The Summer When Sparrow Voices Faded

Recently, I saw an online Asahi Shimbun article claiming that this year’s extreme heat has pushed sparrows toward endangered status. Until last year, my home area suffered from sparrow damage, so the piece caught my eye. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard sparrows chirping lately. Even this morning, as I begin writing, their voices are almost entirely absent compared with before. Sparrows surely haven’t gone extinct, but still.

A Record of Shooting at Expo 2025 and the Grand Roof Ring

Yesterday, for reasons of my own, I did photography from Expo 2025’s Grand Roof Ring for the third day in a row. Daytime shooting in the blistering heat is truly hard work. I always bring a change of underwear and a shirt, but one set isn’t enough, so yesterday I brought two. My close friend who came along is weak against heat, so we moved very slowly and carefully.

My focus, needless to say, was the Grand Roof Ring. I could see many people on the far side of the Ring as well. Until now, crowds in the daytime were not exactly overwhelming—for obvious reasons: the extreme heat. But yesterday was different. The crowds were astonishing. Since I began shooting Expo 2025 on July 19, I’ve been there well over ten times, and I had never seen that many people. In other words, Expo 2025 is wildly popular.

On September 8, I started shooting from the Ring with a bottle of Aquarius in hand. Before I had even gone halfway, the bottle had already turned into hot water—truly a heatwave. My main goal had been night views, to capture a “complete edition.” But because the sky was cloudy, I thought I wouldn’t shoot much during the day—which, as it turned out, was a good thing. Feeling I had already shot enough, I decided to skip the night shots for the day.

Just as I was about to come down from the Ring to eat, around sunset, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds in splendid fashion. I had no choice but to shoot. I returned to the Ring and began photographing. With that, I felt I had captured everything I needed. We drastically changed plans and headed home.

I had thought I might have ramen inside the Expo grounds and had checked possible places in advance, but because it was dinnertime and the crowds were intense, I decided not to go into a restaurant. As those who’ve visited know, there’s a Lawson convenience store near the East Gate. The day before yesterday I ate two pickled plum rice balls there, drank milk, and had bottled water for dinner. I decided to do the same again.

The day before yesterday I noticed there’s a small resting spot there, with a few trees planted here and there. I stand there and eat—it’s really just a tiny space.

A Flock of Sparrows and a Healing Moment

As I was eating, I kept hearing birds calling. At first, I thought it was an artificial sound—perhaps bush warbler calls being played over a speaker. But then I glanced at a small grove nearby, and there it was: a flock of sparrows calling.

I was almost at my physical limit, utterly exhausted, yet the voices of wild birds—whatever they may be—are wonderful; my fatigue vanished in an instant. In that moment I became certain: the Expo 2025 site should be turned into the world’s finest, largest botanical garden. Even this tiny stand of low trees draws sparrows near dusk, and they chirp without end. Listening to their song soothes our hearts.

A Proposal: Make the Expo Site a Botanical Garden

Governor Yoshimura, if you do not make this a botanical garden, it will be a shame remembered for generations. Ever since this idea flashed in my mind and I proposed it—turn the Expo 2025 site into the world’s largest, most superb botanical garden—it has lingered within me.

Umeda North Yard Redevelopment and the Shadow of Asahi Shimbun

As readers know, I first appeared online as a “turntable of civilization” because the confusion over the Osaka Umeda North Yard redevelopment had become intolerable. Bringing together the wisdom of Osaka’s public and private sectors, after more than twenty years of repeated panel discussions, we arrived at what could be called the greatest postwar urban plan. Then, suddenly, around 2009–2010, Hiroshi Shimozuma, newly appointed as chair of the Kansai economic federation, abruptly said we should scrap the second-phase written plan and make it a green park.

I was furious—was he trying to kill Kansai, to kill Osaka? For three months, I fought alone against the Kansai Keidanren, the Kansai Association of Corporate Executives, and Osaka City Hall. The course of that struggle has already been recorded.

What had been haunting my mind is this: of the only two top-class commercial sites in Japan—one of the very best—the Umeda North Yard—who first proposed turning it into a green park, a green forest? It was in fact the Asahi Shimbun. The confusion over the North Yard was the Asahi’s stratagem.

Spurred on by Asahi’s approach, the decline of the newspaper industry had already become unstoppable. In that respect Asahi Shimbun is shrewd; seeing no future in newspapers, they must have decided to stake their survival on real estate. They bet the company on redeveloping Festival Hall. Back then, Asahi still had enormous influence in Japan. They got the floor-area ratio for the commercial district effectively doubled—from, if I recall, about 800% to around 1600%.

The timing of tenant recruitment—i.e., completion—of the Festival project coincided with the first-phase tenant recruitment/completion of the Umeda North Yard. Since the bursting of the so-called bubble, Osaka had long been suffering from recession, and there were always vacancies in buildings. Osaka is a much smaller city in area than Tokyo, even though the populations aren’t so different—about 12 million in Tokyo and 8.6 million in Osaka Prefecture—making it one of the world’s great metropolises.

Osaka’s Urban Traits and Convenience

Compared to Tokyo, Osaka’s plains are extremely narrow; population density is the highest in Japan. At the same time, that means transportation is exceptionally convenient. The Midosuji subway line—the main artery—runs at intervals of roughly one train every three minutes. That level of convenience is unthinkable in Tokyo.

As anyone who has been to Tokyo knows, moving around takes time. Tokyo has an enormous expanse of flatland, and individual buildings are much larger than in Osaka. Many people have nearly gotten lost just walking through Tokyo Station. Everything—from changing subway lines to anything else—takes a great deal of time. Osaka, by contrast, is extremely convenient.

From my house, I can reach almost all of Kyoto’s major sights—shrines and temples—in about fifty minutes. I’ve often written that the reason I’ve continued living in Osaka is that I treat Kyoto as my garden.

An Eerie Silence — Asahi’s Attitude Toward the Expo Site

In this ultra-convenient Osaka, Asahi staked the company—now as a real estate firm—on two massive Festival Tower buildings. Their location is Higobashi. For Osakans, Higobashi is inconvenient in terms of transit. It may be unimaginable to Tokyoites, but even Higobashi is inconvenient for us. Compared to Umeda or Yodoyabashi, it is overwhelmingly less convenient.

A top-class building right in front of Osaka/Umeda Station—the city’s most convenient transport hub—would be existential for Asahi. Asahi was the ringleader in throwing North Yard into confusion. Yet they devoted entire newspaper pages to loudly reporting the “confusion” of the North Yard project.

There are only two top-class commercial sites in Japan: Ginza 4-chome and Osaka Umeda Station Front. Asahi said these first-rate commercial districts should be turned into a green forest, a park. They steered the Kansai business groups that way. And yet, regarding the Expo site, Asahi has not uttered a single word about making it a green park, a green forest. This eerie silence keeps returning to my mind.

Yumeshima was originally a garbage landfill. In other words, for plants, the soil conditions can be described as highly nourishing. It is an ideal place for plants. What better site could there be to make a green forest, a park? And yet Asahi has not said even a word about turning the Expo 2025 site into a green park, a green forest. What do you make of this strangeness? As citizens of Japan, as people of Kansai, do you think this is the right response?

To Be Continued