Tokyo, which is elaborated below, hallmark of New Roppongi, is Roppongi Remade • 199 looming ever larger over the heart of neighborhood, sending it punch after punch until the knockout. I consult my notes and photo archives as to what was on the site before and remember that it was a multistory games arcade and karaoke emporium. I won’t miss it, except that it did have a large, multistory , scary-looking metal sculpture of some insectlike monster on its façade and was, therefore, a local landmark. The sculpture was a unique architectural adornment and a nostalgic throwback to some kitsch fad from the past; I hope that someone thought to save the monster. Personally, I’m glad that I had taken photos before it wandered off. A walk toward a favorite sports bar in another direction from Roppongi Crossing takes me past another, much larger cleared area—in fact, two gaps side by side on either side of a narrow street. I had known that this redevelopment was coming because I had observed at least three years earlier that the various buildings on the sites were being emptied of tenants and then being shuttered. What I did not think of at the time but see now is a street-level sightline between Roppongi Hills in one direction and Tokyo Midtown, the other enormous new redevelopment project in Roppongi that is featured in this chapter, in the other direction. The latter project is by competitors of the Mori Building Company, Mitsui Fudōsan, also a very powerful and influential company, and occupies a footprint nearly as large as that of Roppongi Hills (6.1. million square feet 569,000 square meters versus 7.8 million square feet/724,000 square meters, respectively). Its central tower, Midtown Tower, rises to greater heights (814 feet/248 meters) than the 781 feet (238 meters) of Mori Tower. Aha, I say to myself , the armies of change have established themselves on either side the nightclub district and can now pick off vulnerable block after vulnerable block for redevelopment, until the whole neighborhood is remade. This particular little district happens to be a yakuza-rich part of Roppongi that was featured in the tour in chapter 4. The centerpiece of what was torn down was nothing less than Hisayuki...

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