1. Collecting our wisdom to address the risks around us

Crises stand in the way of Tokyo’s future

Since its first confirmation in December 2019, an infectious disease of unknown origin spread rapidly around the world. This was the start of the long battle between humanity and the novel coronavirus. Countermeasures taking the offense and defense, and above all, the awareness and actions of our residents and businesses, were powerful forces in our steady promotion of measures against this unknown virus. “Stop the virus, but keep society going.” Tokyo came together as one to accomplish this, and just as we were finally finding our way out from the difficulties wrought by the pandemic, the impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cast a dark shadow over Tokyo as well.

This reckless act of resource-rich Russia immediately threw the global supply chain into a maelstrom of confusion. Notably, as Japan relies on imports for most of its fossil fuels, instability in the supply of crude oil and natural gas threatens the foundations of Japan, and particularly Tokyo, which is a major consumer of energy. The major task of how to ensure energy security is heavily weighing us down as we set out to achieve more growth and maturity.

Gathering wisdom to take steps to a sustainable future

What we must do now to ensure that Tokyo continues to shine brightly is to maintain a mindset of turning risk into opportunity, and achieve a sustainable recovery. This is the only option available. We are now living in a global age where events happening overseas immediately impact our daily lives. The threats that emerge from those events are entangled in layers of complexity, which make them that much more difficult to resolve through a single solution. That is precisely why we need to face up to these difficulties by gathering the wisdom of the world and the insights of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. We will become a truly sustainable city that stands firm in the face of any danger.