2. The first year of sustainable recovery: Accelerating action toward the future

Build a truly sustainable Tokyo that endures beyond “sustainable recovery”

“My goal is to realize a ‘new Tokyo,’ a city where everyone can lead lives full of hope, vitality, and peace of mind, and a sustainable city that drives the growth of Japan and is a radiant presence in the world.” This is the commitment I made in my first policy speech after assuming the office of governor five years ago. A declining population, fierce global competition among cities, and an intensifying climate crisis. Even in the midst of all these harsh domestic and international circumstances, we must build a Tokyo that continues to grow sustainably. With unwavering belief in the "Grand Reform of Tokyo," we have been focusing on the realization of the three faces of our city, Safe City, Diverse City, and Smart City, as well as the development of the Tama and Tokyo Island areas, coexistence and co-prosperity with the rest of Japan, and the advancement of digital transformation. What we have consistently emphasized throughout this time is the perspective of allowing "people," who are the major source of Tokyo’s vitality, shine at their brightest. The keys to the sustainability of Tokyo, which has continued to develop through people connecting and creating new value, lie in each and every person. Firmly believing in this, we have been taking a wide range of measures to build a city full of diversity where everyone can shine, regardless of age, gender, nationality, or disability.

Two crises now stand in our way to building a sustainable Tokyo—COVID-19 and climate change. In the midst of the need to thoroughly restrain contact between people in order to stop the spread of this unfamiliar virus, how do we ensure the sustainability of Tokyo, which has been shaped by human interactions? And how do we overcome the climate crisis that threatens the very sustainability of the city? Surmounting these two crises of COVID-19 and climate change is the task that has been thrust upon us in order to create a truly sustainable city, and now is the time to restructure our strategies for this purpose.

We will directly confront the challenges facing Japan that this invisible enemy revealed, such as the lack of progress in digital transformation compared to the rest of the world, and press ahead with structural reforms. The citizens, businesses, and government of Tokyo will work together to accelerate effective actions for decarbonization. Rather than simply returning to the way things were before the COVID-19 crisis, for those of us who are living in Tokyo today, it is our responsibility to the future to realize a sustainable recovery to transform the city  into one where everyone can always live happily and with peace of mind. We have positioned 2021 as the “first year of sustainable recovery,” in which we will accelerate our actions for the future while placing the highest priority on protecting people’s lives and health. And under the banner of the new Grand Reform of Tokyo 2.0, we will take strong steps forward together with the members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly and the people of Tokyo.

Formulation of Future Tokyo: Tokyo’s Long Term Strategy that carries on the spirit of Shibusawa Eiichi and Goto Shinpei

As the compass to guide us, we released the draft of our "Future Tokyo strategy” last week. We will overcome the crises and carve a bright future for Tokyo that balances maturity with ongoing growth. For that purpose, Future Tokyo is composed of 20+1 strategies, which includes the addition of the Strategy to Overcome COVID-19, and 122 ambitious initiatives, such as the "3 Cs" of Community, Children, and Chōju (longevity,) the realization of a hydrogen society, and the promotion of Tokyo as an international financial center.

Over its more than 150 years of history, Tokyo surmounted several major crises to develop sustainably while evolving. The wisdom of our predecessors is the foundation of this achievement. For example, Goto Shinpei, who, after the Great Kanto Earthquake, built the framework for Tokyo's growth with a vision looking 100 years into the future. And Shibusawa Eiichi, who, asked by Goto to help in the reconstruction of the city, aimed to create a virtuous society where everyone could live with peace of mind, not only through physical reconstruction but also through spiritual reconstruction. Learning from our predecessors who demonstrated such keen foresight, under the concept of creating the future from the past, we will boldly pursue projects to create a new era, while looking 50 to 100 years ahead.

One core project is the Tokyo Bay eSG Project, which aims to realize a model of a sustainable city in the Bay Area, an area of huge potential. Beyond our promotion of structural reform of society based on the recommendations of experts, such as fully using cutting-edge technologies while maintaining harmony with the environment, we will create a sustainable city that fuses "nature" and "convenience." The project name incorporates the initials of Shibusawa and Goto, and while carrying on their spirit of holding a bird's-eye view of the future, we will proceed specific studies on the Bay Area stage.

Structural reform of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is now required to make bold changes in order to enhance its ability to surmount crises and create the future that we should be aiming for. To clarify the path to this goal, we recently released a draft of the New Tokyo Government: The strategy for structural reform of the government and to upgrade QOS. With the determination to create a new metropolitan government, we will implement seven core projects that will serve as breakthroughs for reform, together with leading projects of the bureaus that will structurally reform the way we provide services to the people of Tokyo as well as the way we do our jobs.

The key to this reform is DX, digital transformation. We will be proposing an ordinance to this regular session with the aim of establishing the Bureau of Digital Services in April. As the flagbearer of DX promotion, this bureau will lead the reform by providing technical support to the other bureaus and municipalities as well as by improving the digital skills of the entire staff. Each bureau will also work for the social implementation of advanced technologies and improved convenience for the people of Tokyo, such as the early realization of services utilizing 5G and the introduction of online tax procedures and metropolitan housing applications. Five keywords guide these efforts: Speed, open, design, agile, and clear. While having each of our employees familiarize themselves with these concepts as our new standards for government administration, we will strongly promote the structural reform and digital transformation of Tokyo. Beyond that, we will create a Tokyo where everyone can feel happy to have lived here by enhancing QOS, the quality of service of the metropolitan government, and improving QOL, the quality of life of the people of Tokyo.

FY2021 budget proposal for taking the first step toward the future

The FY2021 budget proposal, which is for taking the first step toward the future that we should aim for, boldly pursues strategic initiatives to realize Tokyo as a city that continues to grow. From this perspective, we have allocated our budget to focus on policies set forth in Future Tokyo: Tokyo’s Long Term Strategy. In addition, the initial budget for the general account has been set at 7.425 trillion yen in order to promote measures for the early recovery of society and economy, which have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Even in the midst of a severe financial environment, we will continue to protect the lives of our citizens and steadily promote initiatives to create Tokyo’s future by making active use of the funds we have reserved through constant review of our projects and our TMG bonds, which have gained issuance ability.

Furthermore, in order to strongly promote environmental measures, we will expand the issuance amount of the Tokyo Green Bond to 40 billion yen in the next fiscal year. Tokyo was the first local government in Japan to issue this bond and demand has been increasing each year. In addition, we will aim to issue around 60 billion yen in social bonds for society as a whole to support citizens and businesses of Tokyo in need due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through such efforts, we will further promote ESG investment in Japan.