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Coming to Tokyo?
Great! By all means, do visit the traditional entertainment
districts, like Akasaka, Ginza and Shibuya. But, be sure to
include the blossoming Marunouchi district in your itinerary.
Previously a business area, this district is now being extensively
developed by Mitsubishi Estate
into a vibrant venue for fashion, music, culture and leisure.
In April 2007, this massive
project reached a key milestone with the completion of the
Shin-Marunouchi Building. A soaring 198 meters high, the building
is a natural focus point of the district, containing both
offices and a vast range of shops and restaurants—153,
to be exact, thereby bringing the area’s total number
of commercial outlets to about 740. Tokyo’s nightlife-loving,
die-hard urbanites won’t need to walk very far to get
there either, the building is right in front of Tokyo Station,
between the Marunouchi Building and the Marunouchi OAZO.
Marunouchi has long been
Mitsubishi heartland territory, with several of the Group
head offices being located in the area and Mitsubishi Estate
owning a large part of the real estate between Yurakucho and
Otemachi. Redevelopment began in 1998, and Stage 1 of this
scheme will be completed with the opening of the Peninsula
Tokyo Hotel in 2007. Stage 2, a ten-year plan starting in
2008, will add further breadth and depth to the redevelopment.
Last, but certainly not least, it will restore the ornate
Mitsubishi No. 1 Building—the headquarters of the old
Mitsubishi organization, constructed in 1894. |
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| The Shin-Marunouchi
Building, as seen from Tokyo Station’s Marunouchi
North Exit, with the commercial zone housed in the bottom
part |
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