Aug 10 (Japan Times) - In what appears to be an unusual mix, tech giant Sony Corp. opened a “park†in the middle of the Tokyo’s ritzy Ginza district on Thursday with four subterranean levels.
Ginza Sony Park was built at the site where the Sony Building, a former landmark, once stood. The ground floor consists of greenery and looks like a standard park, but the four underground floors consist of shops and free space.
Some of the shops sell food and goods, but much of the facility’s 3,807 sq. meters of floor space is designed to let people hang out freely.
For now, a roller skating rink has been set up on the second basement floor that can be used for free until Sept. 24.
The idea of Sony opening a park-themed facility may sound odd, but Nagano said it was an experiment before erecting a new Sony building on the site. Sony plans to run the park until fall 2020, when it will start construction on the new Sony Building with an eye to opening it in 2022.
