London and Tokyo, like other world cities, have a longstanding partnership agreement. However, in recent years the links have taken on a new form and are concentrating primarily on London’s West End shopping district. First the City of Westminster and the New West End Company brought a touch of Shibuya to Oxford Circus with the 2009 installation of its diagonal ‘scramble’ crossing. Now, the New West End Company and the London Luxury Quarter, which covers Bond Street, St James’s, Jermyn Street and Savile Row, is formally linking up with the Marunouchi district in Tokyo. The high-end district link follows the first international retail twinning between Marunouchi and Madison Avenue in New York in 2009 and London hopes to increase the £117m spent annually by Japanese tourists (£1,300 per person per visit).
The New West End Company press release (PDF) has more, while the Evening Standard and Retail Gazette both report on the twinning agreement.
