On Sunday, May 26, something quite remarkable happened in Kodaira city, western Tokyo: Over 50,000 citizens voted in Tokyo's very first local referendum (jūmin tōhyō) on the issue of whether a 50-year-old plan to construct a road should be reviewed or not.
Unfortunately, the ballot papers will never be opened — 90 days on, the votes will be discarded, and with them the opinions of 51,010 Kodaira citizens. And so will end an extraordinary story of grass-roots democracy, public works spending and political obstruction.
The story starts some 50 years ago, against the background of a booming population and economy. In 1963, the Tokyo metropolitan government put forward a plan for a four-lane, 1.4 km road, part of a 13.6 km stretch linking Fuchu and Higashimurayama. This road was to run through Kodaira Chuo Park, bisecting the historical Tamagawa Aqueduct (Tamagawa Jōsui) and the Green Road, a popular 21 km circular walking path.