Get to know Akira Tamura
田村明
The meaning of the term ‘city planner’ is somewhat vague, but in post-war Japan it primarily described officers of the central government. Because the City Planning Act 1919 was not amended as part of the post-war legislative overhaul, the power of the central government remained very strong. This centralised system was well-suited to post-war reconstruction, but did not assist in addressing questions of urban planning which arose with the rapid economic growth from the 1960s onwards.
With the expansion of the Greater Tokyo Area, the population of Yokohama grew rapidly, and its land use was disorganised. The pollution and the lack of infrastructure reached a critical point. Ichio Asukata, elected in 1963 as the new socialist mayor, had to solve these issues. He devised a citizen-centric plan for Yokohama, then approached the planning office at which Tamura was working for assistance.
Tamura had studied at the architectural department at Tokyo University and majored in city planning. After graduation he first worked for the central government, but soon quit due to feeling uneasy about the elitism and sectionalism of the national bureaucracy. Having decided to pursue a career as a city planner as his vocation, Tamura studied in the Law Faculty of Tokyo University to learn a more comprehensive approach to city planning.
Tamura proposed to Asukata a new concept for Yokohama as “Japan’s ‘international management centre’”, rather than a mere satellite to Tokyo. In order to realise the concept, he recommended that six projects be implemented: the redevelopment of the urban central area, the reclamation in the Kanazawa seaside area, the building of the Kohoku New Town, a municipal subway system, highways and the Yokohama Bay Bridge. According to him, the completion of the six projects would be very costly, but would succeed if Yokohama sought the involvement of both the central government and private developers in the projects.
Tamura was invited to work at the city government and worked in the taskforce under the direction of the mayor. He became the chief planner of city administration; not only striving to realise the six projects, but also introducing guidance to control the development and management of ‘urban design’.
As Asukata left the city in 1979, Tamura worked for Yokohama for about a decade. However, his planning vision was inherited by the officers who had been educated by him. Moreover, Tamura’s accomplishments have encouraged many planners and officers in other local governments.
After he wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the local development exaction system, Tamura left Yokohama, and lectured on urban policy as a professor. He also authored twenty books and lectured to enlighten the public on city planning issues.
In short Tamura was a leader and pioneer in the field of city planning as an officer of local government, whose achievements are comparable to Daniel Burnham in Chicago in the late nineteenth century.
Carrer of Akira Tamura
25 July 1926:
Born in Tokyo, third son of father Kotaro Tamura and mother Tadako. He has three siblings.
April 1931:
Entered Aoyama Teacher Training College’s Affiliated Elementary School.
March 1944:
Completed the fourth grade at the Tokyo Prefectural First Junior High School.
April 1944:
Entered the first class of science at the Shizuoka High School.
February 1947:
Left Shizuoka on provisional graduation.
April 1947:
Entered the Department of Architecture, the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo.
Mar 1950:
Graduated with a graduation thesis, 'Research on changes in the regional structure of large cities', from the Department of Architecture at the University of Tokyo, under the guidance of Associate Professor Kenzo Tange.
April 1950:
Entered the Department of Law, Faculty of Law, the University of Tokyo.
May 1950:
Appointed as an official in the Planning Division, Tourism Department, Minister's Secretariat of the Ministry of Transport.
September 1951:
Resigned from the Ministry of Transport on request.
March 1954:
Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law.
April 1954:
Joined Nippon Life Insurance Company and assigned to the Real Estate Division of the Head Office
1960:
Married at the age of 33 to Makiko Saito in a non-denominational ceremony.
January 1963:
Joined Environmental Development Centre Co Ltd, of which Takashi Asada was president, as head of the planning department; Akira Tamura aged 36.
1964:
At the request of Yokohama Mayor Ichio Asukata, he proposed the "Six Major Projects" as a vision for Yokohama's future framework.
1968:
Joined the City of Yokohama at the request of Mayor Asukata and became Director of the Planning Coordination Department of the Planning & Coordination Office, which was newly established for Tamura. Later became Director of the Planning and Coordination Bureau, and then also served as Technical Superintendent.
1978:
Awarded the AIJ Prize for Achievement by the Architectural Institute of Japan for "Urban Planning Activities in Yokohama - Comprehensive Practice for the Creation of Urban Space" as the Planning and Coordination Bureau of the City of Yokohama.
Appointed lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo and visiting professor at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University
1980:
Inaugurated the Yokohama City Planning Study Group, a study group of young Yokohama City officials around Akira Tamura,
Awarded a doctorate from the University of Tokyo for a "Comprehensive study on the process of establishing development guidelines for residential land development and their effects on basic urban environmental improvement".
1981:
Retired from the City of Yokohama and became a professor at the Faculty of Law, Hosei University, and also a visiting professor at Waseda University.
1983:
Published Chuko Shinsho's "Yokohama: Making of A City", which discusses the theory and practice of the City of Yokohama.
1986:
Participated in the establishment of the "Local Administration Association" for voluntary study by local government officials, scholars and citizens, and became a representative member of the steering committee.
1996:
Retired from Hosei University.
2000:
Awarded the Architectural Institute of Japan Grand Prize as the first individual practitioner of urban planning for "The construction of theories and methods of urban planning and their practice".
2002:
Established the "Modern Machizukuri Society", an independent study group of citizens surrounding Akira Tamura.
2006:
Published "The Struggle of Akira Tamura, Urban Planner" (Gakugei Shuppansha) and "'Citizen's Government' Theory - Local Government Studies in the 'Age of the City'" (Seikatsu-sha).
25 January 2010:
Passed away at his villa in Izu-Atakawa watched over by his wife Makiko.
Makiko and Akira after their marriage
Akira Tamura as of years of the Yokohama City Government
Akira Tamura and Toshio Taguchi(Vice President of Our Research NPO)