The Causes for Tokyo Urbanisation

Introduction

Tokyo, located at the head of Tokyo Bay on the Pacific coast of eastern central Honshu, is one of the largest megacities in the world, with a population of over 13.9 million people, as well as Japan’s political, cultural and economic centre. During the process of the city’s urban development, it has been impacted socially, economically and environmentally, both positively and negatively. Due to this, Tokyo has developed a flexibility to address these issues, while also fulfilling the needs of the current population.

Tokyo as a small settlement

A major catalyst of Tokyo’s urbanisation can be traced back to its origin. Located near the mouth of the Sumida River, Tokyo originally began as a settlement. As the plains near the river had fertile soil and was suitable for farming, several rice fields were used in the area as a food source. As a result, food production became a factor which attracted the people to this area and became an economic benefit. Consequently, the local economy along with businesses grew, leading to urbanisation and merging of surrounding areas, creating the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. This has opened up to many factors which both “pull” and “push” people to or away from this city.

Pull Factors of Tokyo’s Urbanisation

There are myriad factors attracting people to live in Tokyo. The city’s advanced transport system and technology, for instance, consists of organised railway lines and cheap transport, with approximately 13 subway lines and more than 100 surface routes run by private companies such as Japanese Railways.

Additionally, Tokyo is the leading industrial centre of Japan, and with its strong economy, has one of the largest stock exchanges and business industries. The headquarters of the country’s largest export companies for high technology electronics, such as Sony and Hitachi, are mostly based in Tokyo. Due to this, the predicted skilled labour shortage in Japan has led to heavy investments in offshore manufacturing and robotics, creating engineering and Information Technology job opportunities to foreigners, who will certainly move to Tokyo, the centre of these companies.

The local national government also gives aid to those struggling financially. For newcomers from poorer, less beneficial areas, this would also increase their access to job opportunities and activities. Non profit organisations such as Kiitos provide financial support and an education to children in poverty or with disabilities. This is only a glimpse of the many educational areas and opportunities Tokyo provides, which is further proven by its reputation as having the world’s most universities, with 100 universities and colleges.

Tokyo’s unique architecture not only attracts citizens, but also tourists, leading to its urbanisation. The mix of peaceful nature and urban development depicts the historical importance of Japan. Not only are there modern designs, such as the Tokyo Metropolitan government building which is shaped like a computer chip, but there are also traditional Japanese temples and 6,000 parks and gardens, adding up to a coverage of 1,000 hectares.

Last but not least, with police stations positioned on street corners, Tokyo has a low crime rate, its murder rate being 0.4% per 100,000 people. The increase of the city’s population due to these factors has led to the emergence of issues pushing people away from living in Tokyo.

Push factors of Tokyo’s Urbanisation

On the other hand, there are many factors discouraging people to live in Tokyo. For instance, it is a mono racial metropolis, with only 3.98% of the city’s population consisting of foreigners. As a result, not many people in Tokyo speak English. Additionally, most of the signs are in Japanese, making it difficult for foreigners to live there unless they have learnt the language. As Japan lies on a major earthquake fault line and many of Tokyo’s population is concentrated around the coast, citizens are subject to a considerably huge amount of natural disasters such as large earthquakes, which on average occur every 70 years, high tides and floods, leading to constant rebuilding. Coupled with the growing population, this creates an increase in the demand for resources, leading employees in certain industries to work for more than 12 hours a day on average. Living in Tokyo also can be detrimental to one’s health due to the amount of air pollution and smog created by car fumes.

These causes of urbanisation, one of them being as Japan’s period of rapid economic growth, have drastically increased Tokyo’s population. As the pull factors evidently outweigh the push factors, the population of central Tokyo prefecture increasing from 3.5 million in 1945 to 11.6 million in 1975.

Environmental Consequences

Tokyo’s high population density has created many negative environmental consequences. The safety of the area is affected due to the natural disasters in the region, as stated previously. A tsunami or earthquake can place millions of people at risk in the city and drains the country’s resources due to constant rebuilding. The population density of the city has also increased vehicle traffic along with the amount of diesel cars on the road. This has added to the air pollution due to the automobile exhaust fumes. The PM from diesel vehicles had also been found to be linked to health problems such as cancer in 2000 in the Amagasaki Pollution lawsuit.

The country’s age of high economic growth has further exacerbated severe air pollution throughout several cities, mainly Tokyo, as its growth was promoted by chemical industries.

Economic Consequences

High population also significantly impacts the economy of Japan, especially in terms of land prices. Real estate in Tokyo is one of the most expensive in the world, mainly due to limited land combined with high demand due to high population density. The average monthly for a one room apartment in central Tokyo starts at around 100, 000 yen, which roughly amounts to almost $1,600. The rising house prices have lead to even higher economic growth of Japan. Moreover, Tokyo has not stopped changing physically. As real estate value is tied so closely to land rather than property, new buildings rarely last longer than 30 years, leading to a constant shedding of the city’s skin.

Social and Socioeconomic Consequences

Despite the unemployment rate being only 4.7%, a major social consequence of urbanisation in Tokyo is long working hours, as stated before, which leads to a more severe issue. The many hours of constant labour, causes citizens to be socially isolated, therefore leading to the declining fertility rate of only 1.3 births per woman. Many other factors including the lack of new land to cover and aging population of Japan as well has formed the prediction that the country’s population will drop by about 800,000 per year.

Moreover, over the past 15 years, the increase in residential development in Tokyo’s core after the burst of asset bubble in 1991 has produced a socioeconomic consequence. This has led to 8 million vacant houses in Japan and abandonment in the rest of Japan, especially declining regions. Many marginal communities are also close to extinction. Nearly 1% of the population has moved from country to city, every year for past 30 years, leading to a rapidly decreasing rural population. This has stripped regions of youth and damaged industries like agriculture.

In more recent years, the 2020 Olympics projects have produced not only environmental but also socioeconomic consequences, through occupying construction labour, drastically increasing the price of raw materials and slowing down reconstruction of land destroyed by 2011 tsunami, exacerbating struggles of local communities in north east.

From these consequences which have emerged as a result of urbanisation, it can be observed that many already neglected aspects of not only Tokyo but the whole of Japan’s population have been further impacted negatively.

Conclusion

The pull and push factors of Tokyo’s urbanisation, such as advanced transport and natural disasters, followed by the consequences of its development, have transformed a minor settlement to the focus of Japan’s vastest industrial agglomeration. Through undergoing these challenges, the city has reached a level of maturity, learning to overcome future issues and simultaneously sets an example for other cities to follow.