expressway for cars and 13-metre- wide pavements for pedestrians. Unveiled in March, it has been described as “Tokyo’s answer to the Champs-Elysées” and is planted with almost 200 trees.


HOTEL INCREASE With the hosting of an Olympics comes the increase in accommodation options. Recent hotel openings include the luxurious Aman in December 2014, which occupies the top six levels of the 38-floor Otemachi Tower near Tokyo station. It has 84 rooms starting from 71 sqm, a 2,500 sqm spa with communal onsen bathing, and a 30-metre pool with panoramic views of the city. In April 2015, the 970-room Hotel


Zaha Hadid, but artistic renderings were not well received. Japanese architect Arata Isozaki described the alien form as being “like a turtle waiting for Japan to sink so that it can swim away”. After continuing controversy, Prime Minister Abe scrapped plans in July last year. A new design is expected to be selected imminently, but construction is already a year behind schedule.


LEGACY PLANNING Where possible, all venues will be within 8km of the Olympic Village by Tokyo Bay. Here, athletes will find a mini eco-city powered by hydrogen filling stations, and as part of the legacy there are plans to turn the site into a town for 10,000 people after the event is finished. Nearby on the Sumida River, the 80-year-old Tsukiji fish market will move 3km south to the island of Toyosu at the end of the year, meaning the new Loop Line 2 artery – connecting central Tokyo with the Olympic Village – can be completed. While most of the 14km Loop Line 2 is above ground, a 1.4km section connecting Shimbashi with Toranomon has an underground


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Gracery, which has seven special Godzilla-themed rooms, arrived in Shinjuku, while the premier business district also saw the opening of a new Hilton in October. This year, the Hoshinoya Tokyo will open in Otemachi as the capital’s first high-end ryokan – a Japanese-style property with 84 suites with tatami floors. Nearby competitors include the Shangri-La, the Peninsula and the 100-year- old Tokyo Station hotel. There is also the Mandarin Oriental, which hosted “best restaurant in the world” Noma for a six-week residency last year. Head chef René Redzepi made waves among food critics for serving live shrimps covered in ants, but this didn’t seem to put off the 3,456 people who managed to get a reservation, or the 62,000 others who were on the waiting list.


Clockwise from top left: Zaha Hadid’s controversial Olympic stadium design; bullet train; The Shel’tter shopping mall in Shibuya; Park Hyatt gym


VISITOR BOOST Margaret Mann, convention manager for the Japan National Tourism Organisation (jnto.go.jp), says: “The number of visitors to Japan rose by 29.4 per cent in 2014 to 13.4 million, a record high.” By the time the Games begin, the country hopes to be welcoming 20 million a year, of which half will be coming to Tokyo. During the Olympics, 920,000 visitors a day are expected.


To cope with increased demand,


by 2020 annual flight departures and arrivals at Haneda airport will rise by 39,000 (from 447,000 today), and 40,000 at Narita (from 270,000). There are also plans for new underground lines from both airports to Tokyo station that will cut journey times from 30 minutes to 18 minutes for Haneda, and 55 minutes to 36 minutes for Narita by about 2025. In April, Narita’s new Terminal 3 was unveiled, with colour-coded running tracks along corridors to lead passengers to departures and arrivals.


A spokesman for tour operator


Inside Japan (insidejapantours.com) says: “The transport infrastructure in Tokyo is second to none. It is reasonably easy to use, and cheap.” The capital has also been ranked the safest in the world in The Economist’s Safe Cities Index 2015. During my visit, I am consistently impressed by the level of service – from the airport staff who guide you through the terminal, and the white-gloved taxi drivers, to the sales assistants who wrap whatever you buy beautifully, and the cleaners (dressed in pink or blue) who bow as you get off the bullet train. Walking around the trendy streets


of Harajuku and Shibuya, I can see this part of Tokyo is now trumping the likes of Brooklyn, with its concentration of vintage stores, quirky boutiques and designer outlets. Other parts of the city continue to be more specialised, such as Kappabashi, which is known for kitchenware and plastic replica food, and Akihabara, for electronics and manga. Golden Gai in Shinjuku, meanwhile, has a maze of 280 tiny dive bars in ramshackle old buildings. It’s not far from the Robot Restaurant but feels a world apart. There have been rumours this area will be destroyed to make way for Olympic development, but so far this remains unconfirmed. With any luck, Tokyo will realise success in the next decade will rely just as much on soft power in the form of culture and creativity, as on strengthening its economy. 


JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 41


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