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The Transformation of Tokyo During the 1950s and Early 1960s Projects
Between City Planning and Urban Utopia

Article in Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering · January 2006

DOI: 10.3130/jaabe.5.253

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 The Transformation of Tokyo During the 1950s and Early 1960s
Projects Between City Planning and Urban Utopia

Raffaele Pernice

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Architecture, Waseda University, Japan

Abstract
The subject of this paper is devoted to a short summary of the "city planning/utopia" combination that
influenced most of the urban projects developed in Japan for its capital in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It
aims to illustrate the relationship between the geneses of the visionary experiments of a new generation of
architects, and the economic and cultural background of postwar Japan, at the dawn of its economic miracle.
Focusing on the elements that promoted a strong criticism of current city planning methodologies, the paper
attempts to further describe and clarify the origin of a period of insightful research in the field of urban
design, that fostered the search for new design principles suitable to express the dynamic changes of Japanese
cities led by several factors, that were especially evident in the case of Tokyo.

Keywords: metabolism; Tokyo; urban design; utopia; postwar Japan; modern Japanese architecture

1. Introduction 2. Postwar Transformation of Japanese Cities.

The national pride and industrial capitalism, which An Historical Background
characterized the economic growth of Japan during the At the end of the Pacific War in 1945, the destruction
1950s and 1960s, was mainly centered in the cities. caused by air raid bombing created a housing shortage
The unprecedented phenomena of urbanism and the in Japanese cities of more than 4 million units, and the
concentration of activities and functions in the main total disruption of their basic transport and industrial
cities of the archipelago, particularly in the capital infrastructures. The reconstruction was delayed for a
city of Tokyo, caused many problems concerning the few years due to the lack of materials and the strict
management of an urban organism that became more control exerted by the US occupation administration,
and more complex and disordered. From the necessity which severely limited any construction activity, so
to achieve a more balanced development of the urban that many shelters were independently built by private
settlements and stop the urban sprawls during the post- people. Simple wooden barracks spread rapidly all
war years, attempts originated in Japan to reform the over the desolate fields of ashes from the burned cities,
city planning methodology. most of them on the preexisting sites of the previous
Against the interests of political lobbies and private buildings, retaining their original pre-war haphazard
corporations critical young architects and designers and mosaic-like characteristics and preventing any
developed new theories and techniques, and strove to attempt by the central government (at least in theory) to
introduce a completely new vision of, and approach to lead and control an ordered development of the urban
city planning. They fought to modernize the shape and fabric by means of comprehensive planning measures.
content of the modern city, giving birth to one of the For several years the occupation of the territory by a
most prolific periods of modern Japanese architecture. foreign army, the collapse of the economic structure,
In this sense the transformation of Tokyo between and the shortage of any kind of materials became
1958 and 1961 became the first interesting example in the main reasons for preventing any attempts to
Asia of a total renewal of current urban planning based revitalize society. In particular, total destruction of the
on the Western matrix, and witnessed the surge of a prewar industrial system paralyzed the economy of
new methodological and aesthetic approach based on the country. In 1950 the outbreak of the Korean War
the native culture. started a process of impressive growth of the economy,
led mainly by American capital and technological
know-how, as Japan became the principal strategic
base of the USA in the Far East and a virtual bulwark
*Contact Author: Raffaele Pernice, Ph.D. Candidate, against the communist block that was trying to expand
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University in Asia. The financial aid of the Americans promoted
Home Address: Noblichi Officetel A304, Yatap-Dong, the development of Japanese heavy industry and,
367-5 Bundang-gu, Seongnam-shi, Kyongi-do, 463-827 Korea during the three years of the Korean War, Japan began
Tel: +82-31-706-0269 the impressive work of modernizing its industrial
Email: raffaeleitaly@yahoo.com equipment and the assimilation of advanced industrial
( Received February 1, 2006 ; accepted July 31, 2006 ) technologies from abroad.i Investment from private

Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering/November 2006/260 253

companies, thanks to the support and supervision of attraction of higher salaries together with the need for
the government, were poured into the reconstruction new workers to be employed in the plants accelerated
of a modern system of industrial plants and the the enormous mechanism of emigration from the rural
development of other commercial activities that had to areas toward the industrial metropolises that were being
rely on an efficient transportation and services network. reconstructed in the industrial heartland.v The logical
The priority given by the Japanese government to consequence of this mechanism was the depopulation of
economic growth was the reason behind the promotion, some peripheral regions of Japan on behalf of the large
since the late 1950s, of many public works for the industrial districts along the Pacific coast, whose urban
construction of expressways, railways, dams, ports, and development continued a trend already delineated in
artificial harbors throughout the Japanese archipelago, the 1920s.
but especially in the Tokyo, Osaka and Ise Bay areas. The necessity for Japan to strengthen the
During that period the construction industry accounted development of a strong industrial sector oriented
for 30% of the total gross expenditure of Japan, and toward export was seen as the basis for the national
became the foundation of Japanese economic growth economic survival of the country. Consequently the
as one of the main industries of the country.ii policy of the Japanese government was aimed at
The process of rapid economic growth led to an encouraging the concentration of strategic industrial
uncontrolled urban growth of the main cities and the sectors, and the development of integrated industrial
development of 3 industrial macro-regions around complexes along the Pacific Belt coasts in order to
Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, which became the centers foster the efficiency gained from the agglomeration
for most of the investments operated by the Japanese of economies on extensive landfills in tidal bays
government. The presence of industrial plants and throughout the Tokaido region, providing large sites
factories in these metropolises promoted even further at low cost for the expanding factories and thereby
growth to the detriment of the less developed regions achieve higher exports. The new project for more
in Japan. According to scholar Norman Glickman, efficient infrastructures, intended as basic elements
the Japanese tendency towards urbanization during to sustain the economic growth, led inevitably to
the 1950s and 1960s combined with the phenomena serious and fast alteration of the natural landscape,
of emigration of rural masses toward the region of especially of the coasts, as well as the existing cities,
Tokaido (a process of "centralization", or growth of the which witnessed increased problems of urban sprawl,
core of the big cities in the region from Tokyo Bay to traffic congestion and pollution. Scarcity of available
Osaka Bay). This was particularly evident from the late land and the strong opposition of landowners to
1950s, and was followed by a relative emigration from expropriation for public utility promoted an alternative
the big industrial centers in the suburbs during the solution: the reclamation of waterfronts to create
1970s, due to the progressive surge of cases of further artificial land from the sea. By 1956 the Japanese could
congestion and pollution in the large cities since the hail the official conclusion of the postwar period, and
early 1960s.iii By 1960, an increased population in the the next year also the achievement of target set by the
center of the cities called for better mass transportation government in 1955, which aimed to fulfill economic
systems, but the scarcity of land available to improve independence and full employment. Japan had become
services caused congestion and chaos, that in turn a new industrial power, and her policy towards
promoted a further process of expansion of the suburbs economic development was further empowered by
thanks to the development of new transportation lines, the "New Long-Run Economic Plan" issued during
with a further spread of urban areas and the increasing the years 1958-1962. This plan concerned the
problem of long distance commuting.iv The growth of development of heavy and chemical industrialization,
the Japanese economy was above all the consequence creating a more sophisticated industrial structure
of the sacrifices made by the working class, which and a general strengthening of the foundation of
combined with the merits of the policy of incentives industry. The "Double Income Plan" issued in 1960
promoted by the Japanese government to support by Prime Minister Ikeda's Cabinet, was also promoted
private companies, and the technological development to achieve even faster economic growth based on
of Japanese enterprises, helped by the national policy massive public investment in social overhead capital
directed towards the creation of an efficient net of for new roads, water supply and port installations in
urban infrastructures and modern and well equipped the area of Tokaido, and caused the concentration of
factories. Therefore at the end of the 1950s a rapid and larger industrial plants and other productive activities
dramatic phase in the transformation in the organization especially in the Tokyo metropolitan region.vi
of the economy took place, represented by the change
from a primary industry to secondary-tertiary sectors, 3. City Planning and Urban Utopias in Modern
which concurred with the change of the distribution Japanese Architecture
of the population and the working activities of the After the war, unlike European cities, western city
territory. As a matter of fact, the income of workers in planning methods and visionary schemes and ideas
the Tokaido region became the highest in Japan. The didn't play a key role in the process of reconstruction.

254 JAABE vol.5 no.2 November 2006 Raffaele Pernice

 Fig.2. The Project to Reclaim the Coasts of Tokyo Bay
Proposed by Kuro Kano in 1958
Fig.1. The War Damage Rehabilitation Plan (Ishikawa Plan)
The origins of modern Japanese planning dates
Issued by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 1946
back to the beginning of the 20th century, when further
Instead the main tools used were those of land contact with Europeans introduced to Japan the
readjustment, which in Tokyo was applied in particular modern urban theories developed in the second half of
to the area along the JR Yamanote Line, and the the 19th century. According to scholar Stephen Ward,
spread of concentrated projects for the development after the conclusion of the Japanese-Russian war the
of basic infrastructures. Any attempt at introducing imperialistic expansion of the Japanese Empire fostered
urban reforms, such as land-use planning and detailed both processes of the industrialization and urbanization
zoning failed.vii In particular, Andre Sorensen noted of Japan. The necessity to deal with the growth of
that the cause of an ineffective planning system in their cities induced the Japanese to investigate the
Japan was the consequence of central government town planning methods developed in Western countries,
policy. This policy exerted a strong control over especially the planning tools, the legal instruments on
local authorities, and considered as top priority building lines, zoning and land readjustment developed in
their economic development and protection from Great Britain and Germany.x During the 1920s and 1930s
disasters. As a consequence they didn't strive to it appeared clear that urban planning principles imported
correct the shortcomings of this kind of city planning from Europe and America couldn't be implemented easily
"deregulation". The Japanese zoning system consists in Japan due to the existence of land ownership laws,
of only 4 zones: residential, commercial, industrial the excessive lot division and weakness of planning
and quasi-industrial, and "…within zoned areas land powers, which made the Japanese urban environment
development was as-of-right, with no requirements for hard to change. As noted by Carola Hein, an opportunity
basic urban infrastructures before land development, for Japanese planners to apply the methodology of
no subdivision control, nor any minimum housing modern planning learned from foreign specialists
standards". viii The typical characteristic of modern occurred in the overseas Japanese colonies of Taiwan,
Japanese cities, most evident in Tokyo, is a chaotic Korea and above all Manchukuo (Manchuria), where
patchwork-like urban environment filled with high- several plans for agricultural villages and planning
density residential and commercial areas close to proposals for the Chinese cities of Dairen, Shinkyo
industrial plants. Few green areas, and a serious and Datong, "…offered an important laboratory for
shortage of fundamental services such as sewerage the development of modern planning in Japan. In the
and water supply, was indeed the consequence of the colonies, planners could try out the new planning
combined actions of fast urban growth and limited concepts they had sampled in the West: neighborhoods
planning development. The shortage and high cost of modeled on Radburn, green belts and zoning became
land available for industrial plant plants, the engine central design ideas, sometimes combined with
of the economic miracle of the time, suggested the modernist architecture. Military power in the colonies
development of the "Kombinatos", industrial and allowed for the realization of urban plans impossible
residential complexes, along the waterfronts of to realize in Japan".xi Surely an important achievement
Tokyo Bay, Osaka Bay and Ise Bay, through the of colonial planning was the process of improvement
massive process of coastal filling. In Tokyo Bay of all urban and building standards, especially for
the amount of land reclamation during the period housing, undertaken by Japanese architects and urban
of high economic growth (1956-1975) was 13.000 planners, such as the widespread use of central heating,
hectares, approximately 27% of the national total, and suburban subdivisions with large houses, flush toilets,
concentrated 44% of all the petrochemical plants and underground utilities, wide streets and boulevards with
37% of all the oil plants of Japan, making the capital separated walkways and so on. This was impossible
the real core of the Japanese industrial economy.ix to achieve in Japan at that time, so that their use in

JAABE vol.5 no.2 November 2006 Raffaele Pernice 255

their homeland became a goal for the same planners issued by a group of 6 young professionals named
of postwar reconstruction. xii However, the need for "Metabolism" (among them Fumihiko Maki, Noriaki
rapid and expansive reconstruction of the cities during "Kisho" Kurokawa and Kiyonori Kikutake), which
the postwar years quickly led to the development of a aroused the greatest interest and represented a turning
chaotic, fragmented and intricate urban environment, point for modern Japanese architecture. The drawings
which caused many other problems, particularly and theories expressed in the independent essays of
in the control of urban development. In his work each member of the group were a condensation of
"Contemporary Japanese Architecture" (1968), many suggestions and considerations on the theme of
Noboru Kawazoe assumed that the fragmented and the modern technological city. The authors like many
provisional character of Japanese city planning was others in the following years, had chosen Tokyo to
a consequence of the lack of legal means, such as present their design ideas and their urban planning
a Land Expropriation Law, as well as the necessity experiments, and the technological appeal of their
for the cities to spend much of their budget on land works reflected the great impact that industrial and
procurement, so that: "…it will take a fairly long time economic power had over the national capital during
to carry out a plan for a city in its entirety".xiii Kawazoe the 1950s. Influenced by the theses spread by Paul
alleged that the main problems for the Japanese city Rudolph and Louis Kahn, as well as Alison and Peter
were caused by the generation of a combination of Smithson, Aldo van Eyck and others of the Team X
inefficient laws, excessive land fragmentation into group, and supported by Kenzo Tange, the Metabolist
private plots, and the excessive economic power group envisioned futuristic projects, which saw the
of big companies.xiv To the most sensitive Japanese city as a mirror of the far reaching transformation that
architects of the time, the city appeared to be an ever- occurred in society during the postwar period, and
growing gigantic mechanical structure of factories sought to introduce into the city a new structural order
and transport arteries, surrounded by the extended and based on an organic and balanced development by
dense urban fabric of compact residential buildings. means of technological devices.
New avant-garde movements and research groups took
shape on the wave of the deep changes happening in
the worldwide architectural context. The meetings
of CIAM (Congres Internationaux d'Architecture
Moderne) in 1956 and 1958 declared the progressive
decadence of pre-war Rationalist principles and the
official crisis of its Modern Movement. The new
complexity of real world invested architecture and city
planning by the wind of reform and a new generation
of architects, planners and designers strove to find
new methods and principles, which could cope with
modern society. Team X in Europe, Louis Kahn and
Sigfried Giedion in the US promoted reflection and
new conceptual schemes, which led towards new ideas
in architecture, promoting further investigations into
the nature of urban and architectural, which were less
concerned with functionalist' dogmas of unity and Fig.3. Marine City "Unabara" by Kiyonori Kikutake
clarity. In Japan, where the main theme during the (1960-model)
1950s was the resolution of the intimate contradiction
between the new modern culture and the heritage Scholar Akira Asada pointed out that: "Metabolism
of national tradition aimed at the development of represents architecture and urbanity as a mechanical
a national architectural language. New groups of in organization. […] In fact, it might be argued
architects and designers also elaborated new theories that metabolism is simply a catalyst for modern
and proposals about contemporary architecture functionalism, in that it tries to satisfy both a modernist
and the city, following the models of their Western sensibility for logical organization and a more
counterparts. The occasion was the World Design progressive inclination for issues of diversity and
Conference held in Tokyo in 1960; in the previous complexity". xv The new urban forms introduced by
years a committee of architects was set up to manage Metabolists showed an awareness for the importance of
and prepare the event, and discussions and seminars the rapid changes in the urban environment and society,
were held throughout Japan on the themes of industrial which were occurring on an unprecedented scale, and
architecture and urban growth as the main issues to concentrated their attention toward the new challenges
be addressed at the conference. Among the many of modern and advanced technology and industrialized
entries and design manifestos presented at WoDeCo architecture, even though the theories behind their
1960, were the proposals contained in a little book utopian schemes lacked deep social consideration,

256 JAABE vol.5 no.2 November 2006 Raffaele Pernice

 4. Projects for the Reorganization of Tokyo through
the Years 1945-1961
The planning for the future structure of postwar
Tokyo, which, as previously stated, was the core of
Japanese economic and political power, began in 1956
with the establishment of the National Capital Region
Development Law. Through this law a committee was
set up to study a strategy to control development of
the whole Kanto Region (all the territory economically
and functionally connected with the capital) up to
a radius of 100 km from Tokyo Prefecture. The
committee prepared the National Capital Region
Development Plan, which was approved in 1958.
The goal of the plan was to prevent, within the urban
territory of the capital, any further concentration
of industrial plants and residential settlements by
means of a policy of decentralization, with the aim of
containing the problem of traffic congestion. Inside
the regional territory three main areas were identified,
differing in character and function (the areas were:
existing urban area, a large greenbelt and a peripheral

Fig.4. Project for Tokyo-Ginza by Kisho Kurokawa (1961)

as well as economic and political analyses, as many

critics have noted. Indeed their ideas were basically
academic experiments, which protested against the
disordered growth of the cities, the problems of weak
laws and delays in the implementation of plans, which Fig.5. "City in the Sky" by Arata Isozaki (1960-61)
paralyzed any effective attempt to solve the urban
problems, and declared the need for a change in urban zone), to achieve a rational decentralization of the
form, architecture and design principles. Tokyo metropolitan region. According to the plan the
The themes of artificial lands as clusters of marine decentralization was based on the development of
cities, the huge high-rise buildings towering over new towns, the delocalization of industrial plants and
preexisting buildings, the development of huge universities (understood as the major attractions for
transport networks spreading as infinite and colossal migrants to Tokyo) and the development of a new set of
webs into the cities, and the attention paid to the governmental laws.xvi The general feature of this plan
concepts of cycles of changes, became issues directly was directly connected with some previous European
taken from the reality of Japanese industrial cities experiences, such as the concept of a permanent belt
of the time. Furthermore, the projects proposed by of agricultural land around the major cities, elaborated
the Metabolists, Tange, Isozaki and many others, by Raymond Unwin, of Britain, but in particular with
posed for the first time in the Japanese architectural the plan for "Greater London" as described by Patrick
context the issue of comprehensive planning based on Abercrombie in 1944. xvii The success of the English
aesthetic principles. Following the method introduced experience suggested that the Japanese government should
by Le Corbusier, their design process conceived enact a similar urban scheme for the development of Tokyo,
different scales of intervention, from the house to the hoping to put under control the impressive and fast
whole city, and gave high importance also to visual growth of the capital. However, the lack of concrete
factors, in polemical contrast to the traditional city legal measures to enforce provisions for the plan and
planning methods that in Japan were entrusted to the active local opposition of landowners and governments
competence of bureaucrats and engineers. Through condemned the plan to failure, especially the greenbelt
their works, finally, they spread a new wave of interest proposal. xviii Apart from the technical and financial
and attention towards Japan, whose expanding urban problems that caused the plan to be revised, one of the
environment was later to become the object of further main reasons for the subsequent failure of the First
analysis and investigations. Capital Regional Plan was that it relied on the uncritical
acceptance of a planning method that was already

JAABE vol.5 no.2 November 2006 Raffaele Pernice 257

outmoded in the middle of the 1950s. According to
the scholar Michael Hebbert: "…It was perhaps the
most famous instance of inappropriate transplant of
Western planning thought to Japan.", noting that a
proposal for a greenbelt was already part of a previous
plan of 1939, the "Metropolitan Green Space and
Air Defense Open Space", also based on British city Airport

planning, which proposed the creation of a greenbelt

and a network of green corridors.xix The plan was never
put into action because of the war and the consequent
shortage of materials and the financial crisis, but the
same concept was once again reconsidered in the
preparations for the post-war reconstruction of Tokyo Tokyo Bay

in 1946, known as the "Ishikawa Plan", which also Legend

considered the use of a greenbelt which spread deep Commercial

Industrial
into the urban area and planned to contain a population Residential

of under 3.5 million. The First Plan proposed in 1958 Green Spaces

was never implemented, but concerns for the necessity Existing Land

Super Expressway
to control the urban sprawl of the Capital fostered new Expressway
High Speed Railway

Fig.7. "Neo-Tokyo Plan" Proposed by the Industrial Planning

Conference (1959)
Alternative projects were proposed in 1958 and 1959
by Metabolists Masato Otaka, Kiyonori Kikutake and
Noriaki "Kisho" Kurokawa, who took the opportunity
represented by the World Design Conference in Tokyo
the following year, to refine and present their urban
ideas. Thanks to their influence, the theme of floating
cities as a plausible alternative solution to problems
related to the housing and land shortage, and the idea
of urban development on artificial land became very
popular, and logically connected with the process of
land reclamation already carried out by the Japanese
government; indeed advanced engineering and
design mixed through the creative process and poetic
approach of these young designers and architects, who
later determined the spread and development of the
Fig.6. "Neo Mastaba" Project for Tokyo, by Yoshitaka Akui,
T. Nozawa, K. Yamamoto and T. Akaiwa (1961)
megastructural trend of the 1960s, not only in Japan.xxi
In 1959, the news that the capital city of Tokyo had
proposals to be considered in the following years.xx been chosen to host the 1964 Olympic Games had
The continuous population growth and development of an even more important effect on the architectural
industry suggested reclamation of the waterfront in the research activities for the reorganization of Tokyo.
port of Tokyo. This reclaimed area became the most National pride and a willingness to present to the world
favorable site for larger factories, gas plants, central the astonishing result of the economic and cultural
markets, sewerage facilities and power stations, all of growth of Japan, fostered new bold visions and public
which would be situated outside the older part of the works to make Tokyo more beautiful and functional.
center of the city. Once again, practical solutions and utopian visions
As a matter of fact, the reclaimed lands along the alternated, showing the internal contradictions between
foreshore of Tokyo became a central issue in the the interests of the financial and capitalist powers, and
government's economic policy, and fostered the need the aspirations for a better quality of urban life. New
for the implementation of city planning in the new infrastructures were built in the center of Tokyo, and
areas. In April 1958 the president of the Japan Housing new expressways were laid over the ancient canals
Corporation, Kuro Kano proposed land filling on and rivers of the city. Bold projects were proposed by
the east side of Tokyo Bay to create residential and architects, such as Isozaki's "City in the Sky". At a time
industrial areas. His pragmatic plan caused much when the height limit was 31 meters, structural shafts
criticism as well as interest, and promoted a strong 10 times higher, filled with bracing capsules, which
reaction from both architects and planners. overshadowed the existing city on the ground, were

258 JAABE vol.5 no.2 November 2006 Raffaele Pernice

proposed. Floating structures and high towers, which cities. The utopian spirit, within most projects, indeed
stood over the urban fabric many meters below were acted as a stimulus, which stressed the necessity of
proposed by the other metabolists, as well as Kenzo rapid and radical solutions to the problems facing
Tange, who continued with his experiments for the Japanese cities. Solutions adequate to the changes
reorganization of Tokyo and unveiled the famous plan resulting from the postwar dynamic urbanism driven
for a city of 10 million people, a plan that rejected the by economic growth, as well as an awareness of the
conventional satellite-town systems, and announced the failure of the previous architectural and planning
theme of a new large dimensional urban settlement, the theories based on Modernist principles. Even though
megalopolis, as a new key urban entity of the second many of these projects appeared to be something more
half of the 20th century. For a period of just a few years than academic research, aimed to resolve by means of
Japanese architectural debate was focused on similar a comprehensive plan the fundamental problems of
projects which tried to revolutionize the previous housing and land shortage, however they also appeared
layout of Tokyo; several schemes were proposed by to be a catalyst for further studies and analysis, and
other independent architects as well as powerful private showed a new proud attitude of Japanese architects
corporations (as in the case of the "Neo-Mastaba" towards the development of new urban planning
project released by a group of young professionals in theories which were inspired by their native culture
1961, and the "Neo-Tokyo Plan" presented in July of and sensibility, and linked directly with the Japanese
1959 by the Industrial Planning Conference, a private exclusive urban environment.
lobby group established by the Electric Power Central
Research Institute).xxii All of them seemed to share, Reference
beyond the technical solution, an obsession with
1) Kornhauser David, Il fenomeno urbano nella storia del Giappone,
the improvement of urban infrastructures and great Franco Angeli, Milano, 1978, pp.131-135, (Italian ed. of: Urban
interest in the aesthetics of industrial architecture, as Japan: Its Foundation and Growth, Longman Group, London,
well as pride and enthusiasm for the economic growth 1976).
of Japan, an enthusiasm which faded more and more 2) "The Postwar Period and a Glimpse of the Future- Postwar
with the slow-down of urban growth, the decadence of Prosperity and the Construction Industry", in: JA-Japan Architect,
N.139, March 1968, pp.82-83.
the myth of technology, increasing cases of pollution 3) Glickman Norman, The Management of the Japanese Urban
and the awareness of environmental destruction; all System: Regional Development and Regional Planning in Postwar
phenomena clearly in evidence by the end of the Japan, Academic Press, New York, 1979, p.14.
decade. 4) In the Tokyo Metropolis the development of railways, buses
and subway services grew since the 1950s, when the old tram
services, which were the backbone of Tokyo's transit system since
5. Conclusions 1910, were abandoned due to expensive prices and timetable
While the growth of Japanese cities during the 1950s problems caused by traffic congestion; see: Haruya Hirooka,
and 1960s was sustained by economic expansion, "The Development of Tokyo's Rail Network", in: Japan Railway
congestion and urban sprawl resulted in disorderly & Transportation Review, March 2000, p.7; Hideo Nakamura,
"Transportation in Tokyo", in: Japan Railway & Transportation
development caused by the shortcomings of planning
Review, March 1995, p.4.
methods and bureaucracy, which were a heritage of 5) In 1970 72% of the total population lived in the city, while just
the pre-war period, limiting any attempts to carry out 20 years earlier it was about 37%, witnessing the sharp shift in a
comprehensive projects on an urban scale. very short space of time, of Japan from a rural society to an urban
Against the old models of city planning, avant-garde society; cfr. Karan P.P., Kristin Stapleton, The Japanese City, The
University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, 1997, p.22.
movements and a whole new generation of architects 6) Sorensen Andre, The Making of Urban Japan. Cities and Planning
chose Tokyo, the economic and cultural center of from Edo to the twenty-first century. Routledge Ed., London &
Japan, as a model for their planning experiments to New York, 2002, p.179.
show new theories aimed at reforming urban and 7) Yorifusa Ishida, Hein Carola, Diefendorf Jeffrey M., Rebuilding
architectural forms. The visionary projects for Tokyo, Urban Japan after 1945, Palgrave Macmillian Ltd, 2003,
pp.238-242.
mainly proposed by a younger generation of architects 8) Sorensen Andre, "Building world city Tokyo: Globalization and
such as the Metabolist group, spread general interest conflict over the Space", in: The Annals of Regional Science,
among the government and international observers, Spring-Verlang 2003, p.523.
as they were concerned with innovative issues such 9) S ee: M iyamoto Kenichi, " Waterfront development and
as the themes of "marine cities" and artificial land, conservation in Japan", in: Bruttomesso Rinio (edited by),
Waterfronts. A New Frontier for Cities on Water, Acts of the
modern industrial architecture and the benefits of International Symposium in Venice (Italy), 1993, p.235.
advanced technological construction, themes directly 10) Ward Stephen V., Planning the Twentieth-Century City. The
drawn from the reality of the Industrial archipelago Capitalistic World, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2002, p. 39; pp.77-79.
of Japan. These proposals were mainly an attempt to 11) Yorifusa Ishida, Hein Carola, Diefendorf Jeffrey M., Rebuilding
Urban Japan after 1945, Palgrave Macmillian Ltd, 2003, pp. 6-7;
criticize the inefficiency of contemporary city planning
Regarding the plan prepared for Datong, according to Ward: "…
methods, as well as the aspiration to introduce new much was very directly borrowed [by other sources], particularly
urban principles and a new aesthetic language suitable the standard neighborhood plan, which was virtually identical
to express the bigger scale of modern industrial to one applied in Detroit in the early 1930s". Quoted in: Ward

JAABE vol.5 no.2 November 2006 Raffaele Pernice 259

 Stephen V., op. cit., p.154. New York, 1985.
12) David Tucker, "Learning from Dairen, Learning from Shinkyo: 5. Bognar Botond, World Cities. Tokyo, Academy Press, 1998.
Japanese Colonial City Planning and Postwar Reconstruction", in: 6. Boyd Robin, New Directions in Japanese Architecture, G.
Yorifusa Ishida, Hein Carola, Diefendorf Jeffrey M., op. cit., p.177. Braziller, New York, 1968.
7. Bruttomesso Rinio (edited by), Waterfronts. A New Frontier for
13) Kawazoe Noboru, Contemporary Japanese Architecture, Kokusai
Cities on Water, Acts of the International Symposium in Venice
Bunka Shinkokai, (Japan Cultural Society), Tokyo, 1968, p.72. (Italy), 1993.
14) British scholar M. F. Richards also pointed out that a major 8. Curtis J. Williams, Modern Architecture since 1900, Phaidon,
difficulty in the Japanese city planning approach was the absence London, 2002.
of professionals specifically trained in the field of city-planning; in 9. Cybriwsky Roman, Tokyo: the Changing Profile of an Urban
fact the first faculty in urban planning was activated in a Japanese Giant, G.K. Hall and Co., Boston, 1991.
university just after 1962; before then planning regulations had 10. Dahinden Justus, Urban Structures for the Future, Praeger
been administered exclusively by officials who often were without Publishers, 1972.
any academic preparation in the architectural field. 11. Drew Philip, The Architecture of Arata Isozaki, Harper Collins,
New York, 1982.
15) Akira Asada adds that: "…The metabolists then, conceive of
12. Fujimori Terunobu, Tange Kenzo, Kenzo Tange, Shinkentiku-
architecture as essentially functionalist and yet more complex than Japan Architect, Tokyo, 2002.
what a conventional, modernist scheme might propose"; see: Akira 13. Fujita K., Hill R.C., Japanese Cities in the World Economy,
Asada, "Beyond the Byomorphic" in: Reiser+Unamoto Studio, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1993.
Tokyo Bay Experiment, Columbia University, Graduate School of 14. Gideon G., Keisuike H., Osamu K., Japanese Urban Environment,
Architecture, Planning and Preservation, New York, 1994, p.21. Elsevier Science Ltd., Oxford, 1998.
16) Tafuri Manfredo, Architettura Moderna in Giappone, Cappelli, 15. Glickman Norman, The Management of the Japanese Urban
Bologna, 1964, pp.131-133; In detail the existing urban area, System: Regional Development and Regional Planning in Postwar
where it was possible an intensive construction, extended for a Japan, Academic Press, New York, 1979.
16. Hein Carola, Jeffry Diefendorf, Ishida Yorifusa, Rebuilding Urban
radius of 15 km from Tokyo Station, was intended for residential
Japan after 1945, Palgrave Macmillian Ltd, UK, 2003.
use only. In the green belt, extending more than 10 km beyond the 17. Jinnai Hidenobu, Tokyo, a Spatial Anthropology, University
urban area and acting as a physical boundary between Tokyo and California Press, Berkley, 1995.
its satellite cities, was forbidden any further build of residential 18. Karan P.P., Stapleton K., The Japanese City, The University Press
suburbs, whereas the preexisting ones were equipped as "new of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 1997.
towns". In the peripheral zone surrounding the green belt, as far as 19. Kiyonori Kikutake, Kiyonori Kikutake: from Tradition to Utopia,
a radius of 100 km from the central urban area, it was planned to Intr. by Maurizio Vitta, L'Arca, Milano, 1997.
settle new satellite cities filled with services and other economic 20. Kornhauser David, Il fenomeno urbano nella storia del Giappone,
activities. Franco Angeli Editore, Milano, 1978 (Italian Edition of: Urban
Japan; Its Foundation and Growth).
17) Michael Hebbert, "Sen-biki admist Desakota: Urban Sprawl
21. Kurokawa Kisho, Metabolism in Architecture, Westview P.,
and Urban Planning in Japan", in: Shapira Philip, Masser Ian, London, 1977.
Edgington David, Planning for Cities and Regions in Japan, 22. Maki Fumihiko, Fumihiko Maki, Buildings and Projects, Princeton
Liverpool University Press, 1992, p.72. Architectural Press, New York, 1997.
18) "The specific cause of the failure of the Tokyo belt was the 23. Nitschke Gunter, From Shinto to Ando. Studies in Architectural
formation of a political league between sixteen municipalities Anthropology in Japan, Academy Group Ltd., London, 1993.
and several hundred farmers to frustrate the plan. In Koganei 24. Noboru Kawazoe, Contemporary Japanese Architecture, Kokusai
city, farmers prematurely subdivided and sold plots to prevent Bunsa Shinkokai, Japan, 1968.
designation. The small landowners had a powerful ally in the form 25. Noboru Kawazoe, Kiyonori Kikutake, Noriaki "Kisho" Kurokawa,
Masato Otaka, Fumihiko Maki, Metabolism 1960. The Proposal
of Japan Housing Corporation, owner and intending developer
for New Urbanism, Bijutsu Syuppon Sha, Tokyo, April 1960.
of large tracts of land in the heart of the proposed [green] belt". 26. Riani Paolo, Kenzo Tange, mon., Sansoni Editori Nuova, Firenze,
Quoted in: Shapira Philip, Masser Ian, Edgington David, op. cit., 1977.
p.73. 27. Reiser + Unemoto Studio, Tokyo Bay Experiment, Columbia
19) Cybrisky Roman, Tokyo. The Changing Profile of an Urban Giant, University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and
G. K. Hall & Co., Boston, 1991, p.200; see also: TMG 1994. Preservation, New York, 1994.
20) In 1968 it approved the new version of the National Capital 28. Ross Michel F., Beyond Metabolism: the New Japanese
Region Development Plan, without the greenbelt. Furthermore, the Architecture, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1978.
abolition in 1966 of height limits in the 23 wards, which started 29. Sassen Saskia, The Global City. Tokyo, New York, London,
Princeton University Press, 2001 (2nd Edition).
the era of skyscrapers in Japan, was another feature of the plan.
30. Shapira Philip, Masser Ian, Edgington David, Planning for Cities
21) According to the critic Banham, in the 1960s Japanese architects and Regions in Japan, Liverpool University Press, 1992.
tried to promote megastructures as a specific contribution by 31. Sorensen Andre, The Making of Urban Japan. Cities and Planning
Japan to the modern architectural debate; see: Banham Reynard, from Edo to the Twenty-first Century, Routledge Ed., London &
Le tentazioni dell'architettura megastrutturale, Edizioni Laterza, New Y, 2002.
Milano, 1980 (Italian Edition of: Megastructures: Urban Future of 32. Steward B. David, The Making of a Modern Japanese
the Recent Past, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London 1976), p.44. Architecture. 1868 to Present, Kodansha, New York, 1987.
22) Cfr: Kenchiku-Bunka, N.175, May 1961, pp.87-98; Sorensen 33. Tafuri Manfredo, Architettura Moderna in Giappone, Cappelli
Andre, op. cit., pp.189-190. Editore, Bologna, 1964.
34. Various Artists, A Hundred Years of Tokyo City Planning, TMG
-Tokyo Metropolitan Government, March 1994.
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260 JAABE vol.5 no.2 November 2006 Raffaele Pernice

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