Although only days away from death, Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto made a point of adding his voice to a campaign to block an ambitious redevelopment project that many fear will rip the soul out of the leafy Meiji Jingu Gaien complex in the heart of the capital.

Such was the affection in which Sakamoto was held--he was famed for his work with the Yellow Magic Orchestra and forays in film, along with his long battle against cancer--that ordinary folk started to take notice.

His association with the campaign offered people a rare chance to come together to voice their views on a project that had the potential to have a major impact on their lives.

Demonstrators met near the National Stadium on April 22 to carry on Sakamoto’s legacy. He died in late March.

Philosophy researcher Rei Nagai, 31, who took part in the event, said: “I feel like he is pushing us from heaven by saying, ‘Aren’t you going to do anything?’ I feel we must carry Sakamoto’s torch as if we are one human, just like he did in speaking out about society as a single individual.”

The redevelopment project involves not only the construction of a baseball and rugby stadiums, but two 200-meter-tall high-rises.

Criticism has focused on the damage it would do to the landscape while turning one of the few green spots in Tokyo into an area shadowed by large commercial structures.

Oddly though, it took an American, Rochelle Kopp, who heads a business consulting firm based in Tokyo, to kickstart an online petition that gathered around 195,000 signatures over the past 15 months or so from people opposed to the project.

“Citizens were not adequately informed about the process behind the redevelopment plan,” contends Tatsu Matsuda, an associate professor of architecture and urban planning at Shizuoka University of Art and Culture.

Matsuda griped that Japan provides its citizens with few opportunities to participate in the creation of urban planning. Only two weeks are set aside after a plan is disclosed for people to submit their opinions, and it is not always clear whether their views are even taken into consideration.

“The process for reaching an agreement is inadequate,” Matsuda said.

This, he said, is in sharp contrast to European nations like France and Switzerland, which offer a wide range of opportunities for residents to express their views on public works projects, including debate and referendums.

Matsuda said that if private-sector developers involved ordinary citizens from the planning stage, the long-term effect would likely be greater acceptance of the projects by residents.

Real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan Co., the leading entity in the Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment, said it was in discussions with the Tokyo metropolitan government about holding explanatory meetings with residents.

Naofumi Suzuki, a professor of sports sociology at Tokyo’s Hitotsubashi University, seized on New York’s Central Park as one example and said, “Urban parks have value that cannot be calculated in terms of revenue.”

Noting that large sports facilities operated by private companies are still public in nature, he called for an independent entity to assess any development plan.

Suzuki pointed to similarities between the Meiji Jingu Gaien project and the Tokyo Olympics, for which around 70 percent of residents in the capital were opposed because the novel coronavirus pandemic was still raging. Despite the massive opposition, the Games went ahead once higher-ups made the decision to stage them.

The Tokyo metropolitan government is not directly involved in the redevelopment. Even so, it approved an environmental impact assessment and relaxed its building height restrictions so the project could go ahead.

Under the plans, a huge number of trees in the district will have to be felled. Those in the sports sector are pushing for the construction of the baseball and rugby stadiums on grounds the structures will not only generate more enthusiasm for the sports, but also enliven the surrounding area by bringing more people to the complex.

Meiji Shrine also stands to benefit enormously from the project because it will, in effect, be the landlord of not only the baseball stadium, but also the two high-rise buildings. However, shrine officials have avoided giving any information on how much in rent they were expecting from the redevelopment project.

(This article was written by Soichi Tsuchidate and Takeshi Teruya.)