Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world, which also means it is densely populated.
The city has continued to grow in size since the Edo period, with a population of one million in the 18th century. It was also the largest city in the world at the time.
It is natural that the population of a city that is a political and economic centre and booming attracts people, so it is only natural that the population will increase…
However, as a result, land prices and living costs in urban centres continue to rise, and residential areas spread to the city’s periphery.
The first ‘Tokyo Olympics’ were held in 1964. At this time, major renovations were carried out, including the urban structure, which led to a significant rise in the cost of living.
This led to accelerated development of new towns around Tokyo from this time onwards…
As mentioned above, Tokyo is associated with big cities, but the western half of the metropolis as a whole ‘Tokyo Metropolitan’ is a relatively quiet a. In the 1960s, it could still be called rural.
The idea to develop part of this area and build a large-scale new town was conceived in 1963. A development plan was drawn up and construction began in the ‘Tama Hills’ in 1967, and four years later, in 1971, people began to move in.
The large residential area, named Tama New Town, attracted many new residents against the backdrop of the housing shortage, and schools, hospitals and various public institutions were built. By the late 1980s, the town had a population of 220,000.
Today we present a video from the early days when “Tama New Town” was first set in motion. The landscape is more than half a century old now, but it was still full of the spirit of an era of hope and breakthroughs.
Tama New Town 1970
Fifty years after development and move in, the housing situation in Japan has changed. The “apartment block-style dwellings” that used to be the object of admiration are not so popular today.
In Tama New Town, the housing facilities have become noticeably outdated, and the number of new residents is decreasing, while at the same time the ageing of the residents is becoming more noticeable. In other words, it is like a “deflation of the town”…
The Tama region is currently taking various measures to revitalise the new towns.
As in ‘有為転変 / Ui-tenpen’, which was also written in 「Legacy of T-Enami」, everything in this world never stays in one fixed state. Everything in this world never stays in one fixed state, but changes with the flow of time.
The film we have presented today is a snapshot of the booming times of 60 years ago, and it does not mean that we can go back to that era.
However, it is a fact that the people who lived there at that time were shining with hope for the future, and I believe that this can be applied to the future…