"The sound of temple bells drifting through flower clouds / Is it Ueno or Asakusa?"
Matsuo Basho, Japan's greatest poet of the Edo period, sang thus about the full bloom of cherry blossoms in Ueno. The praise describes a scene where cherry blossoms blanket the landscape like clouds, and temple bells ring so indistinctly whether from Ueno Kan'eiji Temple or Asakusa Sensoji Temple that it is impossible to tell them apart — a testament to how the beauty of spring flowers enveloped the entire city.
Ueno Park in Tokyo was established during the Meiji Restoration. Surrounded by dense buildings, Ueno Park appears like an island of greenery. The great trees of Ueno still cover the park like clouds, just as Basho once sang. Despite its 150-year history, there are only four major structures within the park: the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, and the Ueno no Mori Art Museum.
All buildings in Ueno Park were meticulously designed by the era's top architects. In particular, the National Museum of Western Art, designed by Le Corbusier, known as the "father of modernist architecture," was designated a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 2016. Tokyo has risen to become a global center for art, led by these three major museums in Ueno Park.
I revisited Ueno Park this month for the first time in 32 years. I wanted to see the "Rembrandt Exhibition" at the National Museum of Western Art and the "Van Gogh Exhibition" at the Ueno no Mori Art Museum. Oddly, a baseball field stands next to the National Museum of Western Art. This baseball field was established in the late 1880s, long before the museum was built. Next to the field is an inscription by poet Masaoka Shiki: "Oh spring breeze, oh grassy field where I wish to throw the ball." A devoted baseball fan, Masaoka Shiki was the person who translated baseball terms like "batter" and "runner" into Japanese. On this visit, I finally understood why Japan has not demolished this baseball field. Tokyo citizens love even the stories and history tied to the land of Ueno.
The Yongsan Park site in Seoul was, for 120 years, almost like foreign soil. In 1882, during the Imo Incident, China's Yuan Shikai led troops into the area. At just 23 years old, he dominated the Korean throne like a Chinese "viceroy." After Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War, it turned this land into a permanent military base. Following Japan's defeat, U.S. forces moved in. Despite being Korean soil, Yongsan became a "forbidden land" where Koreans could not freely enter.
The person who revisited Yongsan was President Roh Moo-hyun. Despite fierce opposition from left-wing groups, he pushed forward with the relocation of the U.S. military base in Yongsan to Pyeongtaek. In 2007, through a bipartisan agreement, he established the Special Act for the Creation of Yongsan Park. The intent was to prevent anyone from carelessly damaging this land once again and to leave it as a precious legacy for future generations.
Yongsan carries a history of humiliation and suffering. We have an obligation to transform this land into a source of pride for our descendants. To do so, we must adopt a long-term perspective spanning about 100 years and carefully nurture Yongsan's historical and symbolic value. A new narrative must be woven into this land, which has been erased from the collective memory of Koreans for a long time. Yongsan Park requires dedication that maximizes green space while imbuing even a single tree or flower with meaning. Buildings must possess a level of quality worthy of global pride, and public restroom designs cannot be treated lightly. Above all, hasty development driven by the preferences of successive administrations must be strictly prevented.
Creating green space in Seoul comparable to the Yongsan Park site is impossible. Honestly, had foreign troops not been stationed here, this land would likely have already been almost entirely lost to uncontrolled urban development and turned into a forest of apartment buildings.
On the 300,000 square meters (approximately 90,000 pyeong) of land behind the National Museum of Korea, Yongsan Children's Garden has been established. It is a key node in the green corridor connecting Yongsan and Namsan. The government and ruling party have announced plans to build up to 20,000 rental apartments on this green space. Even if public opposition prevents these plans from materializing, the mere attempt to push forward such an unreasonable idea without even seeking public opinion is an act that destroys Yongsan's history, environment, and future.
I want to ask one question to the politicians who propose building rental housing in Yongsan Park:
"Why can't we turn Yongsan into a place where history, nature, and art blend together like Ueno? Can't we fully pass on this revisited Yongsan as a space that future generations will be proud of?"
in OPINION
