Summer is definitely here. The days are getting longer, the nights hotter, and the Tokyo “heat island effect” is gearing up for another season of blistering heat, with little or no escape.
Never heard of the “heat island” effect? Well, it simply describes the fact that city temperatures tend to be much warmer than the land around them, often (according to the New York Times) 10 degrees warmer. An August 2002 article quotes Takehiro Mikami, a professor fo climatology at Tokyo Metropolitan University, as saying that “Tokyo temperatures have increased five times as fast as global warming.”
The most dramatic summer temperature increases have been seen between the hours of 12AM and 5 AM, when the average number of “tropical nights” (with temperatures at night over 25C) during summer has risen from zero to five 100 years ago, to 30 to 40. By one estimate, the number of “tropical nights” is likely to increase to 50 or 60.
Anyone living in the city can tell you that the summer months can be unbearble at times. However, a very unique and frugal idea to combat this heating is taking shape: roof gardens. Roof gardens clean air and lower rooftop temperatures and also contribute to lower air conditioning and cooling costs.
The Tokyo City Government recently implemented a law requiring all new medium size buildings to devote at least 20 percent of their roofs to a roof garden, and many prestigious buildings now feature roof gardens.
Visiting these gardens can be a fun, frugal and educational activity. One of the largest roof gardens that can be visited for free is the one built atop of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Building No. 3. Open to the public every Friday from 2pm-4pm by appointment (call the Ryokuchi Kankyo Suishin Shitsu at 03-5253-8420), the 500m2 garden features ample explanation (in Japanese) of some of the methods and materials used.
It’s a unique oasis in the middle of Kasumigaseki, Japan’s civil servant headquarters.
More costly options include a tour of Roppongi Hills’s elaborate rooftop garden (available in English, from Y1,500-2,500) included in the full complex tour, and the small but lovely rooftop garden featured as part of the Asakura Choso Museum in Nezu, Sendagi (also features an amazing tour of this one of a kind scultpor’s studio and traditional Japanese house).
As the temperature rises, these hidden oases of Tokyo are sure to be a cool and comfortable retreat from the heat.
© 2004 Wendy J. Imura.