Land Reclamation in Tokyo

The Past and Present of the Prospect of a Waterfront City

Jack Yang
December 12, 2019

The Tokyo Bay is the third largest closed-off bay in Japan with
an area of 1380 square kilometers. Amazingly, as of 2012, a
total of about 250 square kilometers of land has been
reclaimed from the Tokyo Bay, roughly 15% of the original bay
area (Koarai, 2013).

The origin of land reclamation activities in Tokyo can be

traced as early as 1592, only two years after Tokugawa Ieyasu
established himself in Edo, filling the northern part of the
Hibiya Inlet (now near Marunouchi of the Chiyoda-ku) using
dirt excavated from the moat of the Edo Castle (Endoh, 2004).

Historical trends of land reclamation in Tokyo is reflective of

the city's political, social, and economic situations in different
historical era. In the meanwhile, the action of making new
physical space from reclaimed land also had its impact on
urban planning, socioeconomic activities, and the
environment. With 2020 Tokyo Olympics unveiling the "Tokyo
Waterfront City" concept, certain aspects of contemporary
development of reclaimed land such as waterfront sports and
leisure, the building of a waste processing center, and disaster
vulnerabilities are also worth to discuss.
Geographical Scope of the Area in
Discussion
Land reclamation is virtually ubiquitous in Japan, but history
and scale of reclaimed land in the Tokyo Bay is unprecedented
on a national level. According to the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, Tokyo Bay is defined
as the water body north of the connecting line between
Tenzaki of the Miura Peninsula and Suzaki of the Bōsō
Peninsula. Usually, it refers to the area in close proximity to
Tokyo Metropolis (the 23 special wards) where reclaimed land
can be seen in every one of the coastal wards, Ōta, Shinagawa,
Minato, Chūō, Kōtō, and Edogawa. Other regions that have
significant reclamation projects in Tokyo Bay include
Kawasaki, Chiba, Urayasu, Ichihara, and Kisarazu.

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Map of Tokyo Bay

Historical Trends of Land Reclamation

Land reclamation projects at different historical periods have
been motivated by different conditions so that the reclaimed
land areas were built to satisfy different land use. The
physical characteristics such as textual and composition of the
reclaimed land also influenced the usage.

Founding of Edo and the Edo Period

Rivers of Edo in Muromachi Period (1336~1573) which gives an impression of what Edo
was like when Tokugawa Ieyasu arrived there in 1590 (image: Kikuchi, 1935)

As mentioned previously, the first systematic land reclamation

project was undertook by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1592. The
topography of Edo then was vastly different from the present:
Tokugawa hoped to construct his castle in Hibiya which was
then a beach near the Hibiya Inlet where the historical
Hiragawa river entered Tokyo Bay; east of the castle was low-
lying marshland dominated by an intricate web of river
channels which included three major rivers Sumida,
Tonegawa, Edogawa, and their tributaries; west of the castle
was a terrain full of hills that stretched inland. Tokugawa's
urgent goal was to find, or rather create a plain ground for
agriculture and accommodation of his daimyos, samurais, and
servants (Endoh, 2004).

Instead of clearing the hills, Tokugawa chose to tame the

water by building reclaimed land. Very conveniently,
materials to fill the river and ocean came from hills that were
cleared for construction of the Edo Castle and other part of the
city. A technique called cut-and-fill was employed which
basically means clearing a highland while using the materials
to fill a lowland that maximized the efficiency of work
(Murphy, 2016). As a result of filling the Hibiya Inlet and the
surrounding waters, the Edo Castle, the political center of the
Tokugawa Shogunate, as well as the Shitamachi area, the
 urban center of Edo for commoners, were created by the mid-
17th century. The houses of daimyos were concentrated on the
plain/reclaimed land between Sumida and Nakagawa (a
tributary of Tonegawa).

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Three major reclaimed land in the Edo Period and their present locations

Meiji and Taisho Periods

During the late Edo Period, accumulation of sediments at the
river mouth of the Sumida shallowed the depth of water and
caused trouble to the frequent passage of cargo ships. Given
the importance of shipping along the Sumida to support the
growing population of Tokyo materially, the Tokyo
Perfecturate Government then initiated a project to dredge the
river channel of Sumida while using the materials to reclaim
new land at designated areas without interferencing the
shipping routes. The 1st Sumida River Mouth Improvement
Project started in 1906 which resulted in the consolidation of
Tsukuda Island and the creation of Tsukishima No. 1 (now
Tsukishima 1-chome) and No. 2 (now Kachidoki) Landfill.
Land reclamation during Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa from 1880 to 1930, dark regions
are the reclaimed areas before 1880 (Bureau of Port and Harbor of Tokyo Metropolitan
Government, 1994)

Subsequent projects from 1911 to 1935 created and

consolidated Shibaura and Tennozu in Shinagawa, Harumi,
Toyosu, Shinonome in Kōtō (Endoh, 2004). After the
completion of three projects, the passage of 2,000~3,000-
tonnage level ships was made possible which significantly
boosted shipping capacity of the Sumida. Another Edagawa
Improvement Project from 1910 to 1923 created several other
reclaimed areas in eastern part of Kōtō including Shiohama,
Shiomi, and Edagawa (Endoh, 2004). Most of these
aforementioned reclaimed land was designated as land for
housing to accommodate the influx of population into Tokyo
with the rapid development of Tokyo as the center of the new
post-Meiji Japan.
 GSI, Esri, HERE, Garmin, Foursquare, GeoTechnologies, Inc, METI/NASA, USGS Powered by Esri

Reclaimed land during Meiji and Taisho periods and their present locations

Early Showa Period to 1945

With the growth of industrial
production in Tokyo and its
surrounding industrial regions, the
Tokyo Perfectuate Government
planned a 10-year "Tokyo Harbor
Construction Proposal" in 1931, hoping
to further boost the shipping capacity
by allowing larger cargo ships to enter
the bay area (Bureau of Port, 1994). As
new land reclamation projects were
made to provide the space for planned
docks and storage facilities. Expansion
Land reclamation from 1930~1945, dark regions are
of the existing reclaimed land at Shiba,
reclaimed land before 1930 (Bureau of Port, 1994)
Takeshiba, Toyosu, and Tsukishima
would make up the majority of docks,
while new land at Kōtō and Shinagawa would be created for
the storage warehouses. There was also plan for a new airport
on the so-called "Yumenoshima" 「夢の島」in eastern part of
Kōtō where the artificial foundation of reclaimed land was
already laid in water (Endoh, 2004).
However, both plans for Tokyo harbor and airport fell short
due to start of the Pacific War as war production was
prioritized and soon there was a shortage of construction
materials. Construction of reclaimed land for the harbor plan
was complete before war broke out, while further
construction of "Yumenoshima" was abandoned. After the war
ended, the airport proposal was put to discussion again but
rejected by the GHQ (of Allied Occupation of Japan) who
instead insisted for the building of the Haneda Airport (Endoh,
2004). At the end, Yumenoshima used as a landfill until
reaching its capacity and being converted into a park in 1981.
As a result, 1930s and 1940s saw only minimal increase of
reclaimed land.

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Reclaimed land from 1931~1945 and their present locations

From 1946 to Present

Trends in Development of Tokyo Bay
In the immediate postwar, shipwreck, destruction of dock
facilities, and takeover of several available docks by the GHQ
severely crippled Tokyo Bay's operation capabilities. Facing
these difficulties, a series of plans to repair, reuse, and
revitalize the Tokyo Bay was put into action starting from
1946 (Endoh, 2004). The short-term goal was to enhance Tokyo
Bay's capacities to facilitate postwar reconstruction of Tokyo.

However, a twist was made in the early 1950s as the tension of

the Cold War in Asia reached climax when the Korean War
broke out. The Korean War and the Cold War offered both
threats (but in many cases have precipitated into incentives)
and opportunities for Japan: when the U.S. was determined to
make Japan a bulwark against communism in Asia, it was also
willing to let Japan fully unleash its industrial potential and
integrate back to the international trade system. In two
decades' time, a highly industrialized capitalist economy was
flourishing in Japan, while expansion of industries produced
unprecedented level of domestic and international trade
(Murphy, 2016).

In 1961, the Revised Tokyo Harbro Development Plan 「東京港

改訂港湾計画」 aimed for the establishment of a modern and
effective material supply system capable of supporting the
"Megapolis" of Tokyo by 1970. However, the double-digit
economic growth throughout the 1960s has far surpassed the
expectation in 1961 so that the plan was revised again in 1966
that called for:

a. Enhancement of capacity as a logistical center for the

regional (Kanto) economy;
b. Building of capacity as a center for international trade
and liner shipping (high-capacity transportation of
goods that transit regular sea routes on fixed schedules);
c. Enhancement of transportation capacity to moderate
traffic; redeveloping existing bay areas (for higher
economic utilities); creating new reclaimed land for
efficient development.
(「東京港第2次 改訂港湾計画」 Bureau of Port and Harbor of
the TMG, 1966 )

Afterwards, new concepts of Tokyo Bay development have

constantly hit the reports of the TMG. The third revision of the
Harbor Development Plan in 1976 called for attention to the
changing status of the society which was likely a response to
the Oil Crisis of 1973 which significantly frustrated the growth
of Japanese economy. It also for the first time mentioned
building "a new waterfront" which implied development of
the Tokyo Bay was gradually shifting from industries and
ports to the livelihood of common people. In the 1981 fourth
revision, "close affinity of citizens and the waterfront", "urban
greenspace and environmental preservation", "security of the
harbor", and "waste processing capabilities" were mentioned
for the first time, indicating a more comprehensive
development of the Tokyo Bay to resolve the problems created
during the hypergrowth era. Recent revisions in 1997, 2005,
and 2016 have put additional emphasis on reducing disaster
vulnerabilities against earthquake, tsunami, and rising sea
level, attracting tourism, as well as environmental friendliness
and sustainability.

(Image from:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2014/11/Tokyo_Ba
y_Japan

Trends in Development of Reclaimed Land

It was also this period that saw the unprecedented growth of
land reclamation in the entire Tokyo Bay. It is estimated that
from the start of the Meiji Period to Heisei 2 (1990) a total of
6,000 hectares of land was reclaimed, compared to only 2,700
in the entire Edo Period for almost three centuries (Ministry of
Land, 1993).

The greatest demand for land in postwar Japan came from the
fast-growing heavy industries such as oil refineries, ship
building, steel factories, chemical productions, and power
plants. The initial boom of industries in the 1950s created
severe pollution problem and occupied huge amount of space
in the central wards of Tokyo Metropolis. As a result, rapid
land reclamation in 1960s and 1970s was both to
accommodate the growing production and to facilitate the
exodus of heavy industries to periphery regions like
Yokohama, Kawasaki, Chiba, and Ichihara. This process
slowed down significantly in 1973 when the Oil Crisis
particularly hit the energy-intensive heavy industries. Almost
no additional land is created for heavy industries after 1990
after they have reached full capacities when there is also a
change to focus on environmental protection.

(Image from Koarai, 2013)

Shift to Non-Industrial Land Use

In the meanwhile, even though land reclamation in the
central wards of the Tokyo Metropolis is dwarfed in
comparison with the expansion in other parts of the Tokyo
 Bay, the growth itself is still the largest for each of the wards.
Reclamation projects in the central wards are designated to
serve as functional blocks that could satisfy multiple uses such
as integrated housing complex, transportation hub, waste
processing facility, storage warehouse, commercial and
market place, and urban cultural/recreational space after the
heavies industries left in 1970s.

Late 1980s and early 1990s saw the burst of the bubble
economy of Japan and the plummeting land values meaned
profit of reclaiming more land diminished. After 1990s, focus
of the Tokyo Bay development was shifted to redevelopment
of existing reclaimed land with very minimal reclamation.

(Image from Koarai, 2013; showing addition of reclaimed land

after 1965 for individual cities in Tokyo Bay)

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Key Projects
Several major reclamation projects in central Tokyo from
1950s to the present include the expansions of the Haneda
Airport in Ōta-ku, the Oi Container Terminal in Shinagawa-ku,
Odaiba (aka. the Waterfront Subcenter) and the Central Water
Break (Chuo Bohatei) in Kōtō-ku, as well as Seishincho and
Rinkaicho (Kasai) in Edogawa-ku.

Successful Waterfront Redevelopment: Harumi 1-

chome
Harumi was created by the Sumida Improvement Project from
1910s to 1930s and was subsequently used to build
apartments. However, by the 1970s, the old housing project
was not using the space efficiently with both building-to-land
ratio and floor area ratio lower than the standard.
Incentivized by the rise of land values in the early bubble era,
the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (a quasi-
governmental corporation to facilitate land development) and
seven private real estate developers formed a council to
negotiate redevelopment issues in 1981. By 1988, a detailed
plan suggested that the western part of Harumi 1-chome to be
reserved for mixed use while high rise condominiums would
be constructed in the eastern part. The plan was proceeding
smoothly when the bubble economy burst in 1991.
Coordinated by the Urban Development Corporation, the
council revised the plan to cut down cost by reducing the scale
of buildings and other urban designs in the western part
while implementing the housing of the eastern part little by
little. Eventually the whole project was finished in 2001. The
TMG's intervention through the Urban Development
Corporation is crucial in balancing the interests of different
stakeholders and pushing revision of the plan after bubble
burst (Shima, 2007).

(Image from https://www.realestate-tokyo.com/area-guide/bay-

area/kachidoki-harumi/#lg=1&slide=6)

Frustrated Waterfront Redevelopment: Odaiba

The present day Waterfront Sub-Center (Odaiba as it is called
today) consists of reclaimed land in Daiba, Aomi, Ariake
North, and Ariake South, all reclaimed during 1960s but only
had limited utilities until 1980s. During the height of bubble
economy, land prices reclaimed land were much less
compared to the soaring land prices in central Tokyo. As a
result, the TMG hoped to develop a new business/financial
center in the waterfront area and Odaiba was the ideal choice.

The initial proposal was made in 1986 in the Tokyo

Metropolitan Long-term Vision, and detailed development
plan was prepared in 1988. However, after the burst of the
bubble economy, the TMG's assumption for land price to
increase and thus attract real estate developers fell short. In
addition, before the construction of the Rainbow Bridge and
the subway line connecting Odaiba and other wards,
transportation was very inconvenient for office works or even
residents.

In order to attract firms, the TMG decided to 10-year land-

leasing permit to developers at very low prices and directly
intervened in redevelopment projects by founding a quasi-
governmental corporation. Several of the projects were
undertaken by government sponsors such as the National
Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (or the
Miraikan), the Tokyo International Exchange Center, which
are both funded by firms under the supervision of the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology, and the Tokyo International Exhibition Center (or
the Tokyo Big Sight), which is ultimately owned by the
TMG. As a result of unrealistic promises and increasing cost of
construction, several firms involved in the redevelopment
went bankrupt. As of 2008, the TMG had incurred a sum of
2,430 billion yen of debt for the development of Odaiba
(Bureau of Port, 2008). Ironically, while the 10-year leases
facilitated the success of projects like the Palette Town (a
multipurpose complex with a shopping mall, an automobile
exhibition center, hotels, and offices, and a ferris wheel), it
also created much confusion when the Palette Town was
almost forced to shutdown in 2016 due to the termination of
that lease. Now it seems like the Bureau of Port and Harbor
and the TMG plan to develop the Waterfront Sub-Center
mainly as a new tourist attraction with the existing hotels
(including one with hot spring) and the Palette Town.

Tokyo Bay Reclamation: from 1952 to present

(images from Murphy, 2016)

Coastlines of Tokyo Bay

1592
Filling of the Hibiya Inlet, creation of Shitamachi
17th Century
Expansion of shitamachi and the Shinagawa Daiba
1854
Shinagawa Station
1900
After the Sumida Improvement Project
1925
Haneda and Kawasaki
End of World War Two
Expansion in Chiba, Ichihara, and Yokohama
1960s
Full scale expansion in the entire Tokyo Bay
1970s
Oi Container Terminal, continued expansion of
industrial areas
1980s
Haneda expansion and Central Water Break
1990s
Haneda Runway D (artificial Island)
2012

Opportunities and Challenges of Future

Development

Environmental Concerns and Disaster

Vulnerabilities
Water Pollution Caused by Materials Used in
Reclamation

Not all land reclamation utilizes natural soil and dirt collected
from river channels, mounds, or hills. As Tokyo has been on
constant expansion since the Meiji Period, using wasted
material from construction of infrastructure to fill the Tokyo
Bay seems an ideal solution to both solve the waste disposal
problem and growing land demand. In practice, many of the
 reclaimed land are built on the mixture of construction waste
and natural soil and dirt. Later, domestic waste also began to
fill in the waterfront area and landfill could also be converted
into reclamation project. However, both construction and
domestic waste contain chemicals and toxic contents that
contribute to the pollution and eutrophication of the Tokyo
Bay. It was estimated in 2003 that red tides occur 40~60 times
annually in the major port areas (Bureau of Port, 2003)

Water Pollution Caused by Relocation of Heavy

Industries

While moving heavy industries to

peripheral cities around the Tokyo
Metropolis seems to effectively reduce
the air and water pollution inside the
central wards, it nevertheless
exacerbated the pollution level in the
entire Tokyo Bay area. Discharge of
industrial wastewater peaked in the
1970s and made the Tokyo Bay the "sea
of death" as levels of dissolved oxygen
Dissolved Oxygen Level in Tokyo Bay, 2003 (Bureau
of Port) at bay bottom in many places were
well below the 4.3mg/l minimum for
any marine species to survive (Takao, 1999). Subsequent
enforcement of tight water quality control has gradually
improved the situation but as levels of dissolved oxygen still
remain low, a return of marine species is very unlikely.
Extinction of marine species also means the diminishing of
fishery industry in the bay area which was once a common
occupation.

Soil Liquefaction

Soil liquefaction describes the phenomenon in which the

strength of a body of soil is reduced by earthquake shaking or
other rapid loading which would result in damage to the
foundation of constructions built on it. The March 11 Tohoku
Earthquake in 2011 caused serious damage to reclaimed land
and in particular to Urayasu City in Chiba where Tokyo Disney
is located. This might lead to the concerns of purchasing
properties on reclaimed land in the future. Since most
reclaimed land is built on soft artificial foundation, before
decades of consolidation to complete, the threat of earthquake
is almost unavoidable.

Liquefaction Damage on Reclaimed Land (image from

http://japanpropertycentral.com/real-estate-faq/reclaimed-land-in-japan/)

A City that Grows on Its Waste

At the height of the bubble economy in 1989, a staggering
amount of 4.9 million tons of trash was produced that year.
Despite the total amount being reduced to 2.7 million tons in
2014, a huge capability to process astronomical amount of
waste is still mandatory for Tokyo. The Clean Authority Tokyo
23 which consists of the 23 central wards is now in charge of
dealing with the waste problem. The major processes of waste
disposal goes as follows:
Apart from the 19 incineration plants that are spread all over
the 23 wards, the Large-sized Waste Pulverization Processing
Facilities, the Incombustible Waste Processing Center, the
Incinerated Garbage Ash Processing Facility, and the landfills
are all concentrated at the reclaimed land near the Central
Water Break. Ironically, all the waste processing facilities are
built on land reclaimed by domestic waste in the last century.
 Orange line is the Central Water Break; area in blue is the Inner Landfill that has been
converted into usable land, where the Chobu Disposal Facilities are located; area in red is
Outer Landfill, area in green is the New Surface Landfill, both are still receiving waste; a
huge park called Umi No Mori is built on area 2 of the Outer Landfill where also hosts a
wind power plant project
(http://www.kankyo.metro.tokyo.jp/resource/landfill/chubou/index.html)

One of the by-product of incineration is the ash which by itself

is another form of waste to be dealt with. The Shinagawa
Incineration Plant alone produces 180 tons of bottom ash
daily. While the bottom ash is often used as a substitute for
clay in cement, another genius engineering solution turns the
ash entirely into a new construction material by melting it at
1,200 degree celsius and then cooling it to remold into blocks
that can be used to pave pedestrian sidewalks (Tim, 2017).
 One sample of remolded garbage bottom ash bricks
(https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2017/02/18/environment/wasteland-tokyo-grows-
trash/#.XfIvp9ZKi_v)

These blocks can also be the foundation of landfills to be laid

on the ocean bed which a lot of them are already used in the
Outer Landfill and New Surface Landfill. Because they are
processed, they are also pollution-free which is more
environmentally friendly than many other materials used to
create reclaimed land such as construction and domestic
waste. In the end, it seems like Tokyo has made garbage a
valuable resource to gain another valuable resource for the
city, reclaimed land. However, as 50 years later the two
present landfills will reach full capacities and currently no
alternative locations have been found, Tokyo still need to cut
down its waste furthermore.