Shinjuku West
The west exit of Shinjuku Station in central Tokyo is currently beginning a 200-billion-yen redevelopment. The iconic post-war modernist Odakyu Department Store Main building (opened in 1967) closed in mid-October for demolition. The former 14-storey Main building will be replaced by a 48-storey skyscraper that includes the usual department store, food stores, restaurants, and a hotel, too. As the station and its West Exit will still be in daily use by commuters during the years-long redevelopment, it means the area will be a construction zone and a real mess for the next several years (exactly as the Shibuya neighborhood has been during its continuing redevelopment). Completion of the project is slated for 2029.
Cities small or large are living organisms. They never stop moving. Old things disappear or are re-made, while new things appear and evolve. The organism contracts a little, then expands a lot. It breathes. Cities, like their individual neighborhoods, experience a life cycle. Within that context, great architecture, like great art, comes and goes. But scaffolding lasts forever.
Great architecture, like great art, comes and goes. But scaffolding lasts forever.
I frequently pass through Shinjuku Station, and I already miss the old Odakyu Main store. The disappearance of convenient ATMs, escalators and kiosks / newsstands affected me immediately.
Shinjuku is one of the jewels of Tokyo. It’s a real task describing its importance to family and friends in Canada. Tokyo has no ‘downtown.’ Instead, it has several major centers that are both commercial and commuter hubs. The commerce gathers around the transportation. And, many of the train companies also own department stores - commercial enterprises, that help attract the public to these stations. Shinjuku is (and has been for many years) the busiest (not the largest) train station in the world. The population of Toronto passes through it every day. And, it is one of the most important hubs in the capital. The Shinjuku district alone is the size of downtown Vancouver. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings are found a few minutes’ walk from the West Exit. The station’s West Side is far more developed than the East, North or South sides, and features government buildings, corporations HQs, and hotels. The north side of the station features the infamous Kabukicho entertainment district, while the East and the South feature high end shopping.
The word “Shinjuku” means “new post town.” In very olden days, it used to be outside Edo City (as Tokyo used to be called). It was a rest area for travelers entering and exiting the capital, featuring inns and other amenities. Centuries ago, the land was all rural. Today, however, Shinjuku is in the heart of the capital, one of the 30 stations on the Yamanote Line loop service in central Tokyo. It is the very definition of the steel, cement, glass and neon jungle. Some of its narrow, back alleys in neighborhoods like the Golden Gai (east side) and Omoide Yokocho (west side) have served as models for futuristic Western sci-fi movie sets, like in Blade Runner (1982) and The Fifth Element (1997). As Edo/Tokyo grew and expanded, it absorbed surrounding rural communities without altering their rural street pattern. This partly explains the chaotic, twisting, narrow street pattern that prevails in Tokyo today. Tokyo might be described as an amalgamation of villages, which also helps explain the layout of the city and the nature of community life here.
Although the population here is in slow decline, and the economy continues to suffer two decades of relative stagnation, someone is obviously planning a rich future for the capital in general, and the Shinjuku district in particular.