'Don't chop me down.' 100-year-old gingko trees may get axe for Tokyo redevelopment project
By: BySTEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
'Don't chop me down.' 100-year-old gingko trees may get axe for Tokyo redevelopment project
A few hundred people have turned out to protect historic century-old ginkgo trees that are likely to be chopped down under a controversial redevelopment for a beloved Tokyo park district
TOKYO -- Miho Nakashima stood in a bathing suit in Tokyo on Sunday next to a 100-year-old gingko tree, her body painted head-to-toe in green leaves and brown branches.
Her message was clear, and she repeated it standing at the heart of the Jingu Gaien park area, its sanctity threatened by a disputed real-estate development plan.
“I'm a tree,” she said. “Don't chop me down.”
A plan approved earlier this year by Gov. Yuriko Koike would let developers, led by Mitsui Fudosan, build a pair of 200-meter (650-feet) skyscrapers in Jingu Gaien, mow down trees in one of Tokyo's few green areas and raze and rebuild a historic rugby venue and an adjoining baseball stadium.
Takayuki Nakamura, among a few hundred people who gathered on Sunday to protest, pressed his face into the bark of one tree and prayed. The area was set aside 100 years ago to honor Japan's Meiji Emperor.
“I want to appreciate the existence of these trees. Sometime I can feel some sounds inside,” he said.
The planned redevelopment would take more than a decade to finish, and has attracted lawsuits with mounting opposition from conservationists, civic groups, local residents and sports fans.
Eighteen ginkgo trees behind the rugby stadium are likely to be cut down.
The flashpoint has been trees, green space, and who controls a public area that has been encroached on over the years. Also at issue is the fate of more than 100 gingko trees that line an avenue in the area and provide a colorful cascade of falling leaves each autumn. Botanists say any construction is sure to cause damage.
Critics say the plan has been rammed through despite a botched environmental assessment as real-estate developers take what was intended as public land and turn it into a private commercial venture.
Famous Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami has opposed the plan. And composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto sent an open letter to Koike deriding the plan just days before his death on March 28.
The rugby stadium was used during the 1964 Olympics , and Babe Ruth played in 1934 in the baseball stadium along with other American stars facing Japan's best players.
The project highlights the ties among the main actors: the governor, Mitsui Fudosan, and Meiji Jingu, a religious organization that owns much of the land to be redeveloped.
“The redevelopment of the park is obviously a public issue,” Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University, told The Associated Press earlier this year. “At the same time, they (politicians) can claim that it is a private decision of a religious organization and the developers.
“But because Jingu Gaien is also a public park with sports facilities, politicians can — and do — meddle in the decisions. Which results in the cozy, probably collusive relationships among the insiders that are unaccountable to the public.”
About 1,500 trees were chopped down in the same area to build the $1.4 billion stadium for the Tokyo Olympics. Hosting the Olympics also allowed the city to change zoning laws, which may permit developers to further encroach on the park area.
“This is like building skyscrapers in the middle of Central Park in New York,” Mikiko Ishikawa, an emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo, told The Associated Press.
Developers have argued the two sports facilities cannot be renovated and must be razed.
However, Koshien Stadium near Kobe, built in 1924, has been renovated over the last 15 years, much in the same way that Fenway Park (1912) in Boston and Wrigley Field (1914) in Chicago are still viable for two of MLB's most famous teams.
Meiji Kinenkan, a historic reception hall, dates from 1881. It's still in wide use in Jingu Gaien, with no calls for its demolition.
“The development companies are trying to cut down more trees and make a huge business area,” Nakashima said as a leaf was painted on her cheek. “The park has a very long history and should be saved.”
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A mature gingko tree in the fall:
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Japan is doing its utmost to destroy the environment. It's trying to wipe out the whale population with the phoney excuse that it's for research, it's trying to poison the Pacific Ocean with more than a million tonnes of radiation contaminator water, perhaps to see if they can mutate a REAL Godzilla, and now hey want to cut down mature trees when everyone should be planting trees. I dare the officials who back the radioactive water to take a swim in only a bathing suit in the ocean off of Fukashima since they say it's so safe. Maybe their doing it as payback for HIroshima and Nagasaki.
There are 20 articles/seeds on the Front (Home) Page, 16 of which are about American politics plus one that should be entirely free of politics waving a big flag for Ukraine. I wonder if this will help to keep this seed on the Front (Home) Page for at least a few hours...
TRUMP HUNTER BIDEN TRUMP HUNTER BIDEN TRUMP HUNTER BIDEN TRUMP HUNTER BIDEN TRUMP HUNTER BIDEN TRUMP HUNTER BIDEN TRUMP HUNTER BIDEN TRUMP HUNTER BIDEN
Are they the ones who are going to chop the tree down?
No, they are the ones whose names got this seed back on the Front Page again. It is the Japanese local administration and developers who are responsible for chopping the trees down.
overcrowding is a problem and it it getting worse
I believe Japan is one of the most overcrowded with people nations in the world, it not the most. Nowhere is the world is it overcrowed with trees when they are so necessary to clean the air.
Are these the gingko tress that produce very stinky berries?
I have no idea, but there seem to be a lot of people supporting their survival. The fruit known as durian is also very stinky, but the flesh is absolutely delicious.
Funny Story about gingko trees, When I worked at a boarding school there were several Gingko trees that an alumni had donated. Mature female gingko trees produce a very stinky fruit and one was planted right outside the Dining Hall and it started dropping what the kids called stink berries. The Superintendent held the Alumni meeting in the Dining Hall and told maintenance not to clean the stink berries up. He said because they were planted by an alumni and had been there a long time he wanted to ask the Alumni about them. Probably the only thing they all ever agreed about was to cut that tree down, Most of other gingko trees are still there.
Donating gingko trees and making sure the female tree is right outside the Dining Room door was a long term prank.
Well, stink or not, they're still a good thing for the environment. Some people stink as well.
Sorry Buzz.
Not sure what you want said?
IMO the park and the trees should be left alone. 100 year old growth forests/parks are something to be saved.
I understand that Japan has a problem with the mount of land available for development; but the population is supposed to be on the decline since 1980.
They can always change their minds later about developing the area and nothing is lost. Once it is developed chances are it will never recover to it's current status.
IMO you said absolutely the right thing.