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destroying a mountain to have enough soil to fill up an entire freaking bay sounds like a city skylines project of mine that would go horribly wrong.

I can picture a long line of architectural engineers, seismic engineers and geotechnical engineers, among others, just saying "no" to all of these plans.

I don't think they actually ever intended to do this for real. City planners just need a project to work on sometimes.

As a resident of Tokyo, having all of these plans explained without the associated disaster preparedness (specifically earthquake and tsunami) is utterly terrifying. A superstructure housing 10m people suspended over the bay in the most seismically active county in the world sounds like an absolutely untenable risk.

It's impressive that those ideas sprung up in country with one of the strictest anti narcotics laws

Because _OF COURSE_ the notions of Neo Tokyo featured in AKIRA were inspired by real ideas had by real Japanese eccentrics. Silly of me to even begin to think otherwise, really. Superlatively impressive video, as usual. Super glad to be a subscriber!

The animation and rendering take this storytelling to a whole new level. Keep it up

As a college student (I studied structural engineering) I went to an annual showcase for the college of architecture's senior projects and I got to see so many models that made the metabolists seem flat out rational with their designs. I vividly remember a skyscraper in the middle of the ocean that was supposed to be supported on a single tiny pile. When I asked the architecture student about the foundation design considering the submerged soil properties he gave me a blank look and said yeah it'll be fine. All the senior projects were pretty creative, as long as you ignore physics and cost.

Crazy how backwards our builders have become. This is right up there with building the largest building in the world without a sewage system.

I love how with each passing year, the proposed plans for Tokyo Bay get crazier and crazier. They make the Babylon Project in Patlabor seem downright plausible in comparison.

These architects were looking at these projects from a top-down view like the city elites, instead of imagining how it would be like inside like the people who actually lived in them

You should have mentioned that much of Tokyo was originally a swamp that Tokugawa Ieyasu filled in with cedar trees so that it could be expanded when he moved Japan's capital there. Tokyo has a history of large scale terraforming projects, so this only continues that tradition.

This whole idea of having commercial and residential zones separated strictly is such a City Skylines approach to planning...

I like designing insane megaprojects as a hobby so once i designed a manhattan sized/shaped artificial peninsula in tokyo bay connected to the north i think with a central park just like on manhattan surrounded by massive skyscrapers. It could house easily 5 million people maybe even 10. I used satellite images and photoshop like i usually do (i use AI and sketches too). I designed my first artificial island back in Y2K when i was in high school. A 1km wide circular city with trains traveling around on top of the outer wall and with a lake and a central island in the middle and many many more things (even a ski slope lol). I wonder how expensive it would be to build it irl?

You can actually get a small glimpse of what such an endeavor would have looked like or felt just by crossing the bay on the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line which opened in 1997. The artificial island, known Umihotaru (海ほたる, Umi-hotaru, "sea firefly," is in the middle of the bay and serves as the transition between the bridge and an undersea tunnel which connects the two sides of the bay. It’s an interesting piece of architecture but it’s isolation in the middle of the sea gives it a rather soulless outlook especially in inclement weather.

Keep up the good Content Hoog, you never disappoint with the perfect balance between professionalism, quality and humor.

As the common saying goes: an architect’s dream is a civil engineer’s nightmare.

The seminal animated movie "Akira" features a neo-Tokyo in the middle of the bay. It's mostly envisioned as a series of bridge connected islands forming an urban landscape similar to the rest of Tokyo.

As an engineer, I finally found something worse than an architecture. A cult of architectures.

Wow. Those animations are amazing, I was half listening and half admiring the work put into the graphics explaining everything

The coolest one for me is the shimazu megacity pyramid plan. A huge pyramid in tokyo bay, using trianglar prism supports, that interlock with each other, with various buildings running down the centre, all to form the giant pyramid.

I'm always glad that these never actually come to exist most of the time, or if they do they aren't as insane as these ones so you wouldn't notice as much. It just looks kinda depressing, and also thinking about things like the islands in Dubai reminds you that it really would not have been a good idea, it would probably cause way to many problems with the budget, the environment, etc.

The design with the two airports looks better looking in my opinion. Even if building on such large amount of land is expensive, you can still just add onto the thing in stages and over time like adding pebbles over time to make a nice sidewalk. The parts need not be the same shape, but it can still grow over time. One needs only plan ahead and build the important parts first, like that big airport, as the first phase. It would probably be sort of like Venice in a way, only with perhaps less canals or canals in general between small islands.

The 3D in this video is amazing. Really well done 👍🏽

I'm imagining all the ecological surveys and impact reports that are going to have to accompany even a serious proposal for a project like this. The question is not going to be if the ecosystem is affected, or even to what extent, but rather do the costs outweigh the benefits. I think it would be interesting to see that play out.

It's nice to see that even the Japanese have completely and utterly insane architects that are detached from reality. I really want whatever magic mushrooms they were taking to come up with these plans

Beautiful video, so well put together and informative, as always! Thanks for engaging quality content

As an urban development geek in Japan, I shame the project never came to fruition, but the study did play a role in the Tokyo Bay Aqualine.

Famous American designer Syd Mead was also a guy who designed Tokyo bay megalopolis. The design was drawn in his Bandai collaborated book “Chronovecta”.

Even if these wild ideas never find any application in real life, they're doing the sci-fi writers of the world plenty of favors.

I love this epic style of documentary, the dark aesthetic and all of it. and then theres these weird "jokes" inbetween, that make everything feel so human

It's really interesting how none of them thought to just build into the bay from the edges and to build a elevated bridge (for trains primarily) high above the bay that would allow ships to pass under it.

I came up with the idea of mass manufactured hexagons as a base on which to build on top of (my idea was land based - could be dirt level and you could stack them on top of each other with risers one or more levels high. Open tunnel areas to connect pipes, electric and data infrastructure. It would be flexible and large enough to accommodate future technologies.) Of course an architect thought of something like this decades ago!

I wonder if any of these plans considered environmental or sustainability concerns back in the day? That really should be just as important as any other deciding factor, especially now.

City Planner: "Why specifically to Chiba though?" Kanno (wearing a shirt that reads "I love Chiba"): "No particular reason."

Thanks for sharing another amazingly produced video. Would be great if you can explain your workflow on how the animation is created and edited.

Tokyo is beautiful, and so clean and organized for such a huge city

An actual existing example of high-rise apartments built on pillars identical to those in the models at 7:18 is located in Trieste, Italy. That structure is called "Quadrilatero di Rozzol Melara" designed by Carlo Celli, an astonishing example of brutalist architecture.

Love your work. I wish you made a tutorial or a documentary about your work process and how you create your videos!

Nicely done, Hoog! Keep making good, interesting videos.

That sponsorship came out of nowhere.

I feel the New Tokyo idea would be the most sound. Still gives the area some needed greenspace and flood management, while also allowing for expansion all around.

Neo Tokyo in Akira is directly inspired by these ideas 😅 They did end up using (mostly) trash to build Odaiba in the Tokyo Bay. But it’s waaaaay smaller.

I think that the philosophy of creating something new out of destruction, is being done in Tokyo today. I lived in the center of Tokyo. One example - in Tokyo they had factories in Toyosu, the factories were destroyed and replaced by multi-story residential apartments, a huge shopping center "Urban Dock LaLaport Toyosu", and large amounts of green areas. Another example are all of the high rise apartments in Tsukuda, Tsukishima and Kachidoki, where I lived for more than 10 years. When they destroy all of the 3 story homes in the area, they widen the roads, widen the footpath/sidewalk, add schools, daycare and parks. So this destruction to create something better for all is a philosophy I saw unfold before me in Tokyo. Even though there is no larger plan, they are constantly expanding into the Tokyo Bay. At the end of WWII, Tsukiji was ocean front. Now the Ocean front Is Reiwa Jima. So I think we will see continued, organic growth into the Tokyo Chiba bay area, where the use of the land will undergo change in use over time, changing from industrial use to high rise residential, wider roads, large parks, all connected by trains, buses and roads with automated cars.

The production of this video is top notch! better than any documentary made by large channels. Kudos!!!!

love watching such mega project explained with such a beautiful narration and impressive visuals'

There were also plans to build Arcologies in the Tokyo Bay. Like Tokyo Piramid City. That would be cool! Alas projects like this are ridiculously expensive, impossible to predict. And The neeed for new space is constantly shrinking in Japan.

To me, 60-70's is the dark period of urban planning (Le Corbusier leader of this decay). Hopefully this projects didn't all went through. Far from realities, unable to respond to anything else than immediate problems or political ideologies but at huge costs. Thanks there is a Neo Tokyo only in animes, and see, most of them are dystopic.

Fascinating video! Please do more on Japan.

Tokyo engineers really need to do failsafe water pollution answers. Architecture can be brilliant yet also short sighted.

Unpopular opinion, brutalist architecture isn’t a good match for mega-projects, unless you want people to feel sad.

I think the Neo Tokyo is the best, but also a combination of the Neo Tokyo and the Surrounding the Bay probably would be the most efficient. Also, the ideal the one guy had which I think I've heard before of building structures so large that they would be their own community with housing, shopping, green space, office, and industrial space for employment opportunity. If done right you could create a community housed in the structures that would provide its residents everything they need for their daily life and as such they would have no need to leave the structure except if their employment is outside the structure, they're leaving the city, or they're going to the airport to catch a flight. Constructing structures like this would free up the roads as most of the traffic then would be big rigs moving supplies in and out of the city and resupplying the building communities.

Once again, great video, topic and animations. Like the theme that runs through it for the posters in the Japanese setting.

Always good videos, never disappoints.

phenomenal production on this vid. it feels like a documentary you'd see from an established tv studio.

The metabolites ideas are coming to fruition, just not through any of their own designs. The city has naturally grown into the bay, just like an organism, but an organism influenced by markets rather than grandiose ideas.

Tokyo is already so big and they wanted to make it bigger that's insane 😭crazy ideas well presented !

Honestly, megastructures are in reality the most uninviting place to exist. I don't think they would be successful except for industry. Being on the existing new artificial islands in tokyo let's you feel isolated. They are walkable, but not really because they were not designed for pedestrians first. There exist bus and monorail public transport, but due to the low density of people living there, or rather the dead-end position of the islands, they are not as frequent as in the city. It just feels of being there, but the view over the Tokyo skyline is really nice.

although flawed, it's pretty remarkable to see what they came up with when coming from a scenario as rather unique as post-war japan

Greater Tokyo Area is so massive that I really don't think anyone ever will need to build anything that massive into the water. You drive overground train for 2 hours and see only city outside, mostly low to medium density houses, all in pretty flat land. It will never run down of space.

I always wonder where the Japanese got the idea of the strange building designs in a lot of their anime shows. This really explains a lot, Thanks.

You're a fantastic story teller.

I live in Tokyo, and I think all of these sound horrible considering all the earthquakes and tsunami's. If some major companies moved their HQ's to the outer prefectures, that would solve the overcrowding. If major companies moved out a bit, other accomodations would soon follow to those areas, and then residential areas as well. All prefectures surrounding Tokyo have plenty of land and space to accomodate, only if the major companies stop with the "our HQ is in TOKYO so we are better".

These designs are probably the inspiration behind the Babylon Project in the tv/movie series Patlabor

This statement: "We hope to create something which, even in destruction will cause subsequent new creation. This something must be found in the form of cities we were going to make -- cities constantly undergoing the process of metabolism." Made me think for a while and this is what I was able to come up with in order to under stand it; The statement expresses a desire to build cities that have a unique quality: the ability to not only endure but also thrive and generate new opportunities even in the face of destruction or change. These cities are envisioned as constantly evolving and adapting, much like living organisms with their own "metabolism." I might have read into it too far, but after reading the statement several time and watching the video, then sleeping on it, I feel that this is what it would mean to me at the very least. What do you and everyone else think?

That intro comment "and why is this introduction so dramatic, seriously why?" made me laugh harder than it should

I must say content aside , this is beautifully done

Out of all the gold in this The fact they literally called it Neo-Tokyo gets me the most

I saw the title and thumbnail and was horrified ( having lived in Tokyo for 30+ years) I was so glad to see this was not a current plan.

Best designed content on YT, hands down.

Being the old child here, I somehow get Patkabor vibes here. It truly is , being serious, a testament to how we change our value, visions and dreams to almost every decade. Personally I think none of major plans will take place because of 1. change of strategy to get people to move to rural areas ( a major issue) and 2. The booming era is over ( I believe mid 90's?) . If I am incorrect please feel free to comment :-)

There is a reason why people hate modern architecture, and this encompass a lot of it.

I'm so happy that Matsunaga's plan failed, because he would have put an airport runway right on top of my house! In all honesty, I'm happy that they all failed. Just one correction though, Saitama Prefecture does not face onto the bay. Only Kanagawa, Tokyo and Chiba. Saitama is landlocked. It is a pity that you didn't mention that the cities of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture and Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture are now linked by the Aqualine combined tunnel and bridge with two artificial islands in the bay. One, called 'Kaze-no-to' (Wind tower) is a ventilation point for the tunnel and is situated above the centre point of the tunnel. The second is a larger island called 'Umihotaru' which serves as the point where the tunnel becomes a bridge as well as an expressway service area (like motorway Services or a freeway rest stop if they have them in the US). There is no railway that traverses the bay and travelling by train from for example Futtsu to Tokyo and the other side of the bay still means that you have to go the long way around - essentially following the coast.

These city planners probably inspired an entire generation of anime, given how many are wildly impractical floating cities. Japan doesn't suffer from a lack of land, it suffers from an insufficient amount of level land in the 'right' places.

That wood texture at 3:17 is something else, very impressive.

The core issue with these designs was their want for car centric cities, which is counter to utopian design. Having roads for occasional use is fine, but with Tokyo having one of the best transit networks of any city in the world it's amazing to see how many of these designs are car clogged nightmares.

7:00 metabolism seems like a good principle. If only buildings could shrink when un-needed

I don't know if I should be terrified or impressed by the ad read.

but the more important and pressing question is, HOW do you do these phenomenal animations??

If you gave 10 random skylines players this assignment, they'd likely come up with equal or better ideas along any measure, the older I get, the less impressed I am by architects, the vast gulf between their hubris and their evidence-backed knowledge is staggering.

You should look into the movie Patlabor (1989). It has it's own plan for the Tokyo bay.

Even with the kinds of regulations and work efficiencies the Japanese are known for, I guarantee this would be at least US $1 trillion project today.

These are phenomenal ideas and visions. With the threat of global warming eventually swallowing up a good part of the city, Tokyo planners must come up with such a plan. It's inevitable. Compare this to Indonesia's Nusantara or Saudi's line in the dessert, these ideas seems more feasible and ecologically sound. I hope Tokyo continue to build upon their well-executed visions for what an urban metropolis could look like.

Only just discovered this channel, can't belive the algorithm hasn't suggested it earlier.. great content.

6:14 so my quick take is that it's related to the fact that much of eastern philosophy and spiritualism involves a sense of transience, and impermanence. It's literally "let's make a space that changes with the times." I've decided I'm a huge fan of the quote.

your videos never disappoint

Never heard of this channel before but i knew i'd sub after the first 10 seconds. Great video can't wait to see more!

Hopefully Japan didn't had much access to oil and didn't became dependant to car and gigantic highways. But why not trying to go on water like Monaco is willing to do ! Great reporting 👏

Turns out a city will organically grow if you let it grow organically, no pretentious masterplans needed

Problem with it is that japan is in population decline so there wasnt a dire need for more land to build but rather they need a more efficient urban planning for the metropolitan of tokyo

41 billion seems low for a plan this aggressive. This plan also ignores possibility for violent changes in sea states as well as the rising sea levels. Japan is surrounded by some of the most powerful volcanic systems in the pacific, one or more of them known for explosive pyroclastic events.

your videos are getting better and better. A big fan here!

This is very interesting, I love paper architecture!

Cheee esse video tem muita qualidade e grafismo impecavel é quase um crime ter apenas esse número de incritos e estar apenas disponivel em ingles! acho que é altura de fazer algo com relação a isso! Meu projecto precisa dar certo

As a Japanese person, I am SO happy that these plans have never come to life. They would be inefficient, destructive, and even more car centric

the production quality is crazy and so unique and the ad and so well made was hilarious lmfao

Have y'all seen Akira? And how Tokyo in that futuristic scenario has managed to expand into the bay? Well, this reminds me of that

No wonder there is a city builder/management genre in games

Am surprised you didn’t mention the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, which is a highway bridge / tunnel combination that does actually connect Tokyo / Kanagawa with Chiba. It opened in 1997. “With an overall length of 23.7 km, it includes a 4.4 km bridge and 9.6 km tunnel underneath the bay-the fourth-longest underwater tunnel in the world.” “The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line shortened the drive between Chiba and Kanagawa, two important industrial areas, from 90 to 15 minutes.”