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Save for Yoyogi Park, the former home of the 1964 Olympic village and the current site of Meiji Shrine, Shibuya has a lack of greenery amidst its towering skyscrapers and streets packed to the brim with shops as well as tourists. However, this is all due to change soon in one of Tokyo’s most bustling hubs thanks to the nearly complete construction of the multi-purpose complex Miyashita Park.
What was once a park where the city’s homeless converged, but were pushed out by Nike’s 2011 controversial redevelopment to include a skatepark and rock climbing wall, will now become a revamped modern complex, constructed through a partnership between Shibuya’s city government and the privately owned Mitsui Fudosan real estate company. Part-hotel, part-shopping center, and part-recreational facility, the new Miyashita Park aims to be a communal space incorporating a rooftop park as its centerpiece.
▼ The former Miyashita park in 2015 vs the revamped Miyashita Park
▼ Facilities introduced to the previous park will be included in the new Miyashita Park.
The building complex is also earthquake-proof and able to serve as an emergency shelter in the unfortunate event of a disaster. Visitors can use the park as a medium for completing round trips around well-visited areas near Shibuya, such as Harajuku, Meiji Shrine and Omotesando.
Construction is slated to be completed by April 2020, and Miyashita Park’s grand opening is set for June 2020—just in time for the 2020 Olympics. While the new Miyashita Park may not generate the same hype as Shibuya’s tapioca-themed attraction, nor have the distinctive appeal of Mitsui Fudosan’s previous video-spoof of mechas made out of apartment buildings, the new park is an addition of greenery to Tokyo’s ever-changing, vibrant landscape.
Source: Mitsui Fudosan
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- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2020/01/27/new-multi-use-park-facility-in-the-heart-of-shibuya-set-to-open-in-june-2020/
14 Comments
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Badge213
Even Shinjuku Gyoen wouldn't make sense, as the Park there in Shinjuku has existed since the Meiji period way before American occupation...
Barge
What happened to the motorcycle parking?
JeffLee
@Badge
Yes, you're right. It was nearby Shinjuku Gyoen I was thinking about.
albaleo
And where various office workers and English teachers would escape to for lunch. It really was a pleasant escape back in the day.
Badge213
Elaborate on how the US Postwar occupation administration made Japan create Yoyogi park?
Here's the story:
Before Yoyogi Park and before the Olympic Village for the 1964 Olympics the site was occupied by Washington Heights US Army housing, however, even before that it was the Yoyogi Military Parade Ground used by the Imperial Japanese Government. The Japanese government acquired the land in 1909 and it was the site of Japan's first powered airplane flight in 1910.
When the ground was not in use by the government/military it was open to the public for various activities noted in the history text: "baseball"/"kite flying" .
After World War 2 in 1946, the US military took over the land and made it Washington Heights. In 1961 after negotiations to return the land back to Japan and create Olympic Village, transfer was complete in 1964 for the Olympics. Three years later in 1967, Yoyogi Park was opened.
Not sure where the US postwar occupation administration made Japan make Yoyogi park, when itself has been there already in some form dating back to at least 1909.
GW
Depressing.....
JeffLee
"They" didn't make that. The US postwar Occupation administration did.
Looking at the photos, I prefer the old one, although some grass wouldn't go amiss.
rainyday
This has to be the most idiotic, self contradictory sentence ever used in a news article. So you are saying that Shibuya's "lack of greenery" is going to be tackled by demolishing a park full of mature trees and replacing it with a big grey building that by the looks of it just has a few measly shrubs and vines here and there, and not a single leaf at ground level?
Oh wait, the source for this article is the developer of that building. Why am I not surprised?
Speed
I'd love to have them make another Yoyogi Park type park. Now that's a park you can chill and have fun in.
Speed
Can't they make big open grassy parks anymore? A big flat area where you can throw a Frisbee, kick a ball, and or fly a kite without a million bushes and trees to get in the way?
kohakuebisu
Is there no value in having the park at street level?
Alfie Noakes
The privatisation of public space continues. The artists impressions of the "new" park show no seats at all. It's nothing more than a shopping centre with a bit of greenery stuck on top.