Hostile architecture has come to Tokyo – and the city’s residents are none too happy. As Tokyo continues to undergo rapid development, it seems there are fewer places to take a load off of your feet without spending money.
The issue blew up on social media recently thanks to an X post by user @windymelt:
“There are no free places to sit in Tokyo so I always sit on the benches around the moat of the Imperial Palace, only the Emperor lets us sit for free”
The post generated 120,000 likes, 10K retweets, and fevered discussion. Some people gave thanks to the Emperor for allowing them to rest. Others, however, agreed that resting in Tokyo today often means going to a cafe and paying for the privilege.
“Generally, in Tokyo, seats and toilets come with fees,” one groused.
“Benches are disappearing from our towns,” another added, “while chain cafes are growing explosively.”
This isn’t a new phenomenon, but it seems to have accelerated along with the spike this year in tourism. In some cases, you can’t even pay to sit because the pay-to-sit places are all too busy.
Writer Tanigashira Kazuki, who writes about urban development, noted this recently while walking around Shibuya. “The cafes were crowded and I couldn’t get in right away, and there were few benches….There were some strangely-shaped benches along Shibuya Koen Dori near Parco, but they had a guardrail that made sitting difficult.”
Some municipalities justify this transition to seat-free spaces by saying it’s all about public safety. I wrote earlier this year about a neighborhood in Shinjuku City that had strapped traffic cones to its benches to make sitting difficult. The ostensible reason for the cones was to cut down on noise from people who sat on the benches and drank late into the evening.
To be sure, locations like Shibuya and Shinjuku have taken aggressive steps to curb public drinking and the problems it brings. However, these sorts of solutions make life harder, not just for the rabble-rousers, but for regular people who just wanna rest for a few minutes.
In his article on Toyo Keizai, Tanigashira argues that, beyond safety, Tokyo’s explosion in new large-scale development projects is also taking a toll. Large new projects like Azabudai Hills in Minato City and the multiple Tokyu development projects are erasing the city’s previous character.
Shibuya, once known as a young person’s town, is now targeting venture capital companies and inbound tourists. As the city replaces older businesses with office spaces and high-end retail, the number of places where people can roam and sit freely gradually disappears.
Tanigashira notes the same thing is happening in Shinjuku, with the shiny, gaudy, obnoxious, faux-Edo Kabukicho Tower being perhaps the best example. The same building also houses premium locations like 190 Cinemas Premium Shinjuku, a swanky movie theater where tickets start at 4500 yen (USD $29) apiece. Outside of the theater and the cheap-looking neon affliction known as Shinjuku Kabuki Hall,
Despite the outcry, no one in power seems to notice, or care. Developers and city officials are too busy chasing yen signs to pay heed to the voices of the people whose blood, sweat, and tears make the city function.
Who knows? At this rate, even the Emperor may start charging for seats.
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