Imagine you woke up one morning to find a magical little village had sprung up in your neighbourhood overnight – and, don’t worry, no one got evicted and there was no environmental damage. On a plot of derelict land in Tokyo, a new little community was hustling and bustling in sync with the rising sun. Visitors to the neighbourhood, low-rise and perfectly landscaped, might be forgiven for thinking that this new collection of buildings and trees had been part of the urban fabric for years but closer inspection reveals workmen polishing banisters, tying back bushes and unpacking boxes.
As the workmen go about their business, curious neighbours peer into windows, stop to chat, clean up after their dogs (some are in prams and college sweatshirts) and snap photos on their phones. At one corner a concept convenience store is doing a roaring trade with its upmarket takeaway food and special selection of Muji products. There’s an electric bike dealer and next door there’s a shop with a window display of restored Polaroid cameras from the Impossible Project. Nearby a building with lodge-like details is doing a roaring trade in pancakes and cappuccinos and just behind it the doors are open to a deluxe-looking dog supermarket and daycare centre.

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Anyone who thinks that their commercial fortunes rely on marketing solely to 20-year-olds, and that the future will be downloaded, should have accompanied me as I shuttled from Roppongi to Daikanyama earlier in the week. While I should have gone straight from hotel to Haneda to catch my flight to Hong Kong,I could hardly resist the opening of Tsutaya Books – the latest creation from the CCC holding company that owns Japan’s chain of DVD/CD/book rental and retail shops. Set at the heart of this new community (dubbed T-Plan), Tsutaya Books, designed by Tokyo-based Klein Dytham Architects with graphics by the super-talented Kenya Hara, is set across three pavilion-style buildings connected by “Magazine Avenue” – a wood-plank boulevard of pretty much every magazine worth reading in the world.
In one pavilion there’s a new-generation Starbucks, a travel concierge to help browsers find the right guide or cookbooks (like Daunt Books in London, the travel section is organised by country, with each nation represented by fiction, non-fiction, food and guidebooks), a stationery department and a whole floor of CDs and vinyl.
In the centre building, the upper floor is dominated by a sprawling lounge dubbed “Anjin” that features a performance space, low and cosy seating, a huge bar at the centre and perfect lighting. The best feature, however, are the walls, which are stocked with complete collections of vintage magazines that can be enjoyed over a good espresso at 7am or a glass of Krug at 1am.