Built to commemorate the International Year of the Child in 1979, and opened in 1985, the marvelous National Children's Castle (Kodomo no Shiro) arts and sports facility in Tokyo's central Shibuya district was closed this month — along with the 1,200-seat Aoyama Theatre and the 376-seat Aoyama Round Theatre in the same large complex.
The official reason given was that the state-owned building occupying a prime slice of upmarket real estate required a ¥12-billion refurbishment the government was not prepared to fund.
All the more saddening is that, whereas supporters collected a 70,000-signature petition opposing the Children's Castle closure plan — and are still campaigning for it to be reopened — the arts world did next to nothing to try to save those two great theaters.