Photo/Illutration The Meiji Jingu Gaien area in Tokyo, where redevelopment is planned. Ginkgo trees line the street on the far right. From lower right to upper left: Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Meiji Jingu Stadium, Meiji Jingu Stadium No. 2 under demolition, and the National Stadium. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A panel of experts involved in cultural heritage preservation asked Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on Nov. 21 to have a review conducted again of a controversial redevelopment plan for the Meiji Jingu Gaien area in the capital.

The Japan ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) National Committee submitted the request to the Tokyo metropolitan government’s environmental impact assessment council for a second review. 

The committee also announced that it will survey the health of the ginkgo trees that make up the representative landscape of the leafy Gaien area, as it did last year, and to release the findings to the public by the end of the year.

The request pointed out that the environmental impact assessment needs to be re-examined because the preservation plan for the Hitotsubatago (Chinese fringe tree) is inadequate, and the latest health status of the ginkgo trees is not shown.

“After studying old documents, it is highly likely that some trees have lasted for one or two generations," said Mikiko Ishikawa, a board member of the committee, of the Hitotsubatago in the Gaien area. "Some of them are being cut down and preservation is not sufficient.”

The metropolitan government’s council in August 2022 issued an environmental assessment report of the Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment project, but discussions have continued as further explanation by the developer was required.

In response to the claim by the Japan ICOMOS committee that the environmental impact assessment prepared by the redevelopment company contained “numerous errors,” the council concluded in May this year that “there are no errors that could be considered false.”

The developer's environmental impact assessment was submitted and accepted by the metropolitan government in January.

The committee also called for a plan to maintain the Gaien area in the future, including a proposal to make part of the area a metropolitan park and have the public pay for it.

The committee also asked to establish a study committee under the control of the land ministry to resolve the problems with the project. 

The redevelopment project includes the reconstruction of Meiji Jingu Stadium and Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, and the construction of two new skyscrapers.

Four parties are participating in the private project, including Mitsui Fudosan Co. and Meiji Jingu Shrine.

Some opponents have strongly criticized the project’s plan to plant 837 trees while cutting down more than 700 tall trees.

The Japan ICOMOS National Committee, an advisory body of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has issued a “heritage alert,” calling for an overhaul of the project.

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