“Tokyo Review 033” Shinjuku area-9
A Purification Reservoir site transformed to “Shinjuku Shin-Toshin”
The so-called “sky scraper blocks” in the middle of the current Shinjuku Shin-Toshin actually used to be the site for Yodobashi Purification Reservoir for the residents of Tokyo until 1965. It’s probably the place where the most drastic change had occurred in the Shinjuku area.
In 1965, just in the middle of the high economic growth period of Japan, office demand in Tokyo was rapidly becoming high. Famous business districts at that time were in the city center such as Marunouchi, Otemachi and Toranomon etc., but their total capacity could no longer respond to the growing demand.
Planners set their eyes to the Purification Reservoir located in a convenient place near the Shinjuku Station, finally proposed the idea of transferring the facility to the suburbs, constructing a whole new “sub-center” on the site. In 1960, “Shinjuku sub-center conceptual plan” was enacted in 96ha near Shinjuku Station west exit. The infrastructure development plan of 56ha area centering on Yodobashi Purification Reservoir was approved by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as the “Shinjuku sub-center master plan”.
In 1966, the Shinjuku Station West Exit Underground Transportation Hub was completed, and the infrastructure systems of the sub-center was also improved. The 11 plots in the former Purification Reservoir site owned by Tokyo Metropolitan Government were sold through tender to 12 private enterprises. The construction had started from the Keio Plaza Hotel which was completed in 1971. Tall buildings were built one after another, and the area came to be called “Shinjuku Shin-Toshin”. In 1991, new buildings of Tokyo Metropolitan Government had been built in the part of the area, to further enhancing the potential of business establishment.
Now, about 50 years after the start of the project, tall buildings are built continuously by urban redevelopment projects in surrounding block areas, and it surly became one of the business districts representing Tokyo. The clues showing that the site used to be a Purification Reservoir still exist here and there. I will introduce them next time.
