subscribe to this page
belongs to Business Area Studies project
tagged business_area_studies city_university_of_hong_kong_department_of_economics_and_finance exchange_rates foreign_exchange_markets foreign_exchange_rates hong_kong singapore tokyo by croninkc ...and 4 other people ...on 05-OCT-06
tagged business_area_studies city_university_of_hong_kong_department_of_economics_and_finance exchange_rates foreign_exchange_markets foreign_exchange_rates hong_kong singapore tokyo by croninkc ...and 4 other people ...on 05-OCT-06
October 2, 2006
Tokyo Journal
Splitting a Hip Neighborhood, in More Ways Than One
By MARTIN FACKLER
TOKYO, Oct. 1 — With its vintage clothing stores, live music clubs and cheap noodle shops, Shimokitazawa is Tokyo’s answer to Greenwich Village, an epicenter of youth culture in one of Asia’s trendiest metropolises. The neighborhood is popular for its cozy residential feel, drawing hordes of students and young office workers, who regularly throng its maze of narrow lanes and alleys. Its tiny shops, many in converted houses or low-rise apartments, often bear names that recall a counterculture across the Pacific: the Village Vanguard Diner, Haight Ashbury, Mojo Rising. But a shadow has fallen straight across the heart of this pulsing neighborhood. In four years, city officials plan to start building an 81-foot-wide thoroughfare that will slice Shimokitazawa in two. The road has set off a rare battle for preservation in a country where big construction projects have long been welcomed as progress and used to grease the wheels of politics.
Tokyo Journal
Splitting a Hip Neighborhood, in More Ways Than One
By MARTIN FACKLER
TOKYO, Oct. 1 — With its vintage clothing stores, live music clubs and cheap noodle shops, Shimokitazawa is Tokyo’s answer to Greenwich Village, an epicenter of youth culture in one of Asia’s trendiest metropolises. The neighborhood is popular for its cozy residential feel, drawing hordes of students and young office workers, who regularly throng its maze of narrow lanes and alleys. Its tiny shops, many in converted houses or low-rise apartments, often bear names that recall a counterculture across the Pacific: the Village Vanguard Diner, Haight Ashbury, Mojo Rising. But a shadow has fallen straight across the heart of this pulsing neighborhood. In four years, city officials plan to start building an 81-foot-wide thoroughfare that will slice Shimokitazawa in two. The road has set off a rare battle for preservation in a country where big construction projects have long been welcomed as progress and used to grease the wheels of politics.