2015-12-31

The completion of Nakanoshima Festival Tower, a project on which the Asahi Shimbun had staked its future, coincided exactly with the completion of the North Yard redevelopment in Umeda.
This article examines the increase of the permitted floor-area ratio from 1,000 percent to 1,600 percent, the struggle to attract tenants, and the political, business, and cultural figures involved in the North Yard project.

2015-12-31
The completion of Nakanoshima Festival Tower coincided exactly with the completion of the North Yard project.
In terms of location and commercial value, Nakanoshima is overwhelmingly inferior to Umeda.
Nevertheless, the Asahi Shimbun staked the future of the company on Nakanoshima.
The fact that the company used its power as an institution capable of shaping public opinion, together with the network of connections it had extended throughout government ministries and public agencies, to have the permitted floor-area ratio raised from 1,000 percent to 1,600 percent and construct a skyscraper proves the scale of that commitment.
Meanwhile, the first and second phases of Grand Front Osaka were to be built on the finest site in Umeda.
As I have made clear, Ginza and Umeda are the only two locations in Japan that can truly be described as super-prime commercial districts.
If matters continued as they were, the Asahi Shimbun would face extreme difficulty in attracting tenants to Nakanoshima Festival Tower, the project on which it had staked the company’s future.
The Asahi Shimbun therefore remained hidden in the shadows as the director of the production—entirely behind the scenes—and selected a woman to play the leading role.
She had previously worked for Takenaka Corporation, the company that undertook the construction of Nakanoshima Festival Tower.
As an executive member of the Kansai Association of Corporate Executives, she had also occupied a central position in the planning of the North Yard project.
One of the supporting players was the former president of Orix, who at the time chaired a private advisory body to the Cabinet.
Another was the then chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation, who understood nothing about what was taking place.
A Takenaka Corporation division manager whom I knew through business once described the woman mentioned above as, so to speak, “a charmer of older men.”
The chairman was presumably captivated and brought under her influence by that appeal.
The influential supporters standing on the sidelines included the architects Tadao Ando and Kengo Kuma, both belonging to the circle of so-called cultural figures sympathetic to the Asahi Shimbun.
It goes without saying that the most important leading player was the man serving at that time as mayor of Osaka, Mayor Hiramatsu.
Moreover, this man had formerly been an announcer for Mainichi Broadcasting System.
No one could possibly have known about this casting until I revealed it here, at this very moment.
Even Mr. Hashimoto, like me, knew nothing about it.
He initially supported the plan because he simply believed that bringing the World Cup to Osaka would be effective in revitalizing the city.
I therefore gave up on him, concluding that nothing could be done if he did not even understand that the North Yard was the key to Osaka’s revitalization.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that I had also given up on Osaka.