Abstract
Roman Cybriwsky states at the beginning of his book that he did not set out to write Roppongi Crossing, but that since settling in the area in 2011 he gradually became intellectually interested in the neighbourhood. This book is based on his living experience and ethnographic work in the area.
Geographically, Roppongi Crossing refers to a busy street intersection located at the centre of the Roppongi district, Tokyo. The international character of Roppongi attracts people from many different regions, ethnicities and cultures. Particularly in the last three decades of the 20th century, the area was a popular nightclub district infamous for its hostess industry and for being a gathering place for ‘bad foreigners’. In the new millennium, a redevelopment project was initiated aiming to clean up and upscale the area, resulting in an intersection of the past and the future.
Cybriwsky structures the book into seven chapters. The first two (i.e. ‘Roppongi and the New Tokyo’ and ‘Roppongi Context’) give an overview of the area, including its geographical, administrative and social features, and the aims and methods of the research. Chapter 3, entitled ‘Roppongi Rises’ introduces the historical events that have contributed to Roppongi’s prosperity as a popular entertainment district, such as the modernisation in the Meji era, American occupation after the Second World War, the opening of a subway line, the establishment of the foreign embassies nearby and the boom of Japan’s economy.
The following two chapters talk about the recent ‘Rhythms’ and ‘Troubles’ of Roppongi. Starting from the intersection of Roppongi Crossing, Cybriwsky leads a highly personal tour around the neighbourhood, giving some very detailed accounts of the streets, corners and establishments for various functions and activities. Then Cybriwsky turns to the world of work in Roppongi. While the area is famous for its hostess industry, the author pays the most attention to its foreign workers. Being aware of the danger of generalising ethnic groups, Cybriwsky adopts a ‘working-ethnicity’ method to profile foreign workers. Foreign hostesses come from all over the world, but the origin of the women has changed over time. In the beginning, many hostesses came from the First World, then Eastern Europe, while many current workers are of Latin American origin. There also seems to be an increasing number of African women working in the district. Over prolonged fieldwork and participant observation, Cybriwsky profiles Chinese and Latin American prostitutes, African streetmen, restaurant proletariat from poor countries, Russian-East Europeans, Filipinos …. Roppongi is therefore a truly global district, from which a map of the world economy can be illustrated.
The image of Roppongi as a ‘gaijin (foreigner) zoo’ (p. 153) and a netherworld of troubles has rendered it an area with almost oppressive police presence. From here the book turns to the battle to control and change in Roppongi. Besides the police, there are also citizen security patrols, watchdog volunteers, paid reinforcement and ubiquitous cameras and warning signs. The targets of the regulations are not only people but also the built environment, including night clubs. That is the theme of the next chapter, ‘Roppongi Remade’.
The government, the Mori Building Company and Mitsui Fudosna are the key changers of Tokyo and the shapers of the ‘new Roppongi’. Cybriwsky introduces the four most important nodes of the planned urban change of the district, i.e. Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Midtown, ARK Hills and the National Art Center. In Cybriwsky’s accounts, these developments are deliberately selected to encircle and exert pressure on the shrinking nightclub district – they are the levers of the facelift scheme of Roppongi, attempting to create a more upscale look for Tokyo. Ironically, while the initial purpose of the redevelopment was to get rid of ‘bad foreigners’, the main strategy of building ‘new Roppongi’ is now labelled as being international. This (re)internationalisation strategy has been implemented by selecting foreign architects and firms to participate in the process. Of course, this upscale redevelopment is targeted at the newly rich, foreigners and Japanese elites, that is, the privileged ‘gentries’.
In the last chapter titled ‘Roppongi Reflections’, Cybriwsky discusses some issues raised in previous chapters such as the surveillance and social control of the district, the resistance to the transformation, the placelessness of the area and the absence of Japaneseness, the juxtaposition of time and space.
Roppongi Crossing provides valuable empirical material on a place that has not often featured in research. Cautious enough, Cybriwsky declares at the outset that the truth of a district filled with lies, misdirection and contradictory information is hard to find (p. xvi). Yet, this reviewer wonders if Cybriwsky let himself be too easily prevented from making more effort to in build a better and more comprehensive picture of the ‘true’ situation of Roppongi. Most of the data used in the book are either from Cybriwsky’s personal observation as an outsider or publicly available information in English. The limited source of the research compromises the academic rigour of some of the arguments and conclusions.
Another shortcoming of the book is the lack of theoretical engagement. Undeniably, the author provides a number of interesting details and stories about Roppongi, but these are only to a small extent framed by theoretical considerations. This is accompanied by a sense of brevity of discussion. Cybriwsky does not explore the issues in depth and often an interesting discussion ends after a few paragraphs. More in-depth discussion and stronger engagement with existing academic debates would have allowed for a stronger contribution. Topics and questions worth being explored further in future research are discussed below.
The first one is about the Japanese ‘construction state’ (dokken kokka), an alliance between the government, politicians and private developers seeking to define, control, regenerate and represent Japan and Japanese cities. How does it work in the Japanese institutional context? And how does the system differ from that of the ‘neoliberal’ Western countries and other Asian countries? Another topic worth drawing more attention to is related to Roppongi’s immigrants and the resulting globalisation. According to Cybriwsky’s depiction, the high number of foreigners in Roppongi does not promote mutual understanding between Japanese and foreigners; in contrast, the result is more distortion and misconceptions. One example is that the redevelopment of the Roppongi district primarily focuses on removing ‘bad foreigners’. If this is the fact, to what extent can it challenge the existing discourse of globalisation? The historical dimension of the Roppongi story is fascinating too. Cybriwsky does depict certain connections between the past and the present of Roppongi, but how the evolution of the place is framed within the historical experience of the city and the country is not clear. What continuities and discontinuities occurred during the redevelopment of the district? How do they reflect the characteristics of Japan’s philosophy and culture? These questions are still waiting to be answered.
In conclusion, Roppongi Crossing provides a gripping and vividly detailed account of a Roppongi in flux, but provides limited theoretical insights and does not strongly relate itself to other research. The book is useful for scholars interested in urban regeneration, global migrants and anyone with a general interest in Japanese cities and urban studies.