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Agents of Transformation and the "Death" of Urbanism Preeminence of the Decorated Shed Staging Uncertainty |
[1L2] THE JAPANESE URBAN CONTINUUM.
In order for these figures to be better understood, one must be familiar with Japan’s geographic limitations. As of October 1992, the total land area of Japan was 377,800 square kilometers, roughly the same size as the U.S. state of Montana. In 1994, Japan was reported to have the seventh largest population in the world, with over 124 million people. Because approximately 70 percent of Japan is mountainous, with alluvial plains occupying only 13 percent of flat land, Japan’s density per unit area under cultivation is the highest in the world, with 334 persons per square kilometer in 1992. Moreover, some 23.4 percent of Japanese live in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, which occupies only 2 percent of the total area.10 By 2015, the World Bank estimates that 28 million people will live in Greater Tokyo.11 The Tokaido megalopolis is the physical and psychological heart of Japan, and includes the three largest cities, Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, in addition to Yokohama and Kobe. It originated as the last stage of the silk road, having developed as the connective tissue between these major urban centers on the main island of Honshu. It is now perilously close to becoming all of Japan that matters. According to Robert Christopher, the Tokaido megalopolis is now home of "the central government and all its agencies... the headquarters of nearly every large industrial and financial institution, two-thirds of Japan’s universities (including virtually all the ‘good’ ones), all of the major publishing and communications groups and an overwhelming concentration of the people and institutions that shape Japan’s cultural life."12 Christopher offers this description:
Despite efforts to decentralize industry and relieve urban congestion, such as Kakuei Tanaka’s Plan for Remodeling the Japanese Archipelago in 1972, Japanese cities have only become more dense and chaotic. High-speed rail lines and highways have transformed the Japanese urban landscape into a seamless corridor. Indeed, much of Japan’s infrastructural technology is dedicated to the creation of faster, uninterrupted flows of traffic between all major urban centers, particularly those lying between the mountains and the eastern seaboard of Honshu island. 9Christopher, Robert C., The Japanese Mind (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1983) p. 120-121 10Japan: Profile of a Nation (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1995) p. 2 11Parker, John, "A Survey of Cities" in The Economist (July 29, 1995) p. 5 12Christopher, Robert C., The Japanese Mind (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1983) p. 120 13Ibid., p. 119-120
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Since World War II, Japanese cities have experienced a
particularly harrowing transformation. In 1945, about 55 percent of the Japanese
population was urban, and 45 percent rural. By 1980, however, only 13 percent lived in the
country. What is more, this massive population shift was concentrated in the Tokaido
megalopolis, which spans between Tokyo and Kobe (somewhat like the BosWash corridor in the
U.S.), and by 1980 was home to about 40 percent of all Japanese - roughly 50 million
people.9
The Tokaido
megalopolis is a monument to unplanned urban sprawl, and riding through it on one of
Japan’s famed ‘bullet trains’ is reminiscent of riding the Metroliner
through the grim landscapes through northeastern New Jersey. At intervals, traces of the
old Japan are visible... but the dominant impression is one of industrial society at its
worst: factories built without the slightest concession to architectural aesthetics,
warehouses that look like Quonset huts afflicted with gigantism, enormous boxlike concrete
apartment buildings and interminable clusters of shabby-looking Mom-and-Pop shops,
auto-repair establishments and other small enterprises.13
A Master's Thesis in Architecture at Rice University by Blaine Brownell. Copyright © 1998 by Blaine Brownell. All rights reserved. |
