Translated into English by Ms. Asami Masui

Toward 21st century

As a result of the urban developement since the modern times, we have lost many precious sceneries.

On December 1997, the Tokyo Metropolitan Landscape Ordinance was enacted and enforced. It seems that the administration has finally started to deal with the scenery problem. Based on this ordinance, on April, June, and October in 1999, the first, second and third Classifications of Tokyo Metropolitan Historic Buildings were made, and 14, 8, and 12 cases were selected as Historic Buildings, and consideration for its preservation is already starting.

Preservation of Nippori Fujimizaka slope is that of the scenery and not the building. This is the preservation of probably the last remaining place where you can stand on the lay of the natural land and look at Mt.Fuji, inside the JR Yamanote-line which surrounds the central Tokyo. Preservation of a scenery naturally belongs to the category of the Landscape Ordinance. It is more than obvious that thinking only about preserving buildings is not enough when one puts sceneries in question.

Preservation of Fujimizaka slope would need a whole lot of struggle than preserving a single building including it's surroundings, but we think it is within realizable scale. That is to say, even though there is a hundred kilometers from Fujimizaka slope to Mt.Fuji, and though what we need is to restrict the hight of the buildings on the place within the radius of about four kilometers alongside the axis of the view to Mt.Fuji, which is a thin fan so-called a vista line,

Range of vista line to Mt. Fuji (Part of distance within 5 Km from Fujimizaka slope)

the problem of the hour is the hight limit on the arcs of fans of radius less than two kilometers and of length two to three widths on the Shinobazu Street (Shinobazu-dori), five to six widths on the Hongo Street (Hongo-dori) and six to seven widths on the Hakusan Street (Hakusan-dori), in width of a housing lot. For the moment, if the hight limitation within these scopes would be realized, Fujimizaka slope will be preserved.

"A site of former noted place, a historic spot." If we do not want Tokyo to turn into an empty place with only monuments clustering with such words written on it, now the time has come for the administration, the enterprises and the citizens to come together as one and face the scenery problem seriously.


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