The government picked two areas Friday in central Tokyo for development, seeking to revive the capital's attractiveness as a financial hub and fight off competition from Asian rivals Hong Kong and Singapore.
Developers will get tax breaks for projects in a 320-hectare area near Tokyo Station and a 590-hectare zone that includes the upscale Roppongi and Akasaka districts in Minato Ward, the government said in a statement.
Tokyo is competing with Hong Kong and Singapore for a bigger share of Asian economic growth. The capital of the world's second-largest economy ranked as the ninth-most attractive financial hub in a study released in March 2007 by the City of London, trailing Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney.
Nihonbashi, where Mitsui Fudosan Co., Japan's largest developer, is already at work, is included in the planning, together with Marunouchi, where Mitsubishi Estate Co., Japan's second-largest developer, owns more than 30 buildings, and Yurakucho, near the Ginza shopping district.
The Roppongi, Akasaka and Shinbashi zone includes Roppongi Hills, a project that took Mori Building Co., Japan's biggest privately held developer, 17 years to complete.