| Roppongi Hills, the result of Tokyo's largest private-sector
redevelopment project, opened for business on April 25 in a corner of Roppongi,
one of Tokyo's trendiest districts. Far from focusing exclusively on business
facilities, Roppongi Hills is a place where people can work, live, play, and study.
Centered around a 54-story office building containing 380,000 square meters of
floor space, the complex boasts hotels, commercial facilities, four condominiums,
a broadcasting center, and much more. Roppongi Hills is expected to attract 100,000
visitors per day and, when it is completed, to become a city within a city where
2,000 people live and 20,000 people work.
Ever since the Arc Hills complex was built 17 years ago, the Roppongi district
has been home to many foreign-affiliated companies. Some 80% of Roppongi Hills'
office space (which occupies floors 7 to 48 of the main tower) has already been
snapped up by such tenants as a major US brokerage firm. The upper floors of the
building house a variety of cultural facilities, including an art gallery, a library,
and an observation deck. The lower floors, meanwhile, contain a nine-screen multiplex
cinema and about 200 shops, including many top Western designer boutiques. About
70 of the stores are restaurants, including a Chinese one that is so exclusive
it serves only three groups of diners per day and a three-star French restaurant.
As befits Roppongi, which has long been known as a place that never sleeps, many
of the facilities in Roppongi Hills are open late: the observation deck and art
museum until 1:00 a.m., the movie theater until 5:00 a.m. for half of the week,
and the shops and restaurants until late at night.
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