Please tell us about Tokyo Metropolis’s unique local features and characteristics, what led to the establishment of the Local Climate Change Adaptation Center, and what its organizational structure is like.

Situated in the Kanto Plain, Tokyo Metropolis consists of the wards that are clustered facing toward Tokyo Bay, the Tama area comprising the capital’s central and western portions, and the insular area made up of the Izu and Ogasawara Islands. Excluding the insular area, Tokyo’s western part is mostly mountains, while the center part mainly has hilly terrain, with the eastern part consisting of plateaus and lowlands. The mountainous area at the western end is the Kanto Mountains, consisting of the Chichibu Mountains and the Tanzawa Mountains ranging between 1,500 and 2,000ｍ in elevation. The main topographic features of Tokyo’s central region are the Sayama Hill Range, which also straddles Saitama Prefecture, and the Tama Hill Range, which stretches to the base of the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture. The main plateau in the eastern part of Tokyo is called the Musashino Plateau, which is covered in the Kanto Loam. The western part of Tokyo’s wards has an undulating topography with a series of intertwined plateaus and lowlands.

Tokyo also has major rivers such as the Tama River, the Arakawa River, and the Edo River, which all flow into Tokyo Bay. Out in the Pacific Ocean, the chain of Tokyo’s volcanic islands − namely the Izu Islands and the Ogasawara Islands − extends from north to south.

In terms of weather pattern, Tokyo − except for the insular area − is classified as a Pacific coastal climate zone, which is characterized by hot, humid summers and dry winters with limited precipitation volumes. The metropolis’s islands in the Pacific Ocean sit amidst the Kuroshio (Black) Current. Therefore, the islands have an oceanic climate with temperate winters, of which those located in the southern part fall under a subtropical climate. The insular area of Tokyo is more susceptible to typhoons.

As for its social make-up, Tokyo has a population of about 14,000,000, 23.5％ of which are considered elderly (aged 65 years and above). The metropolis’s population is expected to become increasingly elderly, following the national trend. In terms of its industrial structure, roughly 90% of Tokyo’s economy falls under the tertiary (service) sector, of which wholesale and retail businesses account for large portions.

Tokyo established its climate change adaptation policy in December 2019 and formulated its climate change adaptation plan in March 2021. Then, the Local Climate Change Adaptation Center in Tokyo was created on January 1, 2022 as a division within the Tokyo Metropolitan Research Institute for Environmental Protection − which had been studying ways to address heat island issues in urban areas, etc. − based on an agreement between the metropolitan government and Tokyo Environmental Public Service Corporation. The main functions of the Center include gathering of information on the topic of climate change, provision of information and advice to municipalities, and organization of public awareness and education campaigns targeting the metropolis residents and businesses in coordination with the metropolitan government. The Center currently has a staff of four, including a Manager, a Assistant Manager, a Senior Staff Member, and a specially-appointed researcher.

Please tell us about the current activities of the Local Climate Change Adaptation Center in Tokyo as well as its future plans.

Our activities mainly involve raising public awareness and providing support to municipalities. In terms of our public awareness campaigns for the metropolis residents, we take part in various environmental fairs and other events that are hosted by wards, cities, towns, and villages across Tokyo to set up our booth there and disseminate information on climate change adaptation to visitors.

We are also considering improving our promotional and educational contents for raising public awareness on climate change adaptation and enhancing campaigns for promoting the cause among children and educating them as they will be the ones carrying the future.

In terms of assisting municipalities, we have started surveying them about their current status and inputs to understand their local climate change adaptation planning and to identify and contemplate on issues that should be addressed in our designing of public awareness and education campaigns that are suitable for them. As we held workshops and communication sessions for municipal employees in conjunction with the Ministry of the Environment in FY 2022, we intend to use the findings from those events to further improve our activities in the coming years.

Please tell us about any unique approach that your Local Climate Change Adaptation Center is taking to effectively coordinate with other departments of the metropolitan government and to facilitate adaptation by Tokyo Metropolis and businesses, as well as any issues, etc. you are experiencing.

In terms of adaptation by Tokyo Metropolis, the Center employees regularly attend the climate change adaptation planning facilitation conference that is held internally within the metropolitan government to ensure that our activities are well-coordinated. More specifically, we plan on actively disseminating information about the adaptation measures relating to the various departments of the metropolitan government in our future public awareness and education campaigns. As such adaptation measures involve many different departments for their implementation, we believe it is essential to cultivate deeper understanding among them about our public awareness and education campaigns in the future, stressing the importance of adaptation perspective.

Please tell us what motivates you to do your current work and also your outlook on the future.

As we host events and run other awareness and education campaigns, we feel that the public’s awareness of the term adaptation is still low. So we think promoting this concept among many metropolitan residents is meaningful work although it is no easy. So our next goal is to raise awareness on the concept of climate change adaptation to the extent possible so that each and every resident of Tokyo can eventually partake in the implementation of climate change adaptation measures.

In addition, concerning our support to the municipalities across Tokyo, we intend to help them facilitate their climate change adaptation by way of effective information provision and assisting with their local climate change adaptation planning, etc.