To deepen bonds among tenants in Palaceside Building in Takebashi, Tokyo, building staff, and between tenants themselves, a "Palaceside Building New Year's Exchange" was recently held in Mainichi Hall on basement level 1 of the building.
While individuals among tenants and building staff had interacted before, a New Year gathering under one roof was a first. With heightened spirit to help one another in emergencies such as the Great East Japan Earthquake, Mainichi Building Management, which operates Palaceside Building, organized the event.
Part 1 featured a lecture by Mainichi Newspapers chief writer Narikaku Kishi titled "Politics: Japan and the World"＝photo; Part 2 was a social gathering. About one hundred tenants and building staff attended.
Chief writer Kishi opened by noting that this year falls in the mizunoto-mi cycle—once every sixty years—symbolized by the snake shedding its skin, suggesting a year of transformation and difficulty; he illustrated with political conditions in Japan and the world 120 and 60 years ago. After explaining current issues such as North Korea's missile launches and the Senkaku Islands, he drew on his experience as a Mainichi political reporter to reveal background on the shift to single-member districts said to have contributed to the LDP's landslide in last year's general election, the restoration of Japan–China relations about forty years ago, handling of the Senkaku issue, and behind-the-scenes negotiations between the Tanaka Kakuei cabinet and China—drawing keen interest.
At the social gathering after Mainichi Building president Makoto Mishima's greeting and toast, conversation flourished as people exchanged business cards and introductions with Chief Writer Kishi circulating through the room. Greetings from Masaya Machida, president of Nippon Suido Co., Ltd., which moved into the building in January, further enlivened the party. It ended with a "fun rock-paper-scissors tournament" between Chief Writer Kishi and attendees; winners took home 30,000-yen travel vouchers or pair tickets to Tokyo Disney Resort. The hall stayed warm and convivial throughout.