Hiroo Mori Interview
Hiroo Mori
Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Director and Executive Vice President, Mori Building Co., Ltd.
Chairman, Shanghai World Financial Center Co., Ltd.
President and CEO, Mori Hospitality Corporation
Previously with the Industrial Bank of Japan since 1986, Mr. Mori joined Mori Building Co., Ltd. in 1995. He was appointed Managing Director in 2000, Senior Managing Director in 2003, and Senior Executive Managing Officer in 2011. He has served in his current position since June 2013. Among other positions, Mr. Mori has also been Chairman of Shanghai World Financial Center Investment Co., Ltd. and Chairman of Shanghai World Financial Center Co., Ltd. since 2005. He was appointed President and CEO of Mori Hospitality Corporation in 2012. Mr. Mori is a graduate of the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Economics.
Q&A
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What new developments and major projects is Mori Building currently engaged in? |  |
In Japan, we are simultaneously pressing ahead with several large-scale urban redevelopment projects centering on Minato Ward. In the Toranomon Hills area, in addition to the existing Mori Tower, we have been working on three projects with an aim to establish a new international hub and global business center that also encompasses Toranomon Hills Station; while the Toranomon-Azabudai Project in the adjacent area pursues, under the concept of “Green & Wellness”, the creation of a city where people can spend their lives in harmony with nature, where they will meet and live in a community, and where they can live creative and stimulating lives. On the overseas front, we are currently constructing a premium-grade, high-rise office tower in central Jakarta utilizing the know-how of urban development gained from projects undertaken in Tokyo and Shanghai. |
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What challenges does Mori Building face? How will you respond to and solve them? | |
With Japan’s low economic growth due to decrease in the productive population, the challenges Tokyo faces are the challenges Mori Building faces. Although the Global Power City Index research conducted by The Mori Memorial Foundation ranks Tokyo third globally behind London and New York in terms of comprehensive power, various challenges, including the high corporate tax rate, unfriendly business environment for foreign companies, insufficient number of international direct flights and inconvenient access to central Tokyo from airports, have been revealed. With the multiple large-scale urban redevelopment projects in central Tokyo we are pursuing, we would like to realize a Tokyo that is enticing and capable of prevailing the intensifying international competition among cities. |
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What are the growth areas of Japan’s real estate market? | |
The novel coronavirus pandemic has greatly changed people’s values and life styles around the world as well as their perceptions on cities, where people live, work and enjoy themselves. Response to such change is also sought from real estate developers. For instance, the function of offices needs to change from “a place of physical work” to “a place for communication” and “a place for collaboration.” On another front, the role to be played by culture and art to satisfy the hearts and minds of people will become even more important. Because the pandemic has changed so many things, the unrelenting universal and essential value only a real place can offer will be more significant. We believe that providing a place or space that ensures safety and security for people and offers universal and essential value in the post-corona era is the growth area for the real estate industry. |
Please see the below link for the current project in Toranomon/Azabudai that Mori Building Co., Ltd. is working on:
https://www.mori.co.jp/en/company/press/release/2019/08/20190822110000003928.html