The bustling Shinjuku commercial and entertainment district in Tokyo is on the verge of undergoing a major facelift on a number of fronts.

Regulations will be eased to facilitate the replacement of buildings on Shinjuku Station’s east side, which is home to an Isetan department store and the Shinjuku Alta shopping complex.

Projects are also under way to replace the Odakyu and Keio department stores with skyscrapers on the west side of the station, where the structure is so complicated that it has been called “Shinjuku Dungeon” for its resemblance to a labyrinth in a video game.

Shinjuku’s townscapes, which have remained largely unchanged since the Showa Era (1926-1989), are set to take a new shape.

Shinjuku Alta closed at the end of February. A street section in front of the shopping complex outside Shinjuku Station’s east exit was once a fixture meeting place for people.

The complex, which opened in 1980, rose to fame as the studio site for “Waratte Iitomo!” (It’s OK to laugh!), Fuji Television Network Inc.’s popular variety show that was broadcast live at noon from 1982 through 2014.

Alta, however, had to shut down operations mainly because of sluggish sales.

“We are considering various options for the future, including replacement of the building,” a representative of Daibiru Corp., owner of the Alta building, told The Asahi Shimbun.

Redevelopment is also planned for an area around the Isetan Shinjuku department store, another landmark on the east side of Shinjuku Station.

An Isetan representative said store officials have opened talks with landowners and public administration officials to redevelop Isetan Shinjuku’s parking lot and surrounding areas.

DEREGULATION OUTSIDE EAST EXIT

The Shinjuku Ward government in January approved a draft proposal to amend a “district plan” for 19 hectares outside Shinjuku Station’s east exit, including relaxing restrictions on sizes, floor area ratios and heights of buildings in the area.

Ward officials said one objective of the amendment is to “promote the replacement of buildings with diverse sizes and the joint use of building sites.”

A deregulation measure for floor area ratios is currently applied only to buildings with a site area of 450 square meters or more. The ward will expand the deregulation to also cover buildings with site areas of 100 square meters or more.

Buildings newly covered by the deregulation measure will see the upper limits on their floor area ratios raised by up to 50 percent, depending on their uses and other terms.

Restrictions on the location of walls, in relation to acceptable distances between roads and buildings, will be relaxed along Futaba-dori street.

A relaxation measure is already in place along Shinjuku-dori and MOA Second streets to allow higher buildings to be erected.

The Shinjuku government plans to approve a “city plan” in April and submit a bill to amend its building ordinance to the ward assembly in June.

The area covered by the deregulation proposal is home to relatively small-scale buildings.

Ward officials quoted landowners in the area as saying they wish to replace their aging buildings, largely for the sake of safety.

The officials said they decided on the latest deregulation proposal in hopes of developing a pedestrian-friendly and barrier-free community.

REPLACEMENTS OUTSIDE WEST EXIT

Railway companies have initiated large-scale projects to replace shopping mall complexes on the west side of Shinjuku Station.

Odakyu Electric Railway Co. is closing its Shinjuku Mylord shopping mall, which occupies a section of its station complex, on March 16. The Shinjuku main outlet of the Odakyu Department Store ended operations in 2022.

The private railroad corporation plans to work with partners, including Tokyo Metro Co., to build a 260-meter-tall skyscraper with 48 above-ground levels on the site of the two buildings.

The skyscraper will house commercial facilities up to its 10th floor and business offices on its upper levels. The company plans to open the building for operation in fiscal 2029.

“We hope to meet the demand of Shinjuku’s diverse clientele through intensive land use,” an Odakyu representative said.

Keio Corp. and East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) are building two mutually connected buildings in an area outside the west and south exits of Shinjuku Station.

The land lot straddles both sides of Koshu Kaido road, which runs east-west outside the south exit.

The north area of Koshu Kaido will feature a 110-meter-tall building with 19 above-ground levels. It will replace the Shinjuku outlet of the Keio Department Store and the JR Group’s Lumine Shinjuku Lumine 1 shopping complex.

A 225-meter-tall building, with 37 above-ground levels, will be constructed on the south side of the road.

The skyscrapers are expected to house retail shops, business offices and a luxury hotel. The two railway companies plan to fully complete the buildings in the 2040s.

“The west of Shinjuku Station is a major business district that is second only to the Otemachi-Marunouchi-Yurakucho area in Tokyo,” an official in charge of the project said.

The official said the companies are banking on demand from visitors to Japan and business offices.

A rotary in the station square outside the west exit was closed on Jan. 15 as part of a land readjustment project of the Tokyo metropolitan government.

The project, which involves work in areas around Shinjuku Station, is expected to end in fiscal 2046.

“We hope to reorganize car-centered station squares into human-centered ones and improve the pedestrian flows there,” a metropolitan government official said.

The rotary, characterized by a spiral passageway that leads to an underground parking lot, was designed by architect Junzo Sakakura (1901-1969) and was completed in 1966.

Trains of JR and private companies, as well as subway lines, stop at Shinjuku Station. Used by more than 2 million train passengers a day, it is one of the world’s largest railroad terminals.

Repeated improvement works on the station complex, however, have resulted in complicated structures, particularly on its west exit side. User convenience has long been a major challenge for the station.

Shinjuku Ward authorities are hoping to redevelop the station itself and the surrounding areas in an integrated manner to foster a “human-centered environment” that will generate liveliness.

(This article was written by Masashi Kisanuki and Eiichiro Nakamura.)