Hello, everyone! Miyanaga from GP here. Another exciting new spot is emerging in Tokyo, a city which is constantly evolving. 

Named after the Takanawa Gateway Station area, Takanawa Gateway City is set to partially open on Thursday, March 27, 2025, with a full launch in Spring 2026. Among its many attractions, the MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives, which aims to foster culture and creativity, is already gaining attention. This new hotspot is bound to make waves all across Tokyo.

A new city: Takanawa Gateway City

Over 150 years ago, Japan’s first railway ran over the sea, marking a groundbreaking innovation in the area that is now known as Takanawa. It is on this historically significant site that JR East is developing “Takanawa Gateway City,” as part of the Shinagawa Development Project.

This project, positioned as “a living laboratory for fostering enriched lives 100 years into the future,” integrates urban development with the area surrounding Shinagawa Station, and has drawn attention from various sectors due to its innovative approach.

The site is broadly divided into five components: “The Linkpillar 1 North/South,” the area surrounding Takanawa Gateway Station, “The Linkpillar 2”; the cultural complex, “MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives”; and the residential tower, “Takanawa Gateway City Residences.” These diverse elements are intricately combined to create a truly multifaceted mixed-use facility.

Highlights of Takanawa Gateway City

This facility will feature residential areas, commercial shops, clinics, conference facilities, and even an international school. Here’s a quick look at its standout features:

Approximately 200 stores at NEWoMan Takanawa

The shopping hub of Takanawa Gateway City will be the massive NEWoMan Takanawa, home to around 200 stores. Spread across three buildings—The Linkpillar 1 South, The Linkpillar 1 North, and The Linkpillar 2—it offers direct access to Takanawa Gateway Station.

The First JW Marriott hotel in the greater Tokyo area

Focusing on wellness, the JW Marriott Hotel Tokyo will open on floors 23–30 of The Linkpillar 1 South tower. Situated near Shinagawa Station—a key terminal for the upcoming Linear Chuo Shinkansen connecting Tokyo and Nagoya in about 40 minutes (and Osaka in 67 minutes)—the hotel boasts excellent accessibility. It’s also a 15-minute drive from Haneda Airport, making it highly convenient for both domestic and international guests.

The hotel will feature seven dining establishments, ranging from sushi to European cuisine. It also includes a pool, fitness center, and spa with breathtaking city views—perfect for satisfying overseas visitors.

The heart of the city: Gateway Park

Gateway Park is designed as a relaxation space for the diverse crowds that will visit the city. Plans include markets, theaters, art installations, and more, making it a prime future venue for events.

Additionally, the park will introduce Japan’s first kinetic art night museum and bar, contributing to a vibrant nighttime world. It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on this space!

A cultural landmark: MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives

As a hub for fostering creative activities, expressions, information dissemination, and culture for people of all walks of life, the multi-purpose cultural facility “MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives” is one of the most noteworthy spots to highlight.

This facility, with the mission of “connecting culture for the next 100 years,” aims to blend the traditions and cultures nurtured over time with contemporary values and technologies to create new narratives. These narratives will be passed on to the future, making the facility a symbol of Takanawa Gateway City.

Through exhibitions, live performances, Japanese cultural showcases, and experimental projects that span a variety of fields, this facility aims to provide visitors with opportunities to encounter both laughter and new knowledge. It aspires to serve as a gateway to discovering a new self, while fostering various exchanges and generating new innovations.

The future vision of Takanawa Gateway City

The vision for this facility, which is already generating high expectations due to its sheer scale, is to serve as a “living laboratory for the future” and to “realize global benefit from Takanawa.”

As briefly mentioned earlier, this area holds a story of historical innovation. In 1872, during the opening of Japan’s first railway, it became the site where a train ran over the sea for the first time, laying the foundation for modernization. Building upon this legacy, the project aims to create a place where innovations for the next 100 years will continue to emerge from this land, which gave birth to a groundbreaking moment 150 years ago.

The vision for Takanawa Gateway City is centered around addressing various global social challenges. The city is being developed with the concept of becoming a hub for solutions that contribute to the future, such as “new businesses and culture” and “models for a circular society,” which will be shared with the world.

For instance, the “Takanawa Gateway Link Scholars’ Hub,” a business creation facility aimed at achieving global benefit, will bring together over 100 startups from Japan and abroad, along with academic institutions such as the University of Tokyo, the National University of Singapore, and the Pasteur Institute, as well as accelerators and venture capital firms. This facility will generate and cultivate knowledge that contributes to enriched lives 100 years into the future, strengthening a wide-ranging startup ecosystem centered in this area.

Additionally, the project plans to focus on urban development supported by an Urban OS (Operating System) that serves the city, region, and people. Using collected data as a foundation, the city will provide services such as unique app-based services and a robot platform. On top of the data collected from the city itself, data from railways, stations, and human movement insights provided by KDDI will also be accumulated and analyzed, leading to the creation of even better services. The scale of this initiative is truly monumental.

Tokyo continues to unveil groundbreaking new spots, but Takanawa Gateway City stands out as particularly unique and innovative. Its futuristic content and initiatives are certain to bring new excitement and inspiration to our lives!