Merry Christmas, Marunouchi

Merry Christmas, Marunouchi is my theme for Christmas in 2009. It is different from the previous Christmases in certain senses. First, it will be the first I spend overseas since I began working. Second, it is a themed Christmas and it goes with a purpose on top of its being Christian – secular, hedonistic or epicurean, you may name it, and focuses on a particular space. Thirdly, it will be religiously serene and devout. Well, Christmas, for namesake, should be Christian (some created the so-called substitute Season’s Greetings for the secular minds but I guess if they’re not into Christianity but only think of taking advantage of a few days holiday, at no cost, for example, spend 1 ½ hours in a church, I suggest they do a bit of other good work for the sake of humanity). Yes, I mean true good works not those that pave the way to hell.

Although the theme Merry Christmas, Marunouchi does not sound religious, it elementally consists of the fervour of religions. It will be religiously transfixing to see the best architecture in Asia, from a veneration point of view, – yes, when I say 'best', I do include in the sample those Babel towers, hanging gardens in the Middle East. I expect the architecture in Tokyo more than just Babel towers that point to the sky and a 800-metre tower does not mean anything for me. For man-made islands, alas, Japan is a pioneer (Zerotester, a Japanese animation series, showed a mobile man-made island in the early 1970's when China was still in chaos at the height of her Cultural Revolution). I do not scream at the Palm Island in Dubai but I should at the Chubu Airport in Nagoya which managed to be built at half the price of the sinking Kansai Airport (both physically and its debt) and is run efficiently by its builder, Toyota Motors Corp.



Marunouchi, the financial district of Tokyo, is still glamorous. The industrials and trading houses and banks in Japan are still global heavyweights that enable Tokyo Stock Exchange to stay as a runner-up in the league table, after a 70% fall in capitalisation from the peak in the late 1980's and despite those small-eyed Westerners' scorn and dismay. There is something to talk about and I am not religiously blind to pay tribute to the industrial champions of this nation without knowing the cruel fact that their no. one's are shrinking in size. But the overhauled Marunouchi district appears to show that Tokyo is a grand dame of Asia head and shoulder above all other cities - those of the parvenus - Shanghai or Dubai; those in lack of colour and dignity such as Hong Kong, those subtle but falling short of glamour - Taipei and Seoul to name only a few. After all those years, these established cities cannot come close to Tokyo no matter in which standard you rate them. Here lies some religious elements but I say it is not totally irrational.