BUSINESS IN... Tokyo
shine Time to
Despite challenges to its economy, Tokyo remains one of the world’s biggest economic powerhouses – and as it prepares to host the 2020 Olympics, its infrastructure and service industries are receiving a welcome boost, reports Jenny Southan
underground room, beneath the frenzied streets of Kabukicho, is covered from floor to ceiling in digital displays, mirrored panels, glowing glass tiles and psychedelic crystals. It’s like going to a Japanese version of a Las Vegas pleasure palace at Christmas, on acid. At the far end, two men dressed as Daft Punk-style droids play smooth jazz on electric guitars. It’s the strangest place I have ever had a meeting.
I A hallucinogenic vision of
Japanese pop culture, somewhere between cabaret and carnival, the futuristic Robot Restaurant (pictured right) opened three years ago at a cost of ¥10 billion (US$81.3 million). As the spectacle unfolds downstairs, groups of salarymen watch agog, chopsticks in hand, as troupes of geishas twirl parasols, and half- naked fembots battle giant smoke- breathing snakes with laser eyes. Nine years ago I was working in
Tokyo as an English teacher, and this is the first time I have been back since. Living here as an expat can be a challenge – from navigating the language barrier to adapting to foreign bureaucracy – but the capital is a fascinating megalopolis where age-old beliefs, traditions and festivals run alongside Western
38 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016
am sitting on a golden throne shaped like a giant snail shell. The long
ideologies, high technology and rampant consumerism. Shinto and Buddhism provide the spiritual roots of society, but as one man tells me: “The true religion of Japan is work.” In the 2014 IESE Cities in Motion
Index from the University of Navarra, Tokyo was ranked number one in the world (out of 135 cities) based on “smart” indicators such as human capital, urban planning, public management, internet outreach, transport and the economy. It was also rated fourth (behind New York, London and Paris) in AT Kearney’s Global Cities Index 2015, which evaluates business activity, cultural experience, political engagement and information exchange, among other things. However, just as the Japanese can be formal and conservative on the surface, yet zany and boisterous underneath, signs of cognitive dissonance extend to the country as a whole. When it comes to equality between men and women, Japan lags far behind – the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2015 put it in 101st
position. The
Cities in Motion Index also found Tokyo fell short when it came to social cohesion.
MONEY MATTERS With a population of 38 million people in the greater metropolitan
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www.businesstraveller.asia
JENNY SOUTHAN
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