Warm up
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- What industry do you work in and what is your role?
- What are your responses in your role / position?
- Can you describe to the function of your workplace / company?
- How many departments, how many offices. National or International?
- What are the minimum requirements for employment ie Education or Experience?
- How many opportunities are there to ‘move up the ladder’?
- What is the process for changing job roles ie Interview? Test?
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General discussion about your workweek:
- Current projects? Deadlines? Opportunities?
- Anything of interest happening?
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Script
1. Mori Building Co, one of Japan’s major urban landscape developers, on Thursday announced it has begun construction on its Toranomon-Azabudai District Category 1 Urban Redevelopment Project, a project aimed at revitalizing a large area of central Tokyo. It will include residences, offices, a luxury hotel, retail shops, restaurants, cultural facilities, and an international school.
2. The landscape developer has become the epitome of capitalism in Tokyo, especially within Minato ward, forging signature landmarks such as the Ark Hills complex, Roppongi Hills, Omotesando Hills and Toranomon Hills.
3. “We’ve put together everything we’ve learned from our past projects into this new development,” Shingo Tsuji, president and CEO of Mori Building Co Ltd, revealing the cost of this new project at 580 billion yen.
4. Its core concept is “Modern Urban Village” covering approximately 8.1 hectares – as stated by Mori, a good comparison to New York’s Rockefeller Center. Although the proportion seems less than Mori Co’s previous projects, the new project will occupy more floor space, with a 330-meter-tall, 64-story main tower and a few more buildings, in which some 20,000 workers and 3,500 residents are expected to work and live.
5. With safety and security measures of paramount importance, the city-within-a-city is designed to create a space to escape to, rather than flee from, and a retreat into urban nature surrounded by greenery. As for eco-friendliness, 100% of the electricity supplied to the neighborhood will be generated from renewable resources.
6. The core theme is “Green & Wellness” which offers more than two hectares of green space, including a huge 6,000 square-meter central square filled with nature. The future city will also furnish a healthier society. A medical facility, spa and fitness club, a food market, and vegetable gardens will all be linked through a membership program.
7. The entire city is aimed at becoming a place of learning, a workplace, a home, and a playground. “Studying and learning become very important to building a diverse city,” said Tsuji. “I believe there aren’t enough international schools in Japan compared to our surrounding countries, so we invited the British International School with student nationalities covering 50 countries.”
8. According to Tsuji, the philosophy of the late former CEO of Mori was to challenge new things, “otherwise the world will never change. When you settle for compromise, you will never be satisfied with the end product.” Tsuji added: “Some people comment that Mori Building never seems to fail. But in fact, we don’t stop until we succeed, so it only looks as though we have never failed.”
9. It has taken the Toranomon-Azabudai project 30 years to come this far and its completion is scheduled for the end of March 2023.
Discussion
1. What are your main motivations to live somewhere?
2. One core focus of the project is to create an eco-friendly space in the city. Do you think Tokyo has enough environmentally friendly spaces?
3. Which areas are the best in japan? (Your opinion and generally accepted) why?
Keywords
- revitalizing = to give new life or vigor to
- epitome = the typical or highest example of a stated quality, as shown by a particular person or thing:
- forging = to make an illegal copy of something in order to deceive:
- revealing =allowing a look at or an understanding of something inner or hiddena revealing confession
- occupy = 1: to engage the attention or energies of, 2 a: to take up (a place or extent in space)
- generated = 1: to bring into existence, 2: to be the cause of (a situation, action, or state of mind)
