Photo 2: Tsukuba Express station

If the concept of ubiquitousness is to create a new ideal information environment for people, then a ubiquitous perspective is indispensable for future community development. The Tsukuba Express is a new rail project encompassing 18 cosmopolitan residential districts and 20 rail stations in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures. The 58.3km trip between Akihabara, the IT quarter of Tokyo, and Tsukuba, the city of scientists and researchers, takes only 45 minutes. The line runs through landscapes rich with nature and areas containing numerous educational and research institutions — an environment that embraces life, career and intellectuality. A well-balanced combination of urban and suburban advantages enables people to have a quality life that suits their individual lifestyles and values. Another big advantage is a pleasant, seamless, and efficient information environment.

Nishikawa Ryujin
Born in Kobe in 1960. A graduate of Hitotsubashi University. Has been engaged in the planning and production of products, enterprises, facilities, regional development etc. as the director of Raison, a commercial development research institute. Has also been involved in staging the latest shochu liquor boom as the leader of the Kagoshima Genuine Shochu Marketing Study Group. Is highly reputed for practical consultant advice to various government agencies and corporations, including proposals to the e-Japan scheme. Also serves as a part-time lecturer at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Waseda University and as a visiting professor at Takushoku University.

The Tsukuba Express railroad, launched on August 24, 2005, is the last and largest metropolitan railroad project in Japan. The 58.3km-long line connects Akihabara, Tokyo's IT quarter, and Tsukuba, the city of scientists and researchers, in a mere 45 minutes. It will carry 284,000 passengers a day.

Eighteen new towns are being created along the railroad line, with a planned population of 83,200 in six districts of the Ibaraki Prefecture (centering on Tsukuba Academic City), 39,900 in four districts of Saitama Prefecture, and 9,300 in two districts of Tokyo. Six of these new urban areas, to be called collectively "Tsukuba Express Town," are already attracting much attention as a model town based on "the special legislation regarding the integrated promotion of housing development and railroad development" (integration method). Industry-academic-government collaboration aims to create an urban environment offering high levels of safety and security.

To suppress traffic congestion in accordance with legislated requirements, no crossings were constructed around new stations on the Tsukuba Express railroad. Thus, urban development with smooth access to the station has successfully been achieved. Barrier-free walkways and pavements inside and outside each station ensure safe walking. Also, because many foreign people will visit the research institutes, universities, and IT companies along the railroad, street signs, notices, and other key identifiers will be displayed in English and well as in Japanese.

Akihabara, situated at one end of the railroad, will have many skyscrapers concentrated around Akihabara Cross Field. It is expected to become Japan's premier IT outlet. Many leading Japanese IT companies will occupy the skyscrapers there and, with 40-story high-rise condo buildings nearby, the city will be an attractive place to live and work. Moreover, Akihabara will continue to grow as Japan's mecca for digital consumers. Direct access to the Tsukuba Express Akihabara Station will be enabled from the Akiba Building, the new base for Yodobashi Camera's full-scale promotion in Akihabara.

Tsukuba Academic City accommodates approximately 3,000 research institutes and approximately 17,000 researchers. There are many foreign researchers, making the city very cosmopolitan. All primary schools within Tsukuba City are networked, and they implement a system in which people who are native speakers of English are allocated to the schools as teaching assistants. The city government actively promotes quality education for the next generation.

Researchers and students who live in the area were involved in planning the housing around the Tsukuba Express Kenkyu Gakuen (research academic) Station in Tsukuba Academic City. There are citizen-oriented community buildings, and Town Ideas Workshops are held on a regular basis. Moreover, Paseo Commons, the scheme proposed by Associate Professor Watari from Tsukuba University, has been implemented in the Katsuragi District. Paseo Commons means green corridor, and streets and green ways for pedestrians have been laid out spaciously on approximately three hectares (30,000 square meters) of land. All unsightly electric cables are concealed underground, creating a very distinctive leafy and open-plan town view (see artist's concept picture).

Housing providers in the area will be offering model dwellings in the near future. They are taking a symbiotic design approach, one that will promote harmony among residents, and are applying cutting-edge technologies in their buildings.

The area surrounding the Kashiwa no Ha Campus Station consists of the Tokyo University Kashiwa Campus, Chiba University and the Tokyo University of Science. Prior to the launch of the Tsukuba Express, the area had been set up as an international base for genomic research, as part of an urban renaissance project implemented by the Japanese government. Chiba Prefecture has also taken strides to become a special district for new enterprise creation. It promotes the region to R&D organizations on a global level, with the main focus on biotechnology and nanotechnology.

Furthermore, industry-academic-government collaboration has resulted in the establishment of the Kashiwa no Ha Campus City IT Consortium in the Kashiwa Campus. The consortium intends to conduct research and demonstration experiments throughout the entire area that will enhance next-generation lifestyles (see illustration). For example, later this year it will test a system that uses GPS-enabled cell-phone communication to enhance the efficiency of bus/taxi operations.

One of the consortium's safety proposals is to constantly monitor people going home at night using security cameras. If anything suspicious is spotted, it is captured as a high-resolution image and the security center is alerted. An interesting lifestyle-enhancement suggestion is to implement a service that, for a small fee will identify a child's whereabouts using wireless LAN (see illustration). Another suggestion is to launch an appointment-only, on-demand bus system that would pick up elderly and disabled passengers from the bus stops nearest to their houses whenever it suits them, instead of according to a timetable. A passenger would make a service request from a cell-phone, and the request to send a bus to the specific location would be received by means of voice recognition.

Beyond these experiments, proposals and suggestions, the consortium continues to generate creative ideas for increasing the safety and security of community life.

The expansion of the life sphere by the new railroad line will enable highly information sensitive areas to gradually expand their cultural influence. For example, the young generation is creating fashion and music in the Kashiwa area that is distinctive from that of Shibuya. Additionally, Yashio City in Saitama Prefecture, Japan's most famous city for dumplings, is beginning to be recognized as a "sweets town" like Jiyugaoka in Tokyo. A subculture centering on the creation of "cafes" gradually will be developed in the near future. Akihabara, home to "cool Japan," will surely contribute a great deal of stimuli to the cultural movement.

To facilitate such cultural development, an environment is needed in which information circulates from base to base seamlessly and efficiently. It is only a matter of time before the "Tsukuba Express" establishes itself as a "ubiquitous line."

The third article in this Technology Impact series will focus on the ubiquitous style unique to Marunouchi, a major business quarter in Tokyo.