Edging Toward Japan: Tokyo's Azabudai Hills is an Incredible Wonder of the World
As I exclusively jet in and out of Japan via Kansai International Airport, I am almost completely oblivious to the presence of a really quite large town in the east of the country. In recent years however, I've started to visit the capital with renewed vigour, now that the COVID years are hopefully behind us.
The other week I was touring with my two daughters and we took a week-long trip with a Hokuriku Arch pass in hand. We stayed at Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, and Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture, and then I thought I would take them up to Tokyo for a couple of days, as they had only sketchy memories of the city from their previous visits.
How do you attack a city as vast as Tokyo with only two days at your disposal? The possibilities seem endless and a generous itinerary could easily demand at least a week in the megalopolis. I went for the fairly obvious options of a day around the museums and sites of Ueno Park and another day around the Imperial Palace area. Tokyo was utterly resplendent in the spring sunshine.
We had arranged to have dinner in the Azabu Juban neighbourhood and emerged out of the subway at Kamiyacho Station nearby, intending to walk from there. But I was in for a considerable surprise. For Kamiyacho subway station decants you into an extensive underground warren, on multiple levels, of high-class boutiques and shops above which soars three towers collectively known as Azabudai Hills. One of the towers has 64 floors and is now the highest residential and commercial building in Japan. The whole development is quite some sight to behold.
If you live in the Greater Tokyo area then the Azabudai Hills development is doubtless old news (it was completed in 2023), but if like me you sweep in from the provinces and observe it, then it thrusts itself in front of your face as a staggering piece of property development. So amazed was I by its scale that I immediately looked it up online and discovered that it can home 3,500 residents and 25,000 office workers and cost in total $5.3 billion. It has a park area at its centre and incorporates a street lined with luxury brand shops intended to make a trip to Ginza obsolete.
The tower is the latest development of the Mori Group, who have already erected the vast Roppongi Hills (cost $4 billion), Toranomon Hills (cost $5.3 billion) and Ark Hills developments amongst many others across the city. Azabudai Hills now forms virtually the equivalent of a city within a city -- I suspect you could live, work, shop and take your recreation all within the confines of Azabudai Hills and never particularly feel the need to go anywhere else.
I became curious to know more about the people behind this amazing development. A cursory online search tells you that the Mori Group was started in 1959 by Taikichiro Mori (1904-1993), a former economics professor, who gave up his post to start a building company and who by 1991-92 had become the richest man in the world.
His son Minoru Mori (1934-2012) was the driving force behind developments in Tokyo and Shanghai and was named Asian Businessman of the Year 2007 by Fortune magazine. Minoru had a younger brother Akira (1936-), with whom he had a falling out over business direction, and who broke away to create a separate company, Mori Trust, in 1999, and which now owns vast office developments and luxury hotels across Japan and the U.S. Akira alone is valued at $3 billion, though the business is now run by his only daughter Miwako Date.
What an extraordinary story, I marvelled, and yet it's incredible how so few people outside Japan are likely to have ever heard about Taikichiro Mori, his children or the amazing buildings his family have constructed. If you consider how high-profile people like Elon Musk or Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos are today, the relative anonymity of the Mori family is striking.
Sitting at a table in Azabu Juban and craning my neck to look up at Azabudai Hills looming above me, I couldn't help thinking that this felt like some kind of Biblical Tower of Babel, soaring upwards to heaven as the ultimate symbol of Tokyo's hubris. Tokyo appeared to me on that spring evening as almost too perfect -- too wealthy, too filled with achievement and prosperity. My inner pessimist whispered in my ear that hubris is inevitably followed by nemesis...
The Wonders of the Ancient World eventually succumbed to natural disaster. The Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria were devastated in earthquakes, the Temple of Artemis was burnt to the ground. The soaring Mori Monuments, the towers of modern Tokyo -- one of the most earthquake prone cities in the world -- have yet to be put to the test of great seismic movements.
For the moment at least, Azabudai Hills is for me one of the great wonders of the world, somewhere that I would advise every visitor to Tokyo to go out of their way to visit. I pray that it remains Tokyo's majestic wonder for many years to come.
@DamianFlanagan
(This is Part 63 of a series)
In this column, Damian Flanagan, a researcher in Japanese literature, ponders about Japanese culture as he travels back and forth between Japan and Britain.
Profile:
Damian Flanagan is an author and critic born in Britain in 1969. He studied in Tokyo and Kyoto between 1989 and 1990 while a student at Cambridge University. He was engaged in research activities at Kobe University from 1993 through 1999. After taking the master's and doctoral courses in Japanese literature, he earned a Ph.D. in 2000. He is now based in both Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, and Manchester. He is the author of "Natsume Soseki: Superstar of World Literature" (Sekai Bungaku no superstar Natsume Soseki).
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The Mainichi
6 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Edging Toward Japan: Tokyo's Azabudai Hills is an Incredible Wonder of the World
As I exclusively jet in and out of Japan via Kansai International Airport, I am almost completely oblivious to the presence of a really quite large town in the east of the country. In recent years however, I've started to visit the capital with renewed vigour, now that the COVID years are hopefully behind us. The other week I was touring with my two daughters and we took a week-long trip with a Hokuriku Arch pass in hand. We stayed at Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, and Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture, and then I thought I would take them up to Tokyo for a couple of days, as they had only sketchy memories of the city from their previous visits. How do you attack a city as vast as Tokyo with only two days at your disposal? The possibilities seem endless and a generous itinerary could easily demand at least a week in the megalopolis. I went for the fairly obvious options of a day around the museums and sites of Ueno Park and another day around the Imperial Palace area. Tokyo was utterly resplendent in the spring sunshine. We had arranged to have dinner in the Azabu Juban neighbourhood and emerged out of the subway at Kamiyacho Station nearby, intending to walk from there. But I was in for a considerable surprise. For Kamiyacho subway station decants you into an extensive underground warren, on multiple levels, of high-class boutiques and shops above which soars three towers collectively known as Azabudai Hills. One of the towers has 64 floors and is now the highest residential and commercial building in Japan. The whole development is quite some sight to behold. If you live in the Greater Tokyo area then the Azabudai Hills development is doubtless old news (it was completed in 2023), but if like me you sweep in from the provinces and observe it, then it thrusts itself in front of your face as a staggering piece of property development. So amazed was I by its scale that I immediately looked it up online and discovered that it can home 3,500 residents and 25,000 office workers and cost in total $5.3 billion. It has a park area at its centre and incorporates a street lined with luxury brand shops intended to make a trip to Ginza obsolete. The tower is the latest development of the Mori Group, who have already erected the vast Roppongi Hills (cost $4 billion), Toranomon Hills (cost $5.3 billion) and Ark Hills developments amongst many others across the city. Azabudai Hills now forms virtually the equivalent of a city within a city -- I suspect you could live, work, shop and take your recreation all within the confines of Azabudai Hills and never particularly feel the need to go anywhere else. I became curious to know more about the people behind this amazing development. A cursory online search tells you that the Mori Group was started in 1959 by Taikichiro Mori (1904-1993), a former economics professor, who gave up his post to start a building company and who by 1991-92 had become the richest man in the world. His son Minoru Mori (1934-2012) was the driving force behind developments in Tokyo and Shanghai and was named Asian Businessman of the Year 2007 by Fortune magazine. Minoru had a younger brother Akira (1936-), with whom he had a falling out over business direction, and who broke away to create a separate company, Mori Trust, in 1999, and which now owns vast office developments and luxury hotels across Japan and the U.S. Akira alone is valued at $3 billion, though the business is now run by his only daughter Miwako Date. What an extraordinary story, I marvelled, and yet it's incredible how so few people outside Japan are likely to have ever heard about Taikichiro Mori, his children or the amazing buildings his family have constructed. If you consider how high-profile people like Elon Musk or Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos are today, the relative anonymity of the Mori family is striking. Sitting at a table in Azabu Juban and craning my neck to look up at Azabudai Hills looming above me, I couldn't help thinking that this felt like some kind of Biblical Tower of Babel, soaring upwards to heaven as the ultimate symbol of Tokyo's hubris. Tokyo appeared to me on that spring evening as almost too perfect -- too wealthy, too filled with achievement and prosperity. My inner pessimist whispered in my ear that hubris is inevitably followed by nemesis... The Wonders of the Ancient World eventually succumbed to natural disaster. The Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria were devastated in earthquakes, the Temple of Artemis was burnt to the ground. The soaring Mori Monuments, the towers of modern Tokyo -- one of the most earthquake prone cities in the world -- have yet to be put to the test of great seismic movements. For the moment at least, Azabudai Hills is for me one of the great wonders of the world, somewhere that I would advise every visitor to Tokyo to go out of their way to visit. I pray that it remains Tokyo's majestic wonder for many years to come. @DamianFlanagan (This is Part 63 of a series) In this column, Damian Flanagan, a researcher in Japanese literature, ponders about Japanese culture as he travels back and forth between Japan and Britain. Profile: Damian Flanagan is an author and critic born in Britain in 1969. He studied in Tokyo and Kyoto between 1989 and 1990 while a student at Cambridge University. He was engaged in research activities at Kobe University from 1993 through 1999. After taking the master's and doctoral courses in Japanese literature, he earned a Ph.D. in 2000. He is now based in both Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, and Manchester. He is the author of "Natsume Soseki: Superstar of World Literature" (Sekai Bungaku no superstar Natsume Soseki).
Asahi Shimbun
2 days ago
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Closed schools find new lives as businesses, research centers
A dome tent stands on what was previously the yard of an elementary school, against the background of the former schoolhouse, at the Glamping & Port Yui lodging facility in Shimada, Shizuoka Prefecture, on April 30. (Tetsuro Takehana) SHIMADA, Shizuoka Prefecture—While the declining birthrate has forced many public schools across Japan to close, some have found second lives as camp sites, artificial intelligence research centers, "senbei" rice cracker factories and more. Hundreds of public schools have closed annually over the last two decades or so, leaving many officials wondering how best to use the campuses. However, efforts to repurpose school facilities face common challenges as well. The now closed Yui Elementary School in Shimada, Shizuoka Prefecture, stands surrounded by idyllic tea fields. On a recent day, 21 tents were lined up on its former schoolyard. In addition to the typical dome-shaped tents, some less-typical tents allow guests to bring their dogs. Glamping & Port Yui, as the 'glamorous camping' facility is called, opened for business in March 2022, roughly a year after the school closed. The reception area is in the former school library, where the lyrics of the school song still hang on the wall. The complex takes full advantage of the school facilities and has become popular for the variety of activities it offers. For example, guests can play basketball and other sports in the gymnasium and learn to make matcha-flavored sherbet in test tubes in the science and home economics rooms. The glamping site is about a 15-minute drive from the Tomei Expressway interchange. Iwa Connect Co., the Shimada-based operator of the complex, has signed a 20-year lease agreement with the city authorities. 'Business hotels account for the bulk of the available accommodations in Shimada,' Iwa Connect President Kazuhiro Fukazawa said. 'There used to be few facilities where families could stay.' Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Glamping & Port Yui achieved an 80 percent occupancy rate in its first year. The occupancy rate remained close to 70 percent in the summer of its second and third years. About 80 percent of the guests come from outside Shizuoka Prefecture, typically from Tokyo and Aichi and Kanagawa prefectures. A community space on the premises regularly hosts a market where locally grown vegetables and other products are sold. A SECOND LIFE In Miyawaka, Fukuoka Prefecture, the facilities of three closed schools have been transformed into AI research and development centers and other facilities. Miyawaka is located roughly midway between Fukuoka and Kita-Kyushu, about a 40-minute drive from either city. Trial Holdings Inc., a Fukuoka-based discount retailing giant that has a training facility in Miyawaka, approached the city about using the closed schools. The Miyawaka city government spent 1.15 billion yen ($7.98 million) to refurbish the former municipal Yoshikawa Elementary School, which closed in 2017. The AI research and development center opened in the school's facilities in 2021. City officials granted Trial Holdings the right to administer the facilities under a private finance initiative (PFI), which aims to utilize the know-how of the private sector in operating public facilities. The school's classrooms were remade into offices and meeting rooms, which are decorated with flasks, beakers and other classroom items, alongside a map of Japan. A farm produce shop was set up on the school's playground and a farm-fresh restaurant was opened in the gymnasium. Trial Holdings also acquired, this time for a fee, the facilities of two other schools that had closed—another elementary school and a junior high school. They are now being used for research and development on retail and physical distribution methods. 'We hope all this will promote long-term residency in the area,' said an official with the city government's secretarial and policy division. Elsewhere in Japan, other school buildings are finding success in their new lives as well. The former Hokuyo Elementary School in Koshimizu, Hokkaido, has been converted into a rice cracker factory with its own shop attached. The former Imazu-Nishi Elementary School in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, is now a mushroom farm, while the former Shiina Elementary School in Muroto, Kochi Prefecture, has been transformed into an aquarium, attracting many tourists. DETERIORATION LOOMS School closures have increased due to the extensive municipal mergers of the 2000s. Education ministry figures show an average of 440 schools closed annually during the 20 years through fiscal 2023. The annual number of school closures peaked at 597 in fiscal 2012 and has since been on the decline. Of the 8,850 schools that closed during those two decades, 7,612 had not been demolished as of May 2024. Three-quarters of those school facilities were being used in some way, but 1,951 were in disuse. The former Nagase Elementary School in Nabari, Mie Prefecture, which closed in 2008, became a call center for a major transport company the following year. However, the lease was discontinued in 2023, partly because of the age-related deterioration of the 40-year-old schoolhouse. A survey by the education ministry asked respondents to list reasons that uses for closed school facilities had not been decided upon. 'A lack of requests from local communities,' and 'age-related deterioration of buildings,' were both cited in more than 40 percent of the cases. 'It is essential to enlist the help of the private sector to use closed school facilities effectively so they will not be left neglected as a 'negative legacy,' but will instead be used for regional revitalization,' said Toru Hatakeyama of the Organization for Urban-Rural Interchange Revitalization. Because leaving schools and other public facilities disused presents security risks—possible collapse during an earthquake or crimes such as trespassing—the internal affairs ministry in fiscal 2025 began allowing about half of demolition costs for these buildings to be covered by the central government's local allocation tax. Hatakeyama pointed out that if an effective use cannot be found for these closed school facilities, local governments have no choice but to take responsibility and demolish them. (This article was written by Yoshiko Aoyama, Michiko Yoshida and Yoshinobu Motegi.)
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News from Japan Economy Jun 18, 2025 19:45 (JST) Tokyo, June 18 (Jiji Press)--Skymark Airlines said Wednesday it will operate charter flights between Kobe and Taipei in October. They will be Skymark's first outbound flights since 2020, when the carrier closed its international routes amid the COVID-19 crisis. According to the airline, four round-trip flights will be made between Kobe Airport and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Oct. 4-10 to see if demand is strong enough to begin regular international operations at the airport in the capital of Hyogo Prefecture in the future. Since Kobe Airport started international services in April this year, four Chinese, South Korean and Taiwanese airlines have been operating a total of 40 charter flights a week on five routes. Skymark will be the first Japanese carrier to launch such a flight at the western Japan airport. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
