Japan: Debating the fate of Shimokitazawa · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Tokyo has no lack of small, winding streets. Shibuya has its maze of criss-crossing shōtengai, Roppongi its club-lined back alleyways, Ueno its open-air street markets. But no neighborhood  in Tokyo packs more complexity per square foot than Shimokitazawa, a neighborhood whose layout bears closer resemblance to a ball of thread than to anything an urban planner would come up with.
Shimokitazawa's spaghetti-like mess of streets and train lines evoke passion among some, frustration among others. The area has earned a name for itself as a breeding ground for creative young artists with its dozens of small theaters, art galleries and music venues. While eccentric characters like Rikimaru Toho fit perfectly into this urban environment, others see the maze of narrow streets as a dangerous fire hazard and a giant urban congestion knot in need of unwinding.
Planned route through Shimokitazawa (Subsidiary Route 54)
The entire area happens to lie in the path of a would-be thoroughfare running through Shimokitazawa to Shibuya, originally set forth in a “War damage revival plan” drafted all the way back in 1946. After several changes,  that plan was brought back to life in 2003 and demolition and construction work has been slated to start in 2010. Should it be executed, the plan will split Shimokitazawa apart with a 26-meter wide expressway, Subsidiary Route 54 (補助54号線).
While the basic shape of those redevelopment plans had been known for some time, it was only a few weeks ago that the first glimpses of the new design finally emerged on the blog of Kuniyoshi Yoshida, a local landowner and head of the Shimokitazawa South [ja] shopowners’ union. Comments which began to appear on the blog, blasting the new design for its failure to respect the Shimokitazawa atmosphere, were swiftly deleted, but hostility against the plans only grew.
New Shimokitazawa Station design
In a blog entry [ja] that drew a large response [ja], blogger and writer Hideaki Matsunaga [ja] explained why:
リリー・フランキー氏をはじめとして、下北沢の文化や町並を愛する人たちが、下北沢再開発に反対の意見を表明している。そこには、住人も、住人以外も含まれる。しかし、今、下北沢で何が起こっているのか、なぜこのデザインがこんなに反発を受けるのか、その経緯について簡単にまとめてみる。
A great number of people who love the Shimokita culture and streets, starting with Lily Franky and including both residents and non-residents, have voiced their opposition to the Shimokitazawa redevelopment project. What I want to do here is to outline the details of what is going on right now in Shimokitazawa, and why there has been such opposition to this design.
The blog entry starts with a bit of history:
下北沢は「Ｘ」の交点に当たる。新宿から伸びる小田急線がその一つのラインであり、渋谷から吉祥寺に伸びる京王井の頭線がもう一つのラインである。新宿・渋谷・吉祥寺、そして小田急線で成城の東宝撮影所や祖師ヶ谷大蔵の円谷プロ旧本社などとつながる交点、それが下北沢である。
Shimokitazawa is located at an X-shaped intersection. One of the lines in this X is the Odakyu line from Shinjuku, the other is the Keio Inokashira line stretching from Shibuya to Kichijōji. So Shimokitazawa is at an intersection connecting Shinjuku, Shibuya, Kichijoji, as well as places such as the Toho Studios in Seijo and the former headquarters of Tsuburaya Productions in Soshigaya.
かつて農村地帯だった駅周辺は次第に郊外の宅地化していった。やがて、横光利一、東郷青児、宇野千代、萩原朔太郎、斎藤茂吉らが住み、「下北沢文士町」という要素も持つようになっていく。萩原朔太郎の『猫町』も下北沢地域を舞台としている。この街と切り離せない作家として、森茉莉らもいる。（→萩原朔太郎 猫町 散文詩風な小説）
戦後の闇市の時代を経て、下北沢は住宅地から繁華街へと発展していった。さらに本多劇場をはじめとする小劇場やライブハウスが次々と生まれ、演劇・音楽・サブカルの街、あるいは演劇や音楽を目指す若者たちが多く集まる街となる。
闇市の記憶を残す下北沢北口の駅前食品市場は、やがて衣料品「アメリカ屋」ブームを起こし、その記憶は下北沢に多く見られる古着やファッションの小さな店に引き継がれているといえよう。
Once a farming district, the area around the station gradually transformed into a residential area. Before long, it had taken on the character of “Literary Shimokitazawa”, home of the likes of Riichi Yokomitsu (横光利一), Seiji Tōgō (東郷青児), Chiyo Uno (宇野千代), Sakutarō Hagiwara (萩原朔太郎) and Mokichi Saitō (斎藤茂吉). The Shimokitazawa region is also a stage for Sakutarō Hagiwara's “Nekomachi” (猫町). Another group of writers inseparable from Shimokitazawa are Mari Mori (森茉莉) and company.
After the post-war black market era, Shimokitazawa developed from a residential era into a shopping district. Starting with the Honda Gekijo, small theaters and music venues started appearing, and Shimokitazawa became a city of theater, music and subculture, and a gathering place for young people with an interest in theater and music.
The market in front of the station, which embodies the memory of the black market era, soon gave rise to a boom in “America stores” selling clothing, and this memory has been kept alive in the used clothing stores and small fashion shops that can be seen all around Shimokitazawa.
迷路のような、とたとえられる下北沢。狭い路地が複雑に走るゴチャゴチャ感あふれる街は、徒歩によって回遊できる空間として親しまれてきた。
この下北沢の街が大きく変わろうとしている。そして、その変化は下北沢を「破壊」するものであると考える人が、下北沢住人にも、あるいは下北沢に来る人にも、非常に多い（一方で、その変化を歓迎する商店主もいる）。
Shimokitazawa is like a labyrinth. Tangled in complicated ways, its jumble of narrow alleyways conveys a sense of disorder, but one that is walkable by foot. It this atmosphere that people are so fond of.
This neighborhood, Shimokitazawa, is on course to be drastically transformed. And there are a large number of people — both local residents and people who have come from other places — who feel that this transformation will destroy Shimokitazawa. (On the other hand, there are also shop owners who welcome this transformation.)
In the next section, Matsunaga points out that there are actually two parts to the redevelopment plans for Shimokitazawa. The first part, which he does not personally oppose, is already underway and focuses on expanding the number of tracks on the Odakyu line and burying them to reduce the number of crosswalks.
The second set of redevelopment plans are of a different kind:
さて、この小田急線地下化工事はすでに始まっているが、一方でこれとセットのようにして進められているのが「都市計画道路補助54号線（以下、補助 54号線）」という26メートル幅道路の建設計画、ならびに下北沢駅前にバスロータリーを造るという計画（世田谷区画街路10号線）である。この道路・バスロータリーが、下北沢の街を根底から破壊するものとして反対されている。そして、小田急線地下化と道路事業がセットで行なわれることで世田谷区は補助金をせしめたと考える人たちもいる。
補助54号線は、下北沢演劇文化発祥の地ともいえる「スズナリ」を背後からたたきつぶし、北沢タウンホールの北側を抜けて本多スタジオを踏みつぶし、下北沢北口の街のど真ん中を貫いて、環七と同じ幅の自動車道で街を分断・破壊しようという計画である。そして、環七と都心を結ぶ道路となる。
また、この補助54号線から旧小田急線路跡地に沿って下北沢駅北口に伸びる道路は、駅前食品市場の雑然とした空間を取っ払って作られる駅前ロータリーにつながる。
In the next section of the blog entry, Matsunaga points out some implications of the redevelopment project:
駅前ロータリーができることで、高層ビルの高さ制限が大きく緩和される可能性も指摘されている。下北沢一帯の建物は低いものが多く、これも歩く街としての性質を生み出しているが、これが一転して高層ビルの町へと変貌する可能性もある。
With the completion of the station-front roundabout, it has been suggested that the height limitation imposed on tall buildings could be considerably relaxed. There are a lot of low-rise buildings in the Shimokitazawa area, and these buildings lend themselves to creating a pedestrian-friendly environment; this may all at once be replaced by a city of high-rise buildings.
And he explains:
もちろん、再開発については（今回の白髪爺さんを筆頭に）「地元」でも歓迎する声がある。今回の衆院選前に各陣営に確認したところ、自民党は再開発こそが地元の活性化につながると全面的に賛同していた。民主党は、本当に必要な道路か再調査して不要不急であれば計画見直し、という、どちらともとれる見解だった（一応、無駄を省くという趣旨ではあるのだが、八ツ場ダム中止のように明確な態度を示しているわけではない。ある民主党都議会議員は、「消防車が入れない狭い道は防災上問題」と、事実上再開発賛成を表明している）。みんなの党は、下北沢については詳しくないが、下町風情は残したい、という見解であった。それはさておくとしよう。
Of course, there are also locals who welcome the redevelopment (with Kuniyoshi Yoshida being first on this list). When I last checked the positions of every [political] camp prior to the lower house elections, the LDP [Liberal Democratic Party] was completely in favor of the redevelopment, arguing that it would rejuvenate the local area. The DPJ [Democratic Party of Japan] position was that if a re-examination of the plans found that the road was nonessential and not urgent, then they would review the current plan, and thus the DPJ is not firmly in either camp (of course the aim is to eliminate wastefulness, but they have not expressed a clear position in they way that they did when they halted the Yanba Dam project. One DPJ Diet member has in fact indicated their support for redevelopment, [on the grounds that] “roads that are too small for fire trucks are a fire hazard”.) Your Party [Min'na no Tō] have not elaborated their position on Shimokitazawa, but their position has been that they want to protect the old city atmosphere. Let's put that aside for now.
この再開発歓迎派は、要するに、今までのゴチャゴチャした下北沢が大嫌いなのである。闇市の記憶を受け継ぐような、北口食品市場が平成の今に至るまで残存していることが許せないのである。自動車が入ってこれないのが発展と進歩を阻害していると感じているのである。
In short, those who welcome the redevelopment plans are the same people who hate the messy Shimokitazawa of the past and present. They cannot accept that the market by the north exit, which carries on in the tradition of the old black market, has survived to this day. They feel that development and progress are being hampered by the lack of car access to this area.
Returning to the original topic of the design for the new Shimokitazawa station, Matsunaga writes:
下北沢という街の記号として存在するもの、たとえばそれはスズナリであり、駅前食品市場であり、車の入ってこない（タクシーさえもなかなか入って来たがらない）「徒歩空間」の路地であるが、そういうものが補助54号線と駅前ロータリー計画によって、文字通り「ブルドーザーでならされようとしている」。
The things which symbolize Shimokitazawa, the Suzunari, the shops by the station entrance, the alleys that create the area's pedestrian atmosphere and which cars cannot navigate (and even taxis have a difficult time navigating) — all of this is to be literally flattened by bulldozers under the plan to create Sub-Road 54 and the station-front roundabout.
そしてその後にやってくるものとして提案されたのが、よりによって今回の「下北沢駅駅舎整備イメージ案」なのだ。なぜこんなガラス張りの幾何学的な（つまり非人間的な）ものが「下北沢にふさわしい」のだ。「きれいさっぱりすっきりで直線的な、清潔で明るい駅舎」のどこが、ゴチャゴチャくねくねチマチマでジグザグの、雑然としているが活気のある下北沢の街にふさわしいのだ。
And then, of all things to come after this, they present this picture as a proposal for the new station design. What is it about this glassed-in geometric (in other words dehumanized) thing that is “befitting of Shimokitazawa”? What in the world does this clean and neat, linear, immaculate, bright station building have to do with the jumbled, meandering, zig-zagging little neighborhood around Shimokitazawa, chaotic but also full of life.
多くの下北沢フリークがこの案に対してほとんど反射的に反発を覚えたのは、決して偶然ではない。まさにそれは「今までの下北沢」のイメージ（あるいは下北沢を守ろうとする人たちの持つ下北沢のイメージ）と、「今までとは根本的に異なる下北沢」を作りたい人たちの願望するイメージが、まさに正反対、明らかに対極に位置するものであったことを意味する。
Reflecting on his own relation to Shimokitazawa, he continues:
別に下北沢に生まれ育ったわけではないが、その街の雰囲気を楽しみ、好きになってきた一人の人間として、そんな感傷やノスタルジーを感じている。そして、それを共有する地元の人たちと、そうではない地元の人たち、あるいは外部の人たちがいる。
下北沢再開発問題は、決して（八ツ場ダム問題のような）地元VS外部の闘いではない。街とは何か、街の発展とは何かについてのイメージの対立である。
It's not that I was born and brought up in Shimokitazawa, but as someone who has enjoyed and become very fond of the neighborhood's atmosphere, I feel sentimental and nostalgic about the area. And there are people in the area who share this feeling, as well as people who are not from the area, who are from outside.
The Shimokitazawa redevelopment problem is not at all a battle of “locals” versus “outsiders” (like in the case of the Yanba Dam problem). It's an opposition between visions of what a neighborhood is, and of what neighborhood development is.
(In response to many bookmark comments, Matsunaga wrote a follow-up post [ja] in which he clarified his position on a number of points. In particular, he emphasized that while he is personally against the Sub-Road 54 plans, he is not against the expansion/burying of Odakyu line tracks. He also responded to many comments claiming that the redevelopment is necessary for safety reasons.)
Update (Nov. 7)
Some more pictures of Shimokitazawa:
The Suzunari theater in Shimokitazawa (photo by mamacharikinoko)
Building in Shimokitazawa (photo by mamacharikinoko)
Cafe in Shimokitazawa (photo by mamacharikinoko)