Is All of Japan Becoming “Niseko”?　A Generation Z Urban Journalist Fears Japan in the Age of SNS

Depending on the SNS you use…you will see “Shibuya” in a completely different way.

In the 1960s, Shinjuku was the town for young people, and from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, Shibuya was the town for young people. What areas do you and the other members of Generation Z find interesting and interesting?

Mr. Tanigashira answered, “Depending on the neighborhood or cluster you belong to, the streets young people go to are completely different. Those who are in bands or theater say Shimokitazawa is the hottest. It seems that the redevelopment project, which was carried out in cooperation with Odakyu Electric Railway and the residents, has gone quite well. I often go there myself and see many young people coming and going day and night.

I also hear that people in the art world gather mainly in East Tokyo and Kyojima in Sumida Ward. There is relatively inexpensive housing in that area for Tokyo, so I think the ability to set up a studio there was a big factor.

I have the impression that the trend is for the trendiest areas to be scattered in the center of Tokyo, slightly outside the Yamanote Line. Since redevelopment in central Tokyo has led to an overall trend toward gentrification, it may be that the centripetal force of towns that have not yet been fully developed is increasing.

For example, it was “Parco” that led the youth culture in Shibuya in the ’70s and ’80s. Mr. Tanigashira himself describes “Niseko-ka suru Nippon” as “Urbanism in the Age of SNS,” and he says that since the spread of smartphones in the 1960s, when everyone began to casually use SNS, the makeup of towns where young people gather has changed from the past.

The main social networking sites used in Shibuya are X, Instagram, and TikTok,” said Mr. Kurokawa.

Those who mainly use TikTok must have a map of Shibuya in their minds with “MIYASHITA PARK” at the center. MIYASHITA PARK” is now called the “sacred place of TikTok,” and at night, many people, especially young women, are dancing in front of their phones (laughs).

For the Insta-types, the Jinnan area near Harajuku is the center of Shibuya. It has a high concentration of fashionable stores that look good on Instagram.

For foreigners visiting Japan, they come to take pictures of the scramble crossing with pinpoint accuracy, and they probably think the scramble crossing is the center of Shibuya.

In short, there are different views of the city depending on the SNS you use. In an age when it is easy to find something that suits one’s tastes on the Internet or SNS, I think it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract people unless we separate our targets more finely and thoroughly ‘select and focus’ on them.

Even in Shibuya, which is said to be “no longer a young people’s town” since the large-scale “once in a century” redevelopment project began, there are still young people where there are young people. However, it is not young people who are the target of “selection and concentration” in the current Shibuya redevelopment project by the Tokyu Group.

Tokyu Group’s redevelopment of Shibuya can be summed up roughly as ‘from a town for young people to a town for adults.

It is a little known fact, but the Shibuya redevelopment project was divided into two phases. The main target of the first phase from ’12 to ’20 was tourists and office workers. In the second phase, “residents” will be added to this group, and the target is different from when we worked on Shibuya 109, which at least focused on teens and 20-somethings.

With the recent redevelopment, the area around Shibuya Station is certainly no longer a place where young people can continue to stay aimlessly. In a sense, I would say that Tokyu has succeeded, since young people are no longer hanging out around the station, as per Tokyu’s scenario.