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Junko Suzuki, acting manager of the Business Development Department,
Tokyo International Forum Co. joined the operator of the multipurpose exhibition complex in Marunouchi, Tokyo, in 1996, a year before it was scheduled to open.
"Even when visiting Ginza or nearby theaters, Marunouchi was a district with no points of contact." she recounted. It used to be particularly quiet during the Golden Week holidays.
Marunouchi underwent a dramatic change in 2005 when La Folle Journee au Japon (Days of Enthusiasm in Japan), a music festival, was held at the forum and in neighboring areas. The casual event allows people to enjoy classical music that originated in the French town of Nantes.
Visitors to the event exceeded 1 million in each of the past of the years, with more tickets being sold in Tokyo than in the event's original French location. Economic effects from this year's La Folle Journee are estimated to have totaled about ¥15.7 billion.
The Marunouchi district has been campaigning to attract visitors even on holidays. One event to this end is the "Marunouchi Kids Festa" event held during the summer holidays that was launched last year.
The area is home to the Idemitsu Museum of Arts and other attractions. In 2010, the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum also will open its doors.
"By shifting emphasis from a business district to a dignified center of culture, we want to add a sense of familiarity to attract new people," Suzuki said enthusiastically.
Previously, when people thought of theater areas in Tokyo, Asakusa and Hibiya might have come to mind in the distant past, and perhaps the Shibuya area from the 1970s onward.
However, Ikebukuro has emerged as a new theater-oriented spot since holding the Tokyo International Arts Festival in 1988.
Hiroshi Takahagi, assistant director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, is one of a group of dedicated people who gave rise to Ikebukuro as a new theatrical hub. Takahagi is a founding member of the Yume-no-Yuuminsha theater group and one of the people involved in management and production at the Setagaya Public Theater.
"Ikebukuro has the Sunshine Theater and other small theaters, as well as Butai Geijyutsu Gakuin (a theatrical art college). I was surprised by the strength of the area," Takahagi recalled.
Taking up his new post this spring at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, Takahagi aims to boost the theater's ability to communicate ideas overseas.
From February to March next year, the international performing arts festival FESTIVAL/TOKYO will be held in conjunction with OWL SPOT. In summer next year, with Hideki Noda as the first artistic director, the network of contacts also will forge overseas exchanges.
"I'm looking forward to seeing productions that originate in Ikebukuro performed around the world," Takahagi said. "I also hope that people who see those productions abroad will want to come to Ikebukuro. I want Ikebukuro to keep attracting creative young people."
