SHIBA PARK

I asked the Tokyo government to furnish a single document to Seibu Railway. It stated: “Given that the area of the Tokugawa family’s former land holdings have fallen into disrepair, we desire your cooperation in cleaning them up.” Fortunately, they accepted my request. Of course, from our end, we submitted a memo stating that we would not bill the government for clean-up costs.

– Nakajima Chuzaburo

The job of dealing with the vagrants fell to the construction foreman who worked for Kokudo Keikaku, one of the companies under the Seibu Railway umbrella. I worked with him, and handled all the legal matters. To resolve the situation, I requested cooperation from the Tokyo government and the police, but they were in no rush to oblige. On the contrary, their people came back asking Seibu to handle it. After thinking a bit, I asked the Tokyo government to furnish a single document to Seibu Railway. It stated: “Given that the area of the Tokugawa family’s former land holdings have fallen into disrepair, we desire your cooperation in cleaning them up.” Fortunately, they accepted my request. Of course, from our end, we submitted a memo stating that we would not bill the government for clean-up costs.

Tsutsumi left everything related to the eviction issue to me and the foreman. He told the foreman, ‘They’re there illegally, so you can be a bit forceful about telling them to leave. If anything goes sideways I’ll come down there myself, so no need to worry. They may have been there illegally, but they were also colonial returnees and people who had been burned out of their homes by the air raids, so it’s not as if these were bad people at heart. In accordance with Tsutsumi’s wishes, we set about resolving the matter with empathy and kindness. We paid them a compensation fee such that they could make ends meet for a while, and handled things compassionately, with much thought given to their lives post-eviction. Our carrot and stick approach paid off, and the eviction issue resolved itself smoothly.

Part of the unlawfully occupied area encompassed lands owned by Zojoji and the central government, but we cleared those places in the same way. Now partially rid of a zone of lawlessness, people in the Tokyo government were extremely grateful to us.

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The matter of the graves left me feeling sad and desolate. By which I mean: I had had many discussions with Zojoji’s attorney, Mr. Sakuda. We were having meetings about the grave relocation issue. I had already promised not to move the graves during Higan. That said, Tsutsumi gave orders to a Seibu attorney named Nakamura, and had a Tokugawa family grave – namely, the grave of Princess Kazu – dismantled on the middle day of Higan. This sparked a major incident.

Mr. Sakuda was a former member of the House of Representatives and had been a member of the Minsei-to Party before the war, so he was on familiar terms with Tsutsumi. But he was also the lead representative of Zojoji’s parishioner families…

Mr. Sakuda flew into a fiery rage: ‘You broke your promise!’ At the time I was completely unaware of what had transpired, so all I could do was apologize. I was sad. Mr. Sakuda and Tsutsumi exchanged harsh words over the incident. However, they went back to being friends before long.

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[Shiba Park Lot #3] had been declared a scenic preservation area, meaning that as long as we lacked permission from the Tokyo government, we were unable to cut down trees or move any earth…

Right away, Tsutsumi said: “I’ll handle the Construction Ministry. Nakajima, you handle the city.” That’s how I found myself making daily visits to city hall, petitioning the city regarding the use of Seibu land holdings...that fell under scenic preservation ordinances. The urban development bureau chief, the construction bureau chief, and the parks bureau chief were my points of contact for the negotiations. The parks bureau chief was a bookish-type named Moriwaki. He also worked as a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, so he did not suffer fools. Seemingly every day, starting early in the morning, Tsutsumi would press me: ‘What’s the latest? Hurry up!’ Before long, Tsutsumi ran out of patience and ordered a subordinate to cut down trees and begin moving earth. Thereupon, I was immediately contacted by Mr. Moriwaki, who warned me as follows: “I told you that area is a scenic preservation zone, which means you may not cut down any trees. Why are you disobeying me? Please strongly caution Mr. Tsutsumi.” Nevertheless, Tsutsumi ignored repeated orders and continued to disobey; so, in the end, the parks bureau attached numbered tags to every single tree.