Celebrating No. 100… if I may say so myself. The email newsletter Palaceside Building sends to tenant companies reached its 100th issue on August 20.
The first issue went out on April 10, 2007. Since then it has come out almost every month.
Here is the opening text from issue No. 1.
“Ryokan wrote, ‘Scattering cherry blossoms — the cherry that remains will scatter too.’ Some read this as a poem of human life and death, but here we take it literally: the cherry front that had wandered has finally moved north, and the remaining cherries around Palaceside Building are putting on fresh leaf-cherry dress.
As if following the falling petals, the building will begin planting crape myrtle along the Imperial Palace-side walkway facing Uchibori-dori. From early summer through autumn, red and pink blooms should keep coming — we hope to bring you the scent of a ‘flower road.’
This is the launch of the Palaceside Building email newsletter with building news and more. We hope you enjoy reading it.”
That is how the newsletter began. From the start we tried to make it easy to read with plenty of photos, illustrations and charts where possible.
Photos fall roughly into three groups: ① nature — flowers, animals, weather (snow) = photo at top; ② seasonal motifs such as carp streamers, Tanabata, Christmas lights, sumo drum performances = upper left same page; ③ announcements and PR from the building — fire drills, construction, blood drive notices = lower left same page. Flower shots are safe choices and work well as eye-catchers, so we use them often. Above all, having the Imperial Palace and East Gardens — a superb spot for seasonal plants — right in front of us is truly a blessing. When stuck, we lean on the East Gardens
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It usually goes out around mid-month (roughly the 15th), but we also issue extras when urgent — for example, after announcing a blood drive in the regular issue, an extra just before the actual day, or when a major construction schedule changes.
One extra we cannot forget is the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. On the 12th, the day after, we issued “Earthquake Emergency Extra No. 1,” explaining damage at the junction between the elevator tower and the office building: “This part was designed in the seismic structure to absorb major shaking; damage to ceilings and the like shows that large building motion was damped.” We also reported stopping elevators and gas for safety.
On Monday the 14th, “Earthquake Emergency Extra No. 2” reported that weekend work had repaired the junction by Monday morning, elevators were running again, and gas was restored. After that, power shortages became the main theme; we asked for cooperation with interim measures — ① fewer elevator runs ② lower lighting in entrances, corridors and elevator halls ③ half-output HVAC ④ turning off in-building signs — and continued with extras on the 14th (No. 3), 17th (No. 4), 30th (No. 5), April 8 (No. 6), 26th (No. 7), mainly on power saving. In No. 8 on May 24, ahead of summer when power use rises, we covered a tenant briefing on the building’s power-reduction plan after the government’s emergency power headquarters set a 15% peak cut target.
Since then we have issued extras as needed — for example, in the July 5 issue, easing morning elevator restrictions; on August 31, “Extra: Easing Power Restrictions,” reporting that with the power restriction order ending September 9, the building would ease conservation from the 12th, including returning elevators to full operation from half output.
We did put out the regular newsletter (No. 47) on March 15, four days after the quake, but aside from reprinting the power-saving policy from Extra No. 2, we kept earthquake topics out of the regular issue and centralized quake information in extras.
We will keep publishing as a bridge between building management and tenants. May it be full of good news and bright topics.