Explaining 'The Man Who Created Tokyo from Harajuku: How to Transform a City' in a Way Even Elementary School Students Can Understand (Book) - It Was 'Determination,' Not Skyscrapers, That Changed Tokyo

The Man Who Created Tokyo from Harajuku: How to Transform a City

Author: Katsuhisa Sato

Do you know how Tokyo, one of the world's top-class metropolises, became the fun, safe, and stylish city it is today?

In fact, it is a story about a man who believed that 'a city is a living thing!' and turned unimaginable, interesting ideas into reality one after another, along with a company that held a grand dream.

This time, I will tell you the true secrets of urban development through the experiences of Katsuhisa Sato, a man who magically transformed famous Tokyo districts like Harajuku, Akihabara, Odaiba, and Omotesando.

If you read until the end, the scenery of the streets you walk every day will surely look completely different to you.

Until a College Student Who Only Played Mahjong Met the 'Company That Builds Tokyo'

The protagonist of our story, Katsuhisa Sato, was not originally a young man with a burning dream to 'become an amazing person who builds cities!'

On the contrary, during his college days, he was a carefree student who played mahjong with friends in the dormitory every day and had no sense of urgency about job hunting.

Even when choosing a university, he didn't have a strong preference to 'go to this specific school,' and he was the type of person who just went with the flow, deciding on 'Aoyama Gakuin University' simply because it was the first one he saw when flipping through the entrance exam guidebook from the beginning.

Finally, in his fourth year of college, while his friends were seriously wearing suits and starting to visit companies, Sato reluctantly began flipping through a thick job information magazine from the beginning as if he were reading a dictionary.

He continued flipping through the 'A' and 'Ka' sections looking bored, and when he reached the 'Ma' section, the name of a company called 'Mori Building' finally caught his eye.

At the time, Mori Building was not the major corporation everyone knows today, but a small company that the public thought was a bit suspicious, like a shady real estate agency.

However, seeing the president's son's name written boldly as the contact person, Sato thought, 'That's straightforward and nice. It's better to be in a small company where I won't get buried,' and called for an interview.

However, when he went to the interview, the person in charge, Minoru Mori, flatly rejected him, saying, 'Are you from Aoyama Gakuin? We only hire graduates from the University of Tokyo.'

Normally, one would give up here, but Sato retorted, 'A company won't grow if you only hire people from the University of Tokyo,' and left.

Then, the next day, he received a phone call saying, 'The president says a guy like that is interesting, so why don't you come work for us?' and he was successfully hired.

The founder of Mori Building, Taikichiro Mori, was originally a university professor.

The reason he started a building company has a sad history. Tokyo was reduced to ashes twice in the past—once by the Great Kanto Earthquake and once by air raids during the war.

Seeing his own assets and the homes of many people turn into piles of rubble in an instant, the president made a strong vow in his heart: 'I want to build a safe city that won't burn down even in earthquakes or fires.'

The starting point of Mori Building was not profit or making money, but a burning desire to build a city where people could live with peace of mind.

A Great Comeback from a Big Failure! True Leadership That Protects Colleagues

Although Sato joined Mori Building, he was a complete amateur who knew nothing about how to build structures at first.

On his first day, he was told to 'find out who introduced the companies currently in the building,' and when he submitted a perfect report in one day, perhaps because he worked too fast, he was suddenly moved to the management department, which also handled odd jobs, starting the next day.

In the management department, he did everything from changing light bulbs to driving a truck to take trash left behind by tenants to a landfill site called Yumenoshima.

His relatives and his girlfriend's father strongly opposed him, saying, 'Quit that suspicious company immediately,' but Sato became stubborn and decided in his heart, 'I will never quit until someone acknowledges that I joined a good company.'

Eventually, with his natural cheerfulness and drive, Sato was selected as the leader of a construction site for a large building at the young age of 30.

Because I lacked construction knowledge, I was able to take on challenges that ordinary architects would have deemed 'absolutely impossible.'

For example, when we had to rush to complete a building, instead of transporting concrete from far away by mixer truck, I proposed, 'Why don't we build a factory right next to the site and pour the concrete directly from there?' and successfully shortened the construction period to finish the building.

However, things did not always go smoothly.

At one point, a fire broke out in the boiler room of the '17 Mori Building,' where Mr. Sato was serving as the leader. The president, who wished to build a safe city, was furious and severely blamed the staff on-site who had caused the fire.

Around that time, Mr. Sato had been praised by a friend, saying, 'You've joined a great company,' so he felt he had achieved his goal and was planning to quit.

However, he realized that if he quit, his remaining subordinates would continue to be scolded by the president forever.

He decided to stay at the company, acting as a shield until his subordinates regained their spirits, and gave up on quitting.

Mr. Sato has a magical catchphrase: 'Konna mon jai' (This is nothing).

Whether in golf or work, if you get impatient or obsessed, thinking 'This shouldn't be happening,' you will only fail more and more.

But by relaxing and accepting it, thinking 'Well, that's just how life is,' you can avoid getting frustrated and calmly think about 'what to do next.'

This positive leadership and magical phrase would support his major challenges thereafter.

The magical idea that turned Harajuku into 'Japan's most fashionable city'

While Harajuku is now a fashionable city that attracts people from all over the world as a center for fashion and youth culture, it used to be just a quiet and plain path for people to visit the large Meiji Jingu Shrine.

Mori Building built the first commercial facility in Harajuku, 'Laforet Harajuku.' At first, they gathered famous companies and top-tier professionals to create shops, but when it opened, it ended in a huge failure, not even reaching half of the target sales.

A large meeting was held where angry shop owners gathered, and the venue turned into a great panic with shouts flying everywhere.

Furthermore, because the president appeared at the meeting wearing slippers, it added fuel to the fire, with shop owners thinking, 'Are you making fun of us?'

The president was furious, saying, 'Laforet Harajuku is a failure. Tear it down and make it a vacant lot!' and ordered Mr. Sato to handle the cleanup.

However, Mr. Sato chose not to end Laforet Harajuku, but to renovate it and bring it back to life.

First, he observed what kind of people were coming to Harajuku. He noticed that while many young people called the 'Takenoko-zoku,' who wore flashy and colorful clothes and danced, were gathering in nearby Yoyogi Park, Laforet Harajuku was not capturing them as customers.

So, Mr. Sato took the surprising strategy of daring to narrow the shop's target to 'eccentrics.'

The 'eccentrics' here refer to slightly unusual people who are not bound by social rules and love their own favorite designs and unique clothes.

He thought that if he could make them, who made up only 10% of the total, happy first, their innovative fashion would become a topic of conversation, and it would later spread to ordinary people and become a big trend.

Mr. Sato did not include large shops like those in Shibuya or Shinjuku, but gathered only 'one-of-a-kind shops that can only be found in Harajuku.'

He also had the shop interiors changed from the hotel-like marble used until then to 'everything free, including light, sound, and color,' allowing the individuality of the shops to explode, such as pitch-black shops or shops without ceilings.

Furthermore, he changed the rent rules, introducing a new system where rent was cheap if sales were low and high if sales were high, allowing shop owners to take on challenges to their heart's content.

He created strict rules, such as ranking the efficiency of store sales every month and asking underperforming stores to leave, but he also provided opportunities for them to return once they had reinvented themselves.

Through these efforts, Laforet Harajuku became a place of longing for young people, and the entire district of Harajuku underwent a massive transformation, becoming known worldwide as a 'fashion town'.

Are customers kittens? Capturing the spotlight with elections and computer exhibitions!

Mr. Sato's approach to urban development wasn't just about lining up cool shops. He believed that to keep attracting people to a city, you always needed to create topics that would make people go, 'Wow!'

Within his company, Mr. Sato called customers 'kittens.' This was because kittens are very fickle and will wander off if left alone, but if you show them an interesting toy like a cat teaser, their curiosity is piqued and they will pounce on it.

Customers are the same; if you don't constantly provide new stimulation and interesting topics, they will quickly get bored and go to other cities.

The most surprising 'cat teaser' strategy that shocked the public was creating a political party called the 'Harajuku Fashion Party' and running in an actual Shibuya Ward assembly election.

In reality, he didn't actually want to become a politician; it was a festival to gather attention from all over Japan to the Harajuku district—in other words, 'creating a buzz.'

The election campaign was incredibly flashy. He created a ranking system for the candidates' support speeches and had everyone compete to grab the microphone and speak passionately.

During the parade, he had a car shaped like a real steam locomotive drive down the road, surrounded by hundreds of women in leotards holding colorful balloons.

Because no one had ever seen such an outlandish election campaign, it became big news on television and in newspapers, and he succeeded brilliantly in making everyone think of Harajuku as an even more interesting and vibrant city.

Also, in an era when no one really knew much about computers or the internet, he listened to an engineer who had returned from America and held Japan's first 'Internet EXPO' at Laforet Harajuku.

He even performed construction that was a bit risky for the building, drilling holes to run communication cables called fiber optics, just to introduce future technology as quickly as possible. This attitude of taking on new challenges out of curiosity—'I don't really understand it, but it looks interesting'—kept Harajuku at the cutting edge of the times.

Turning crises into opportunities! The major renovations of Akihabara and Odaiba

Mr. Sato's activities were not limited to Harajuku. He also played a major role in the plan to renew the Akihabara district.

At the time, Akihabara was famous as an 'Electric Town,' but during the redevelopment, Mr. Sato learned from the failure of Ueno's 'Ameyoko' market.

Ameyoko had long been a chaotic and energetic market, but as a result of cramming old shops into clean, large buildings for fire safety, its unique energy and vitality were lost.

Therefore, when building new structures in Akihabara, Mr. Sato set a condition: 'The long-standing electronics shops will not be moved into the new buildings, but will continue to radiate their energy in their original locations.'

And he proposed that the new large buildings should house things like manga museums and universities.

This was a huge success, and Akihabara became a mecca for otaku culture that attracts people from all over the world, beautifully fusing the charm of the traditional electric town with new anime, manga, and idol culture like AKB48.

Meanwhile, in Odaiba, which was built on reclaimed land, he created a very popular shopping mall called 'VenusFort'.

At first, there was talk of building a huge store for the famous American sports brand 'Nike,' but he judged that it didn't yet fit Japanese sports culture and firmly declined.

Instead, he got a big hint from a shopping mall called 'Caesars Palace' that he saw in Las Vegas, USA.

Once you stepped inside, it was a space like a theme park, where old European townscapes spread out and the color of the artificial sky changed like the real thing, from sunrise to sunset.

Mr. Sato decided to recreate this excitement in Odaiba. To gather people to open shops, he carried out a generous strategy of inviting 200 people to Las Vegas for free, and he successfully transformed Odaiba into a dream city that is very popular with women.

It is 'people' who nurture a city! Mechanisms to support young people

What Mr. Sato has always valued most throughout his urban development work is that 'urban development is people development.'

No matter how magnificent and cool a concrete building you construct, if the people working or living there aren't enjoying themselves, it won't be a truly attractive city.

In regional cities, they sometimes invite large factories to increase jobs, but companies will quickly move overseas where labor costs are even slightly cheaper.

Then, the city that was bustling because the factory came will quickly become empty. That is precisely why valuing the history and culture of that city and nurturing talented people there is more important than anything else.

Mr. Sato launched a company called 'Elf Factory' and created a system to support young fashion designers who had talent and dreams but no money.

They announced the sales and evaluations of the clothes they made like a sumo 'banzuke' (a ranking table for yokozuna, ozeki, etc.).

They created a system where, if the results were good, one would be promoted from maegashira to komusubi, ozeki, and then yokozuna, making it so that everyone could enjoy competing with their rivals as if it were a game.

It was because of this kind of heartfelt support, which went beyond just lending money, that many young people were able to fly from Harajuku out into the world. Also, Mr. Sato often used to say, 'Be like a water bird.'

A bird floating on the water looks like it is swimming gracefully with a cool face when seen from above, but underneath the water, it is constantly moving its feet desperately so as not to sink.

City planning is exactly the same. Even a city that looks glamorous and successful will quickly become boring if it rests on its laurels.

It is precisely because there are people behind the scenes who are always thinking of new ideas and working desperately in places that cannot be seen that a city can continue to shine forever.

Cities are alive! To you who will create the Tokyo of the future

'A city is a living thing.'

This is the most important answer Mr. Sato arrived at through his long experience. Because it is a living thing, it will wither if not raised with love, and if raised the wrong way, it will become a boring city with no charm. In this day and age, cheap and convenient clothes and goods can be bought on the internet at any time. However, if you prioritize efficiency and making money above all else and lose the sense of the seasons and the special individuality unique to that city, the city will become nothing more than a concrete box.

Enjoying the colors of spring in spring and the designs of winter in winter—valuing human emotions and the changing of the seasons—is essential for both fashion and city planning.

The Harajuku of the past had a sense of excitement where, by holding bargain sales, it would put a period on the season, saying 'That's it for this season!', and then enjoy the clothes of the new season. That sense of the seasons made the city lively. Also, even when there were no people at all in the Ginza district due to the influence of the coronavirus, it regained its original vitality after some time had passed. That is because Ginza had an invisible energy that it had cultivated over a long period of time.

When there was a plan to build a new, tall building in Ginza, they refused, saying, 'We don't need buildings that are too tall in Ginza,' and protected their traditions and pride. This is also proof that the city, as a living thing, values its own individuality. Tokyo, the center of Japan, will surely never collapse and will continue to generate new energy.

Just as Mori Building began with the dream of 'wanting to create a city that doesn't burn,' city planning requires a passionate desire for the happiness of the people who live there. What kind of future city do you, the sixth-grade elementary school students who will soon become adults, want to create?

What brings blood to a city and breathes new life into it are the free and fun ideas of all of you who will live in the coming era, and a bright heart that continues to challenge things without fear of failure, saying, 'Is that all you've got!'

I look forward to the day when you become the main character who creates a wonderful city where everyone can live with a smile.

★Appendix 1★ Audio Analysis★

★Appendix 2★ Academic Paper for Adults★

Philosophy and Practice in Urban Redevelopment —'Non-combustible Towns' and Human-Centered Urban Planning as Seen in the Experience of Katsuhisa Sato—

Abstract

This paper organizes the ideas behind Tokyo's urban redevelopment based on the experience of Mr. Katsuhisa Sato and clarifies its characteristics. In particular, it focuses on the philosophy of 'Let's create a non-combustible town' advocated by Taikichiro Mori, the founder of Mori Building, and the practical application of this in actual urban development. This book recounts the author's own upbringing, employment, struggles in the field, and experience involved in redevelopment projects in Harajuku and Toranomon. What emerges from this is an attitude that aims not merely to build buildings for profit, but to create a town that is resistant to disasters, loved by people for a long time, and that nurtures the people who work and gather there. It is also important that the author's personal way of accepting things, 'Is that all you've got!', was a great support in surviving an era of rapid change. This paper organizes these thoughts and practices and considers that the essence of urban redevelopment lies not in the buildings themselves, but in the philosophy, the people, and the relationship with the region.

I. Introduction

When hearing the term 'urban redevelopment,' many people likely think of skyscrapers, commercial facilities, and large-scale construction projects. However, what this book conveys is a mindset that is more fundamental than such outward scale. Specifically, it asks why we build that town, what we are building to protect, and how people live there.

The author entered the real estate industry during an era when it did not have a very good social reputation and faced strong opposition from those around him. Nevertheless, he worked at Mori Building for many years and was involved in numerous construction and urban development projects. In the process, the author learned that the real estate business is not just about making money, but about creating the future of a city. Moreover, this does not proceed solely through ideals on a desk; it takes shape amidst many difficulties, such as accidents, conflicts, unreasonable construction schedules, and social prejudice.

In this paper, we will first organize the author's outlook on life and the circumstances leading up to his joining the company. Next, we will clarify the meaning of Mr. Taikichiro Mori's philosophy of 'Let's build a town that won't burn.' Based on that, we will examine practical work in the field, redevelopment in areas like Harajuku and Omotesando, and the perspective of human resource development, and finally, we will summarize the essence of urban redevelopment that can be gleaned from this book.

II. The Author's Upbringing and Outlook on Life

The author was born in 1942 and grew up moving from place to place due to his father's job transfers. His family had experienced losing their home due to the war, and this had a significant impact on the family's way of thinking. It is thought that living peacefully in a place safer than the city and not having more desires than necessary naturally became the foundation of the author's values.

For this reason, the author was not the type to move straight ahead with strong ambition from a young age. Whether it was entering university or finding a job, he seemed to have a stronger attitude of accepting the connections that came before him rather than having strong preferences. Although the university he entered was not his first choice, he quickly adapted to the environment and enjoyed his student life positively. This attitude has been consistent throughout his life, manifesting as a stance of 'first accepting the given situation and doing what can be done within it.'

A phrase that symbolizes the author's way of thinking is 'Konna mon jai' (It is what it is). This is not an act of giving up. When faced with a reality that does not go as planned, it is a way of setting one's mind to move forward without getting overly depressed or seeking excessive ideals. The author also explains this with an example from golf, believing that if you dwell on 'it shouldn't be like this,' your game will fall apart, but if you accept it as 'well, this is how it is,' you can recover. This attitude was an important support for working in the world of real estate and construction, where changes are rapid and both successes and failures are large.

III. Circumstances of Joining Mori Building and the Real Estate Industry at the Time

The author's job hunting proceeded without a clear desired industry or company. He says he spent his student days playing mahjong and did not feel as much urgency about finding a job as the students around him. In such a situation, he flipped through a job information magazine and arrived at Mori Building. The deciding factors were that the company was small and that the contact person's real name was listed. He thought a small company would suit him better than being buried in a large corporation.

However, the path to joining the company was not smooth. At the interview, he was told, 'We only hire graduates from the University of Tokyo,' and was initially turned down. Even so, the author persisted, and the next day, the founder decided to hire him. The unique spirit of this company is already evident here. It is an attitude of trying to see a person's interesting qualities and potential, not just their credentials or academic background.

At the time, the real estate industry had a stronger prejudice against it than it does now. The public had a shady impression of an industry that profited from land. The author's family and people around him did not think well of him joining Mori Building. He even faced opposition from the family of the person he was thinking of marrying, which affected his private life. Nevertheless, the author looked at the company itself, judged that 'this is not the kind of company the public says it is,' and accepted it as his own destiny.

This point is important. The author did not choose the company based on idealism. However, after he started working, he gradually understood the meaning of the work he was involved in. In other words, he did not have noble aspirations from the beginning, but rather awakened to the value of his work while in the field.

IV. The Philosophy of 'Let's Build a Town That Won't Burn'

The fundamental idea behind Mori Building is summarized in the phrase 'Let's build a town that won't burn.' Behind this philosophy was the intense experience of the founder, Mr. Taikichiro Mori. The Mori family had lost the real estate they had inherited twice, due to the Great Kanto Earthquake and the air raids of the war. Even after rebuilding with great effort, it became a burnt-out ruin again. In that despair, he keenly felt that the same tragedy would happen again in a wooden town.

Therefore, what Mr. Taikichiro aimed for was a town that was difficult to burn and resistant to disasters. The symbol of this was the Marunouchi Building, which remained even during the air raids. Seeing the building that survived the fire, he decided that he had to change the very nature of the city, not just build buildings. This experience became the origin of Mori Building's urban redevelopment philosophy later on.

What is important here is that this philosophy does not stop at mere disaster prevention. Building a town that won't burn means creating a city that lasts for a long time, rather than lining up makeshift buildings for short-term profit. That is why Mr. Taikichiro disliked work that involved buying and selling land for profit. If the goal itself is to make money from real estate, the immediate profit will be prioritized over the future of the town.

This way of thinking became an axis that kept the company from wavering even during major changes such as the oil shock and the collapse of the bubble economy. If you follow the flow of society and chase only profits, you might grow significantly for a while. However, without a philosophy, you will not be able to function when the times change. This book shows that one of the reasons Mori Building was able to carry out urban redevelopment for a long time was this unwavering philosophy.

V. Practical Urban Development Learned in the Field

After joining the company, the author began working in sales, but was soon transferred to the management department. There, he took on work that involved doing everything, from building maintenance, security, tenant relations, and construction management to waste disposal. It was not the front side of glamorous redevelopment, but the behind-the-scenes work of keeping buildings running.

This experience was likely very significant for the author. This is because towns and buildings cannot exist on blueprints alone. In reality, it is only when there are people to inspect equipment, people to clean, people to provide security, and people to face the tenants that a building becomes a living place. By visiting the sites and interacting directly with such people, the author learned that urban development is also a job of organizing relationships between people.

Furthermore, the author took on the role of a construction site leader at a young age. As someone who was not an engineer, he found himself in a position to manage experts in civil engineering, architecture, and electricity, and to move the project forward. For example, in the construction of a large building, he faced unreasonable demands to complete it in a shorter period than originally planned. Instead of simply refusing by saying it was impossible, the author devised ways to use concrete and manage the site, solving the issues while involving the stakeholders.

What this attitude reveals is that urban redevelopment is not just a battle of capital or design. It requires on-site wisdom, persistent negotiation, a shift in perspective, and the resolve to take responsibility. It can be said that precisely because the author was not a specialist, he was not bound by stereotypes and was able to come up with ideas from a different angle.

6. Accidents, Responsibility, and How to Approach Work

There are not only successes on site, but also accidents. When a fire accident occurred at one of the sites the author was leading, the president strictly questioned his responsibility and pursued those involved. The author tried to protect his subordinates, but it was not easily accepted. What can be seen from this scene is the severity of redevelopment work, which is deeply connected to human life and social credibility.

The work of building a city has the potential to lose many things with a single failure. It can damage not only the building itself but also the future of the people who work there and the trust in the company. That is why the meaning behind the founder's insistence on a 'fireproof town' through his experiences of earthquakes and war feels even heavier. Safety is not just a nice-sounding concept; it is the fundamental premise of urban development.

At the same time, even amidst such harsh experiences, the author maintains an attitude of not pushing himself to the extreme. This leads to the phrase, 'I can handle this much.' Of course, he does not take accidents lightly. However, he does not let himself be crushed by what has happened more than necessary, and instead thinks about what to do next. This is not an evasion of responsibility, but a realistic mental technique for continuing to work for a long time.

7. Harajuku, Omotesando, and Urban Development that Nurtures People

What is particularly impressive in the latter half of this book is the author's way of thinking regarding Harajuku and Omotesando. The author repeatedly states that the value of a town is not determined by buildings alone. While it is true that architecture tends to attract attention in redevelopment, what actually creates the charm of a town is the people who work there, the young people who gather there, the culture of the shops, and the atmosphere that flows through the area.

Harajuku was once a town that many young people aimed for. The author thought about urban development there by linking it not only to facility creation but also to 'human development.' No matter how magnificent a building is built, if the people who work there or the people who manage it do not grow, the town will not last long. Conversely, if people grow, the town can continue to change. This is a very important perspective. Urban redevelopment is questioned not only on the hardware but also on how to nurture the software.

The story of the Dojunkai Apartments, which led to Omotesando Hills, also well illustrates this way of thinking. The Dojunkai Apartments were historic reinforced concrete residences built as reconstruction support after the Great Kanto Earthquake. Just because they were old did not mean they should simply be torn down and replaced with new ones. There is a meaning to the buildings that have survived for a long time, and there is a memory of the town. The author felt the difficulty and importance of renewing while preserving that value.

Here, we can see the maturity of Mori Building's redevelopment philosophy. The early 'fireproof town' concept focused on disaster prevention and durability. However, as time went on, simply building strong structures was no longer enough. It became necessary to regenerate the town, including how to inherit history, how to bring culture to life, and how to nurture people.

8. Conclusion

The essence of urban redevelopment that can be read from this book is not merely the construction of giant buildings. It is an activity that consists of a strong philosophy starting from the memory of disaster, practical work accumulated on-site, and a perspective that places people at the center.

The author did not enter the real estate industry with any special ambition. However, by joining the company through fate, working on-site, and coming into contact with the founder's philosophy, he came to deeply understand the meaning of urban development. What was consistent in that process was an attitude of accepting the situation in front of him, not being overly ambitious, and yet persistently doing what needed to be done. This flexibility and tenacity became his strength to survive in an era of rapid change.

Also, Mr. Taikichiro Mori's philosophy of 'let's build a fireproof town' was not just a disaster prevention slogan, but a principle of urban development that was not swayed by profit-first thinking. And that principle developed into a broad perspective including history, culture, and human resource development in the regeneration of towns like Harajuku and Omotesando.

Therefore, the value of urban redevelopment shown in this book can be summarized in three points. First, urban development requires a long-term philosophy. Second, that philosophy only takes shape through steady, practical work on-site. Third, the charm of a town is determined not only by buildings but by the people who live there.

Even today, redevelopment is progressing in various places. However, it is not enough to just build something new and large. What this book conveys is that truly changing a town is not about erecting buildings, but about creating a place that is resistant to disasters, loved for a long time, and where people can grow. This perspective can be said to have great significance in thinking about the cities of the future.