Take the Keihan Main Line from Kyoto city center to Osaka and you will be struck by an eye-catching construction site just before arriving at Yodo Station. Obayashi Corporation has been renovating the Kyoto Racecourse, which will celebrate its grand reopening in April 2023. 100 years of tradition for future generations An illustration image of the completed grandstand. The Kyoto Racecourse will reopen in April 2023 under the new name of Centennial Park Kyoto Racecourse. The Ky...

Kitahiroshima City, located in the center of the Ishikari Plain between the Sapporo Station and the New Chitose Airport Station on Japan Railway Hokkaido Chitose Line, is a town among gently sloping hills with a harmonious blend of abundant nature and urban functions. It is an area where temperatures drop to -20℃ in winter, and construction is underway to build the new baseball park for the Nippon Professional Baseball Team, HOKKAIDO NIPPONHAM FIGHTERS. Constructing a new baseball parktha...

What would we do if we had the exact same city that we live in duplicated on our smartphones or digital devices and we were free to try out different kinds of lifestyles in that space? If we could easily simulate urban redevelopment and town planning like a game, many people would undoubtedly come up with ideas for making their cities more comfortable. The Obayashi Project Team has envisaged what it might be like when digital twins evolve and can be constructed on the scale of cities and to...

Agriculture has long faced a number of challenges in Japan: the nation's working population is declining and aging, and farming is considered a "3D" job-dirty, dangerous, and demanding. In addition, the value of gross production of agriculture is falling, and Japan faces a trade deficit for agricultural products. Thanks to technological advances and a diversity of business models in recent years, however, expressions like "smart agriculture," "agrobusiness," and "gainful agriculture" are more...

Tokyo was once called the "Venice of the East" because it was seen as a water city with an abundance of water resources that supported people's lives. However, that image of Tokyo as a water city gradually evaporated as boat transportation gave way to land transportation. Today, Tokyo, like other parts of the world, has its own share of water shortages. In fact, Tokyo has one of the most severe water shortages in the world with the city relying on neighboring prefectures for much...