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Tokyo was again ranked in third place globally, behind London (ranked #1) and New York (#2), in the Global Power City Index (GPCI) 2017 report published Thursday by The Mori Memorial Foundation’s Institute for Urban Strategies, a research institute established by Mori Building, a leading urban developer in Tokyo.
First published in 2008, the annual GPCI report evaluates and ranks 44 major cities according to their “magnetism”, or their overall power to attract creative individuals and enterprises from around the world. Cities are rated on the basis of 70 detailed indicators in six categories: “Economy”, “R&D”, “Cultural Interaction”, “Livability”, “Environment” and “Accessibility”.
Tokyo, which claimed the No. 3 slot for the first time last year, further improved its scores in the fields of “Cultural Interaction” and “Accessibility”, closing the gap on second-placed New York. An increase in the number of foreign visitors to Tokyo, plus a rise in the number of tourist-related facilities were the major factors behind Tokyo’s improved “Cultural Interaction” scores. An increase in the number of direct flight connections between Tokyo and overseas cities contributed to the improvement in its “Accessibility” ratings.
“Over the last ten years, Tokyo has greatly improved its scores in the categories of ‘Accessibility’, 2 'Livability’ and 'Cultural Interaction’, becoming a more balanced city,” commented Hiroo Ichikawa, executive director of The Mori Memorial Foundation. “Yet the city still needs to bolster its market size and market attractiveness ratings to maintain its lead over other economically emerging cities, particularly those in Asia.”
Shingo Tsuji, director of The Mori Memorial Foundation and CEO of Mori Building, said, “Global players today are seeking cities not just with a strong business environment, but those additionally offering improved lifestyles: high quality residences, diverse cultural and retail facilities, a stress-free transportation network and a rich natural environment. For global cities to thrive, they need to bolster their overall magnetic power; this will help them to attract talent and investment from around the world.”
Key Highlights of Other Cities
-- London’s core strengths lay in the field of “Cultural Interaction”, which helped the city keep its No.1 position for the tenth consecutive year. London continued to maximize its overall strengths by improved ratings in the categories of GDP Growth Rate and the Level of Political, Economic and Business Risk. While there remains some uncertainty surrounding the UK’s exit from the EU, London’s balanced strengths across several categories mean the city has the potential to turn challenges into opportunities, extending its commanding lead and continuing forward as the top-ranked city globally in which to live and work.
-- New York, in second place, increased its scores in the “Economy” category, thanks to improved ratings against the criteria of Nominal GDP and GDP Growth Rate, but failed to make any significant headway in its overall score, owing to weaker showings this year in the area of “Cultural Interaction”.
-- Seven Asian cities, topped by Beijing, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong, all featured in the top 10 in terms of their “Economy” ratings. Dubai made its first-ever appearance in the GPCI in 2017, achieving an overall ranking of 23rd. The city posted strengths in the categories of “Cultural Interaction” (9th) and “Economy” (11th) mainly owing to its competitive corporate tax rates and the number of its luxury hotel guest rooms.
-- In other parts of the world, Sydney climbed four spots this year to edge its way into the top 10 for the first time in seven years. U.S. cities such as Los Angeles (in 11th position overall), and San Francisco (17th) also significantly improved their rankings over last year.
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© Japan Today
30 Comments
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Goodlucktoyou
Until the great Tokai earthquake coming soon.
Aly Rustom
When you filter through the hogwash its:
Tokyo was again ranked in third place globally, in a report published by a leading urban developer in Tokyo.
Surprise Surprise
J-Dake
Aly Rushton, exactly! These days when I see these global city/country ranking pieces I skip ahead to the part where it indicates the according-to-whom and then decide whether I want to waste time going back to read the rest.
Yubaru
This would be more believable if it was published by a third party source. Just another advertisement for JInc.
dcog9065
Makes sense, it's the economy and livability that puts it up there though, the other indicators are still not that strong. Some of those other top 10s are very questionable
Hamish
Ichikawa must be deluded if he thinks Tokyo has improved its cultural interaction. The only fact that has changed in the last 10 years is the increase in number of people coming from abroad. The least open minded, integrating city in Asia is by far Tokyo. A city where its citizens still point out at non-Japanese as "gaijin" and other normalised xenophobic behaviour etc. Hong Kong should have made it to the 3rd place instead.
Tokyo-Engr
Not sure why all the negativity. Obviously Mori does in fact have a huge vested interest in promoting Tokyo and yes Tokyo has its problems (as do the other cities listed), however living here I agree it is a pretty good place to live and right now a good place to do business. We are in a bubble and who knows what will happen afterwards but in spite of the source I believe alot of people would come to a similar conclusion (although probably not as high of a ranking). Minato-ku has continuously improved and is trying to do a good job of trying to reach out to foreign residents and make the city more livable.
Not sure if I would rank Tokyo 3rd but I would put it in the top 10 (at this point in time).
nandakandamanda
Meanwhile, they were showing on the news last night the results of a national poll showing that the most relaxing and livable city within Japan was... wait for it... Tottori of all places! Tokyo has massive strengths, but it also has huge weaknesses.
Toasted Heretic
Tokyo still melts my brain after all this time. Is it my favorite city? Difficult. It's certainly one of the most interesting ones. Def top ten... still got so many cities left to see...
bosphorus
This is exactly what Tokyo (and other megalopolises) is lacking. In my opinion, jobs will start migrating to small towns and neighbourhoods in the nearest future. We don't need hundreds of thousands of stressed people working in heavily congested urban areas, this is bringing the productivity down and stealing years from our lives that we spend commuting to work every day, causing the environment pollution in the process.
sourpuss
Naysayers out in full force today. Tokyo was ranked 4th for 6 straight years before overtaking Paris last year.
I wonder what other city all of these skeptics would have ranked ahead of Tokyo. Singapore? Too small. Los Angeles? No infrastructure. Beijing? Uhh, communism anyone? Paris is the only real contender, and it was ranked 3rd for a bunch of years.
If there really was a conspiracy, don't you think Tokyo would be ranked number 1, or at least 2?
Yubaru
Really now? Singapore has a population of well over 5 million people and doesnt make the list, while Sydney does, even though it has a population roughly 1 million LESS than Singapore?
Oh but let's look at the actual list here..
http://mori-m-foundation.or.jp/pdf/09_WorldMap_2017_en.jpg
When did Singapore get kicked out of Asia? It ranks number 8 in their "Economy" ranking and overall 5th just behind Paris as well.
gokai_wo_maneku
Tokyo is still number 1 in my mind.
Wakarimasen
All those recent initiatives about having gaijin hospitals and later open takeaways and the other nonsense must be paying off.
kurisupisu
If the pollution and chronic overcrowding don't get you then the outlandish prices will......
puregaijin
Well it’s a smashing city all right but some of the text in the article is giving me les problems gastronomiques.
mrtinjp
First published in 2008, the annual GPCI report evaluates and ranks 44 major cities according to their “magnetism”, or their overall power to attract creative individuals and enterprises from around the world. Cities are rated on the basis of 70 detailed indicators in six categories: “Economy”, “R&D”, “Cultural Interaction”, “Livability”, “Environment” and “Accessibility”.
Well in "overall power to attract creative individuals and enterprises from around the world" Tokyo would not even be in the top 30, as majority of the gaijin talent leaves within a couple of years, Singapore/Hongkong are zions ahead of Tokyo on this front, and the same goes for “Cultural Interaction”, “Livability”, “Environment”.
Mona Lisa Rocketlauncher
For me, Paris and New York are my tops. London is up there, as well as Amsterdam and definitely Prague.
I guess my issue with Tokyo is... I don't know, I just find it ugly. I know it's safer than other cities and cleaner with almost equally good restaurants, but I don't see the charm, the world class museums and theater, the personalities. It's so... grey or... neutered.
Mocheake
Can't believe we only ranked second. I demand a recount.
Toasted Heretic
Have only passed thru NYC, so I cannot agree/disagree. Prague is on the list; I have friends who have lived there and who are from there and it sounds very inviting.
Paris and Amsterdam I have visited several times and love them both. The welcome, the food, the people, culture, history and open mindedness.
wtfjapan
the best part of Japan isnt its cities its it rural areas, been to Hokkaido in spring , Nagano mountains in the middle of winter, world class scenery without the pollution, overcrowding. I use to live in the middle of Osaka many year agos , great if your single and parting every weekend not very good if you've got family / kids. As the years passed we slowly moved to outskirts of the city then in a rural area, well rural for Japan still have around 60,000 people in our area LOL . We now live in a home that is much larger than the average J home (430sq/m, 4600sq/ft), plenty of free parking spaces (6) plenty of big parks for the kids to play, driving around is a breeze only light traffic finding a car park isnt a problem. When I need to go to the city ,rarely, its only a 40min drive away. The only thing I probably miss in the city is the huge number of eat out places but the lifestyle difference makes that loss seem insignificant.
Toasted Heretic
Shhh! Don't tell everybody.
Agreed; the true, magnificent Japan is when you leave the cities and get right out there.
Makes the day to day worthwhile.
jdmdirect@gmail.com
Makes the day to day worthwhile. totally agree, if i was forced to continue living in a J city Id probably opt to leave Japan completely. Now I have a lifestyle similar to living in my home country Ive decided to stay for the foreseeable future. Now all the rest of you please stay in the cities and lets keep the country side underpopulated and relatively stress free. Having said that there are places in Japan that are so rural youd think you were living in the 1800s
IloveCoffee
A Japanese foundation putting Tokyo at a 3rd place. And we are supposed to believe this?
This whole ranking is garbage. London more powerful than New York City? Are you kidding me? London looks like Kansas city in the 60s. NYC is the financial and cultural capital of the entire planet. London, and the entire UK's economy for that matter is based on 5 banks located in London. Hilarious.
Like Mark Twain said, the problem with these statistics is that they are very disconnected from reality.
Illogical
Hi everyone, I'm from Australia and find the rankings and commentary very interesting. For Sydney to be in the top ten would also cause an outcry here from people in Melbourne who constantly brag that their city often gets rated the most livable city in the world. So the argument here in Aus is not about Tokyo's rating but how did Sydney beat Melbourne?
Strangerland
Weather.
sourpuss
@IloveCoffee,
Tokyo is not even number 2 in a Japanese-sponsored ranking. What number would be acceptable for you?
If it had been British or American sponsored, would you still be so outraged?
Illogical
@Stranger land. If it was about the weather then Sydney would also beat Tokyo, New York and London ;-)
okochat
If Japan had the official language as English then No. 1 indeed
Am sure its No.3 coz of "language barrier"