Despite the stagnation of its economy, Tokyo managed to remain in third place behind London and New York in the Global Power City Index (GPCI) report released on Thursday, narrowly avoiding being overtaken by Paris.
The annual report compiled by the Mori Memorial Foundation’s Institute for Urban Strategies showed that the top seven cities remained consistent with the previous years. Still, scores fluctuated and Paris nearly overtook Tokyo for third place despite the French capital's score having declined.
While Paris’s decline was due to losses in the accessibility category, Tokyo saw a decline due to a downturn in its economy.
Among other Japan cities, Osaka ranked 37th while Fukuoka placed 42nd in the index, which surveys 48 select cities around the world and evaluates them for their overall ability to attract people and business through scoring them on six categories of economy, research and development, cultural interaction, livability, environment and accessibility.
Under the economy category, Tokyo fell to 10th place, the lowest the city has ever ranked since the report began in 2008. This was the driving factor behind its fall in the rankings, which came despite significant increases in livability due to its relatively low cost of living.
Beijing on the other hand, exhibited strength in the category, ranking closely behind New York and London in third place and becoming the highest ranking Asian city in that category.
Cities that saw growth in their scores in this year’s report included London, which remained No. 1, Singapore in fifth, and Dubai which entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking eighth.
The common element for the three cities' growth was largely due to advancements in cultural interaction and accessibility. Each city was valued highly for how they accept foreign visitors and encourage cultural exchanges.
In addition to the six categories, the foundation began this year to also track a seventh category, called "financial center," which evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each cities' financial sector using 14 indicators. Tokyo ranked third in the category, with New York in first. Beijing and Shanghai placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
The report offered an analysis for Tokyo to improve its overall strength going forward, noting the city should focus on building its cultural interaction and accessibility. Given the already existing interest in Japan from foreign nationals, it recommends efforts like strengthening tourist attractions and nightlife to better accommodate visitors.
Hiroo Ichikawa, a professor emeritus at Meiji University and one of the committee members who oversaw the report, said that there are other global survey results that show that Tokyo is popular with workers and investors thanks in part to its low real-estate prices.
“The world is looking at Tokyo — the problem is how the city wants to act on that,” he said.
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