The half century of Mori Building has been a history of challenging conventional thinking. When we first started on the redevelopment of Ark Hills, there was staunch opposition which complained that we were destroying the community. There were demands, such as, "Give us back our cicadas." A quarter century after its completion, Ark Hills buzzes with the cicada chorus, and has become the center of local community activities. We did not destroy the town; we destroyed the conventional thinking.

For many people, urban redevelopment is an unknown world, and some trepidation is unavoidable when stepping into a world that is new and unfamiliar. We have created new cities through repeated dialogues with people, resolving the causes of opposition and uncertainty, and sharing our dreams. In order to create a city based on entirely new ideas, it is necessary to overcome a large number of regulatory hurdles. Our work is not easy, however this is raison d'être for Mori Building.

Now both Tokyo and Japan are faced with many challenges, including: recovery from the recent devastating earthquake, creating cities that can withstand future disasters, overcoming worsening public finances, environmental issues, a shrinking and aging population, the demands of globalization and a adapting to a knowledge-based information society. In order for us to resolve our internal problems and survive in international competition, we need cities that attract people, products, money, wisdom, and information from around the world. This will require changes that extend all the way to the very structures of our cities. This is a difficult task. However I believe that if each of us does not break through the conventional thinking in order to make progress, there will be no future for our country.

We must create a global city which allows lifestyle needs of a knowledge-based information society, where nature and culture are close at hand, which does not fear earthquakes, and which can be a stage for international communication, innovation, and cooperation. Our response is the "vertical garden city" which, at the end of a long road of trial and error, we successfully created in Roppongi Hills.

In the vast metropolis of Tokyo, Roppongi Hills is no more than a pinpoint. The next step is to create connections: a point into a line, and a line into a surface. We must create a "grand design" – an image of a future city that transcends the barriers between government and the people, and the boundaries between one town and another, where many people and corporations share the same rules, as we work to create a better future.

A city is alive. It reproduces and transforms much like a living organism. That power is something that must be directed towards achieving greater comfort, efficiency, and safety. If we allow ourselves to think freely, we will be able to make our cities more interesting places. With our sights set on the world at large and on the future, Mori Building will be working together with large numbers of people and corporations as we travel along the endless path of creating true international cities.

The work of urban development is fascinating. This is because cities are the foundation of all types of activity, and they contain within them endless possibilities.

Looking at the history of modern societies, we can see that we have transitioned from the "age of the nation states" to the "age of global corporations," and now as we begin the 21st century it is clear that we are entering the "age of cities." People, as well as companies are drawn to cities like to a magnet, and our cities will set the stage for new connections and innovation, and will be the source of new ideas or businesses. Cities are truly the new business frontier of the 21st century.

Under conditions of rapid globalization and intense international competition, we must find ways to boost the combined power and increase the magnetic of Tokyo, the capital and engine of the Japanese economy. Japan has many great assets, both tangible and intangible, including one of the world's largest economies, a safe and orderly society, sophisticated transportation infrastructure, refined culture, top-class cuisine, combined with the politeness and consideration of the Japanese people that have made such an impression on the world following the Great East Japan Earthquake. I believe that if we can use these assets to create a city that is even more attractive, then Tokyo can most certainly become the most vibrant city in the world.

City-making involves picturing the lives of the people who live, work, and come and go in the city, and shaping a better future. After a project is completed, it must also continuously evolve and mature in order to fit the needs of the times. It is only when both of these requirements are met that a city can maximize its true magnetic power of attraction. In order to increase this magnetic attraction of a city after its completion, we have created an original system which we call "town management," and which we have put into practice in Roppongi Hills. We are planning to further develop this model to create a system of "area management", and expand it to create the global metropolis that is the Tokyo of the future.

Mori Building has a unique vision of city-making, and we pride in the strength that derives from our decades'long experience of creating and developing cities from a holistic approach. Moreover, we have developed a corporate culture of independent thinking and action, without being constrained by conventional ideas, This is a source of power that has enabled us to produce new value and attractiveness, and to create cities; a stage for global players. I hope that we can put this power to its best use and that together we can create a city of "open minds" where people from around the world can reach across national borders and share excitement, and where new ideas and connections will be born.

Our company's mission in society will remain unchanged: to revitalize people and businesses through the work of creating and developing cities. Based on this firm vision, we shall continue to face new challenges with methods and characteristic speed required by our times as we pioneer a new age.