Photo/Illutration The Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower in Tokyo’s Minato Ward, under development by Mori Building Co., is seen from an Asahi Shimbun helicopter on Nov. 1. (Kazushige Kobayashi)

Tokyo ranked third for the eighth consecutive year in the 2023 Global Power City Index, trailing London and runner-up New York, the same as the previous year. 

The ranking of cities based on 70 indicators was released Nov. 9 by the Mori Memorial Foundation’s Institute for Urban Strategies, a think tank of urban developer Mori Building Co.

Tokyo received high marks for the availability of affordable housing, but officials of the institute said the capital has fewer business startups and should foster an improved climate for creating new industries.

“It is essential (for Tokyo) to provide assistance to startups and to develop and attract personnel,” the institute officials said.

The annual ranking study, which covers 48 major cities of the world, began in 2008.

It rates the cities by 70 indicators representing the six urban functions of “economy,” “research and development,” “cultural interaction,” “livability,” “environment” and “accessibility.”

The other entrants from Japan, Osaka and Fukuoka, were ranked 37th and 42nd, respectively.

Tokyo’s ranking in the “economy” field dropped to 10th place from fifth last year, due largely to a low gross domestic product growth rate and a high corporate tax rate.

By indicator, the Japanese capital was the world leader in “attractiveness of dining options,” but fared poorer in “wage level” and “variety of workplace options,” the latter being measured by internet connection speeds and other data.

The “number of air passengers,” which plummeted during the novel coronavirus pandemic, was slower to rebound in Tokyo than in other cities of the developed world.

The Japanese capital ranked as low as 34th in the “number of international students” and ninth in the “number of startups.”

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