Trees in Jingu Gaien are cut down with chainsaws one after another while people shout, “Don’t do it.” No answer to the question “Why are you cutting it down?” ”: Tokyo Shimbun TOKYO Web

The cutting down of trees over 3 meters high started on the 28th in the redevelopment of the Meiji Jingu Gaien area in Tokyo (Shinjuku Ward, Minato Ward). The construction of Jingu stadium and high-rise buildings will be in full swing in the future. A total of 619 trees were felled, and residents living near the site who were concerned about the decline of the natural environment continued to chant “against logging.”

◆71 trees to be cut down to build a new rugby pitch

At around 1pm, at the Jingu Second Baseball Stadium demolition site, workers used a chainsaw to cut off the trunks and branches of zelkova trees, and then carried them one by one using a crane truck. According to Mitsui Fudosan, the representative of the company, on the 28th, a total of two trees, zelkova and Japanese boxwood, were cut down, and one Japanese boxwood was planted in the area. Currently, 71 trees will be cut down and a further 93 transplanted at the same time as construction of a new rugby pitch is expected to start in early 2026 at the old stadium site.

The work of felling trees using large cranes has begun in preparation for the restoration of the Meiji Jingu Gaien Garden On the 28th, in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, from the headquarters helicopter “Asazuru.”

Since 2022, when Mikiko Ishikawa, director of Japan’s National Committee ICOMOS, revealed the mass logging to a study, experts, local residents, and famous people including composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died last year, called for the plan to be revised or cancelled. after each other

◆ Business operator: “I want to get sympathy”

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government approved the project in February 2023, and after receiving criticism, in September of the same year they asked the operator to preserve the trees. Plans had almost come to a halt. On the 21st of this month, the operator submitted a revised plan to the Tokyo Metropolitan Environmental Impact Assessment Council that would reduce the number of trees to be felled by 124 trees, and the city government accepted it the proposal too.

Tree felling work for the redevelopment of the Meiji Jingu Gaien district began on the 28th in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.

The planned area is 28.4 hectares, and will be developed by changing the locations of Jingu Stadium and Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, and will include the construction of three new high-rise buildings. The entire project was originally expected to be completed in 36 years, but plans are currently being revised. In total, 619 trees will be felled, 964 will be preserved, 242 will be replaced, and 1,098 new trees will be planted. The four rows of ginkgo trees leading to the Seitoku Memorial Picture Gallery will be preserved.

Kohei Kawashima, Group Manager of Mitsui Fudosan Construction Industry Division 2, responded to the ongoing criticism by saying, “We want to gain sympathy by showing the importance of the development and how it will improve in the future .” (Rio Harada)

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◆”Ignore the question…it’s not democratic at all”

About 40 protesters gathered at the Meiji Jingu Second Baseball Stadium demolition site, where trees were cut down, and chanted “I oppose the forced action” as the sounds of the work rang out. appear from outside the high fence.

Mikiko Ishikawa, director of Japan’s ICOMOS National Committee, who has continued to raise the issue, rushed to the meeting and reiterated, “As ICOMOS, we have been issuing letters of inquiry, but were ignored for over two years. . We have the right to hear an explanation before the case ends.” There was some exchange of questions at the entrance of the building, and the person in charge of the site refused to answer. Entrances and exits were blocked by security guards.

After the demolition, he said, “It is not democratic at all. I have been working as a green expert, and I cannot remain silent when a 100-year-old tree is being cut down.”

◆ “The opposition has weakened after a one-year hiatus.”

Around 80 cultural figures and other volunteers put together a petition against it. Musician Masafumi Goto said, “Our duty is to give the lush gardens, which are a gift from the people who lived in Tokyo 100 years ago, to the people who live in Tokyo 100 years from now.

When it was planned to fell the tree last fall, there was a strong movement against it with critical comments from cultural people, but this subsided while the project was stopped at the request of Governor Yuriko Koike. One of the residents who opposed it said with regret, “Although the development plan at the expense of greenery has not changed, the feeling of opposition has subsided after a year.” (Tomoyuki Morimoto)

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