Okawabata River City 21 about 60 years ago and today

History of Okawabata River City 21

Right below the point where the Sumida River splits into two streams, a long, narrow island lies. It is Tsukuda and Ishikawajima in Chuo Ward, Tokyo. If you open the aerial photographs in order from the oldest era, in the northern half of the island the long buildings lined up in parallel first decrease in number, the land returns for a while to bare ground, and after that white high-rises rise up. The town called Okawabata River City 21 stands on that replacement, in which an island of shipbuilding was replaced by an island for living.

An island of fishermen and the workhouse

Tsukuda Island was born in 1644, when fishermen who had moved to Edo from Tsukuda Village in Settsu Province built up tidal flats granted to them by the shogunate. In 1790 the shogunate's workhouse for laborers (Ninsoku Yoseba) was placed on neighboring Ishikawajima, and it was after that that the island took on the color of industry. In 1853 the Mito Domain began Western-style shipbuilding on this Ishikawajima. The character of an island of shipbuilding continued from then for more than a century, and in 1960 Ishikawajima Heavy Industries and Harima Shipbuilding merged to become Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries. In the middle of the Meiji era, the reclaimed land of Tsukishima was made to the south by piling up soil dredged from the riverbed, and the chain of islands extended south of the city.

The era when the buildings lined up

In the photograph from around 1936-42, many long, narrow roofs lie in parallel in the northern half of the island. The direction of the buildings is aligned, and narrow passages run between them. The west bank is a city area divided into a grid, with the grains of roofs packed without gaps. In the lower left corner of the frame a large roof drawing an arc appears, and on the east side large buildings that look like warehouses line up. In contrast, the lower part of the frame is bright flat land with only a grid of roads drawn on it. Land that had been reclaimed but not yet become a town remains untouched.

In 1945-50, the way the river splits has not changed. On the island, long, narrow bright bands of the shipyard line up, and small boats are scattered here and there on the surrounding water. In the city area on the west bank, black lines of canals can be read, and on the east side long, narrow lots divide the water surface and line up in many rows. It is a shape that looks like a place for handling timber. North of the factory there is one lot of empty land with the color drained out, which catches the eye among the densely built surroundings.

In the 1961-69 photograph, first of all one line has been added over the water. It is a bridge crossing straight from the west bank to the island. In 1964 the Tsukuda Ohashi Bridge opened, and the ferry that had run for a long time disappeared that year. The island's buildings have each grown thicker, and the surfaces of the roofs have become wider. At the left edge the chain of roofs drawing arcs appears more clearly than ever, and on the water east of the island countless small shapes are crowded together. The bustle of the boat basin has become grains just as it was.

1974-78 is the first era with color at this location. The northern half of the island is filled with factory roofs lying in parallel, with a building with a red roof at the northern tip and a blue-green square in the middle of the island. The southern half is fine rows of houses, and the difference in grain from the north can be seen at a glance. From the southeast corner of the island the Aioi Bridge crosses the eastern waterway, and beyond it, on the Toyosu side, tanks and factory roofs line up. Along the canal in the lower part, long warehouses continue, and the outlines of the lots dividing the water surface also remain.

Three eras in which the roofs disappeared

In 1979-83, only the western part of the northern half of the island loses its color. Dots that look like materials are scattered on bright brown ground, and the red roof that was at the northern tip cannot be found. On the other hand, long parallel roofs are still standing in the eastern part, and the way demolition advanced in order from the west appears just as it was. A photograph in which the places that moved and the places that did not are divided this neatly is rare.

In 1984-86, the northern half changes into an almost unbroken surface of bare ground. Traces of foundations remain faintly on uneven brown and gray-green ground, and only a few low buildings that look temporary are placed on the western edge. The rows of houses in the southern half remain densely built, and the factory district across the waterway also keeps its roofs in rows. Scenes in which this much area becomes empty at once in the middle of a city are not many.

In the 1987-90 photograph, several tall towers stand on that ground. The shadows of the buildings fall toward the upper left, and lots still of bare soil remain between the towers. Light-blue squares newly appear, and the eastern water's edge has been straightened into a bank you can walk along. In the lower right the Aioi Bridge still crosses the waterway, and the bridge crossing to the northwest does not yet exist in this era. In the south of the island, subway construction bore fruit, and in 1988 Tsukishima Station opened. It is the period when an island people commuted to for work was turning into an island people come home to.

Low land and what came after

In today's photograph, high-rises crowd the northern half of the island, and greenery and plazas fill the spaces between them. At the upper left of the frame, a bridge that did not exist in 1987-90 crosses to the west bank; it is the Chuo Ohashi Bridge, opened in 1993. You can also find the straight promenade along the east bank, boats moored at the foot of the Aioi Bridge, and the shape of a round plaza inside the blocks. The southern half remains fine, low rows of houses, and if you go back and forth between the eras, you can see that only the contents of the island were replaced twice without changing its framework.

As for height, the land is low both inside and outside the island. The five measured points fall between 1.7 m and 2.6 m, the highest being the center and the lowest the south. Since this is reclaimed land between a river and canals, assumptions about water are something to grasp first as a condition of the land. You can check on Chuo Ward's hazard map what flooding assumptions are placed on this area.

The land value records are at a survey point placed in a residential area in Tsukuda 2-chome, south of the island. It is about 270 m from this location, and the official land price (Chika Koji) was 650,000 yen per square meter in 2005 and 1,910,000 yen in 2026. Up to the 2026 publication, the lowest value is 650,000 yen in 2005 and the highest is 1,910,000 yen in 2026, a series that came close to tripling from 2005 to 2026. However, it was not a steady climb: it fell two years in a row from 970,000 yen in 2008 to 810,000 yen in 2010, and in 2021 it also fell from 1,280,000 yen the year before to 1,270,000 yen.

If you open the seven eras in order, the path by which an island of shipbuilding was replaced by an island for living can be followed by eye as three stages: aligned roofs / bare ground / tall towers. To the question of what to put on land after the factories leave, this island has answered with homes and a path along the water's edge.