Three years of renovation have transformed the Japanese prime minister’s residence from a crumbling, vermin-invested pile into a state-of-the-art eco home, it was revealed on Monday.
Junichiro Koizumi finally had somewhere to call home when his refurbished four-storey official residence was unveiled before members of the Cabinet and former prime ministers.
The building, built in 1929, is being touted as proof of Japan’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It cost 8,6bn yen ($79-million) to renovate and is the first home in Japan to be powered partly by clean-energy fuel cells, according to officials.
The roof of the 7 000sq metre residence is covered with solar panels, which should provide Koizumi enough electricity to see him through his collection of Elvis Presley CDs.
The house’s two fuel cells, which convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, are one possible answer to global warming as they create minimal pollution.
The building is responsible for another first: at 20 000 tonnes it is the heaviest building ever to be towed, after it was moved 50 metres south of its original location in central Tokyo.
Despite the nods to modernity, the brick mansion hasn’t discarded all of its past. The walls still bear the bullet holes from a coup attempt in 1936.
”It’s wonderful,” Koizumi said. ”Now we can use this place to entertain foreign guests, too.” But he isn’t expected to move in until the summer.
Koizumi, a divorcee, won’t be short of company in his new home. An anteroom will give journalists a close-up view of his every move during office hours.
Despite the modern touches, the house’s Japanese roots are in evidence. Koizumi will be able to entertain dignitaries inside a traditional teahouse, complete with woven tatami mats, which looks out on a Japanese garden.
But with the tricky issues of post office privatisation and relations with China on the agenda, he may want to begin by contemplating his back garden’s Zen-like atmosphere alone. – Guardian Unlimited Â