＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
Recently, I learned about the “Midosuji Pedestrian Road Plan.” In fact, in the fall of 2018, a part of the side road of Midosuji around Namba was closed to vehicles, and a preliminary survey was conducted to see what the impact would be.
However, I believe that this “pedestrian road plan” is a reckless plan that will ruin the completion of Midosuji, the “main artery of Osaka,” which was a visionary concept conceived by Osaka Mayor Hajime Seki with an eye toward 100 years into the future and has made a significant contribution to the commercial development of the city.
1. The history of “Midosuji”
In 1889 , Tokyo, Osaka, and Kobe were connected by rail, and Osaka Station came to be regarded as an important gateway to Osaka.
In 1908 , the current Yotsubashi-suji was completed as the first north-south main road between Umeda and Namba, but it was basically built for the Osaka City Tram and was narrow.
Eventually, there was a call for a north-south main road passing through Semba and Shimanouchi, and so in 1919 , then Osaka mayor Shiro Ikegami announced a project to widen the road between Umeda and Namba to a length of 4 km and a width of 44 m, designating it “Urban Planning Road No. 1.”
Later, in 1923 , Hajime Seki, a former professor at Tokyo Higher Commercial School (now Hitotsubashi University) and deputy mayor of Osaka City, was appointed mayor of the city. He was also an urban planning scholar and steadily advanced urban planning with an eye to the future. In 1926 , he began work on widening Midosuji Street in conjunction with the construction of the Midosuji Subway Line.
Although it took some time to acquire some of the land, the current “Midosuji” was completed in May 1937.
2. Outline of the “Midosuji Pedestrian Street Plan”
In March 2018, the Midosuji 80th Anniversary Completion Commemorative Project Promotion Committee, which includes the national and Osaka City governments as well as private organizations such as economic organizations and urban development groups along the road, compiled a proposal calling for the complete conversion of the approximately 3 km section between Yodoyabashi and Namba to a pedestrian path by 2037.
The first step is to turn two of the six sidewalk lanes into sidewalks.
According to the plan, “the area to be turned into a sidewalk will be gradually expanded while surveying the impact of abolishing side roads and traffic congestion, with 2020 and 2025 as milestone years.”
The concept of this project is “Thinking about the future from roads” and “aiming to reorganize road space from car-centered to people-centered.” This is somewhat similar to the slogan “From concrete to people” of the former Democratic Party administration.
3. Problems with the “Midosuji Pedestrian Road Plan”
(1) It would block Osaka’s main artery, causing major traffic jams on Yotsubashi-suji and Sakaisuji.
(2) The advantage of “Midosuji” will disappear, and the bustle of people will decrease. I cannot expect the current bustle to continue with just subway users.
(3) New luxury hotels have been opening one after another along Midosuji in the past year or two. Furthermore, the replacement of old buildings will accelerate in the future, and there is a possibility that the area will become a skyscraper district like Manhattan in New York. However, if the only way to get to these hotels, department stores, and commercial facilities is through the “back door,” it will be pointless and ruin the fact that the area faces Midosuji.
If that were to happen, there is a risk that stores of overseas luxury brands such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Omega, and Ferrari would also withdraw.
(4) It is also a problem that emergency vehicles such as police cars, fire engines, and ambulances cannot pass through.
(5) Because it will no longer be possible to load and unload luggage at stores along the road from the Midosuji side, customers will be forced to use the narrow, one-way roads that run east-west, known as “dori” streets, which will cause heavy congestion on the “dori” streets.
This will also cause problems in terms of ensuring the safety of pedestrians passing through the narrow east-west “street.”
(6) Due to the recent increase in foreign tourists visiting Japan, many tourist buses are parked along the roads along Midosuji in Osaka’s Minami district. If this were to be no longer possible, tourists would have to move to parking lots farther away, which would be inconvenient.
(7) Wheelchair users who are unable to walk will no longer be able to take taxis along Midosuji to get to nearby stores, hotels, or theaters, and the burden of assisting wheelchair users getting on and off Osaka Metro will increase.
4. Proposal for a “revised plan”
As for the sidewalks, I believe they are much wider than they used to be, so I don’t think there is any need to widen them any further.
On the contrary, I think that the “green belt” between the “main road” and the “side road” should be removed and more bicycle lanes should be added (like “between Osaka City Hall and Yodoyabashi”).
In other words, I think that the “side road” should be narrowed a little to make it a “bicycle lane” and the part where the “green belt” has been removed should be widened a little and converted into a “side road.” I think that the “side road” must be preserved not only as a parking area for tourist buses, but also for taxis to board and disembark, for stores to load and unload luggage, and for cars turning right and left.
As for “ventilation holes” from subways and underground passages, wouldn’t it be possible to provide them in several places by creating “bicycle-only lanes” as mentioned above?
Also, when there are “festivals” held on Sundays or holidays several times a year, I think it would be a good idea to limit the area, restrict traffic, and turn it into a “pedestrian paradise.”
Once this becomes established, I think it would be a good idea to create a pedestrian paradise, like Ginza’s pedestrian paradise, limited to an area such as from Shinsaibashi to Namba, from noon to evening every Saturday, Sunday, and public holiday.
Of course, I think that we should also promote the use of public transportation such as subways and buses to alleviate traffic congestion caused by excessive car concentration on Midosuji. However, I think that the plan to ban cars from Midosuji is an outrageous act that threatens to strangle Osaka.