Changes in the Close Alleys of the Jingu-Mae Shibuya Ward in Tokyo:

Abstract

This paper explores changes in urban spaces among the close alleys of the JinguMae Shibuya Ward in Tokyo from the standpoint of cultural production and the emergence of investment companies. This paper will also discuss this case study from an urban sociology standpoint. The close alleys in the Jingu-Mae area of Shibuya Ward in Tokyo were residential streets until the 1980s. However, from the 1990s, these close alleys changed from residential streets to a global hub for upscale clothing design. With this change, the close alleys of Jingu-Mae became associated with a fashionable image and were featured in fashion magazines, which eventually attracted big investment companies. Beginning in the 2000s, these investment companies began buying commercial properties in the close alleys of Jingu-Mae by forming the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), through which they made various spatial renovations to these buildings and then selected their desired tenants so as to raise the buildings’ exchange value. Consequently, land prices in Jingu-Mae’s close alleys are rising slowly. We present a new hypothesis in which we predict that the new image of the JinguMae close alleys as a fashionable cultural center due to the presence of the clothing design industry will raise the exchange value of the clothes designed there. Support for this hypothesis would indicate that global cultural production of clothing provides opportunities for real estate investment. As a consequence, local residents, culturally designed clothing, and retail companies will become strongly connected to the global economy, which is already influenced by investment companies. This connection to the global economy could foster sustained urban growth of the fashionable quarters in Jingu-Mae.