Seems crazy that there are fully abandoned, fenced-off, gutted apartment buildings in such a prime location. They’ve been abandoned long enough to return to nature, so I figure there must be a reason? Anyone know? Directly between Shinjuku and Yoyogi.
2-chōme-17 Yoyogi
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It is the site of a former civil service housing complex that was abolished during the Koizumi administration around 2000 due to the effects of the civil service bashing that was unleashed.
Looks like it was housing for public servants. Closed down in 2011. I guess until the government decides what to do with it.
There’s a similar one near Rinshi no mori park. I was told the ward boarded it all up because the building had some architectural fault, but corruption sounds more plausible.
Plenty of such buildings in shibuya ward. I don’t know why, but there’s a habit of either just keeping them as is or demolishing them and then leaving the whole piece of land as an empty patch. They’re old and probably not meeting all kinds of standards. I don’t know why the ward is so weirdly particular with them. There are many old danchi’s which are still liveable, but they’ll probably end up in the same state some day.
They may not be so uncommon. I know of two locations in my area myself. I found a new one recently when going for a bike ride. It’s a real marvel. There is an area of many newer apartment complexes on one side, and on the other, there are just 20+ massive, empty buildings that look like they endured some sort of explosion. It was scary being there in broad daylight. Can’t imagine how it is living across the street from them.
Government owned properties like this one are plentiful. They are sold at auction occasionally, slowly released to the public in bits and pieces so as not to affect the overall value of land. The bidding process lasts many months and ultimately it is the larger developers that buy these tracts.
Obtaining private land for official uses via eminent domain is an expensive and difficult process that understandably leads to a lot of conflict and resentment. Therefore once the Japanese government owns something they are likely to hold on to it for future projects.