During the Edo period, this area served as the "gateway" to Edo as Takanawa Okido, and during the Meiji period, it was the site of innovation, combining Japanese and Western technology, when Japan's first railway was built. After that, even after the era of Japanese National Railways and the establishment of JR-EAST, it was mainly used as a depot for Tokaido Line and Sleep Limited Express trains.
As times changed, the opening of Ueno-Tokyo Line and the decline of Sleep Limited Express made it possible to reduce the number of cars stored at the depot, leading to the streamlining of the depot. This freed up approximately 13 hectares of land, and development plans were put forward to make effective use of this vacant land.

TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY is undergoing urban development that is one of the largest in Japan, with a total floor area of approximately 845,000 m2.
Shinagawa Station, which serves as a wide-area transportation hub, TAKANAWA GATEWAY Station, which has excellent access to terminal stations in the city center, and Sengakuji Station which has excellent access to Tokyo's subway network and Haneda Airport will work together to form a "Global Gateway," an international exchange hub that will bring together people from the surrounding areas, all over Japan, and all over the world.
The name of the building is a combination of "Link," which means "connecting everything, continuing to co-create and grow for the future," and "Pillar," which conveys the meaning of "continuing to grow as a pillar and a testing ground for enriching lives 100 years into the future."
Using the station-area integrated urban development as a testing ground, we will work with a variety of partners to create solutions that contribute to resolving global issues from TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY.

The Takanawa Embankment is a railway track laid in 1872 (Meiji 5) when Japan's first railway opened between Shimbashi and Yokohama, in order to run the train over the sea along the Takanawa coast.
Through the preservation and utilization of the Takanawa embankment unearthed during urban development, we aim to pass on the memory of this innovative site, where Japan's first railway ran, to the next 100 years, thereby enhancing the historical value of the region and realizing "Shinagawa as an international exchange hub."
In addition to the on-site preservation and public opening (spring 2028) of the 7th Bridge section and the park section, which are designated as national historical sites, the signal base will be relocated, preserved, and opened to the public, allowing visitors to experience the scenery as it was at the time. Furthermore, through exhibits utilizing cutting-edge technology, visitors will be able to experience the innovations of the railway's opening period.
Regarding efforts to preserve and pass on the Takanawa Embankment, we are proceeding with our considerations while receiving advice and support from experts in various fields and relevant government agencies.

Including efforts to preserve and open the site to the public, we are launching "THE FIRST RAILWAY PROJECT" as an initiative to connect the history of Japan's first railway to the future, inheriting the innovative spirit of the railway's opening period and passing it on to the next generation.
Since March 2026, a gallery has been open on the first floor of THE LINKPILLAR2, where visitors can learn about the history of the railway line between Shimbashi and Yokohama, and the research and excavation of the Takanawa embankment, through photographs and interview videos. For more details, please visit the website via the link below.

• Achieving a Zero Carbon society

  We are striving to conserve and produce energy and implement energy management to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions.
  Planned power generation facilities include wind, solar and geothermal to achieve our goal of producing renewable energy. Further we plan to harness in-building biogas power generation to food waste into energy, which will help achieve a circular economy. We plan to use fuel cell trucks for transportation of goods within the city and promote hydrogen gas.

  

• Mobility: Co-creation between humans and robots

  In today's world, where new technologies are born every day, in order to bring them back to people's lives, it is necessary to actually incorporate them into daily life and business and experience their convenience and effectiveness. For this reason, it is essential to go through the phase of exploring how to incorporate them into real life and how to return benefits to consumers. At TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY, we aim to create a "people-centered" lifestyle that is not bound by age or place of residence by coexisting with robots and mobility, and we will explore how to return benefits to consumers through demonstration experiments.

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• Healthcare: Creating a lifestyle where everyone can live a fulfilling life for 100 years

  We will collaborate with academia, including The University of Tokyo GATEWAY Campus, which is our partner in the city, and startups, to create services that utilize cutting-edge knowledge, such as optimal sleep, new diets, and improved physical function.
  The system will be tested at TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY in conjunction with Suica data, and will then be expanded to other parts of Japan through networks such as the Smart Health Station®.

  

TAKANAWA GATEWAY URBAN OS is a data sharing platform (urban OS) that stores information on the entire city, including commercial, office, and residential areas, as well as railway operation data held by JR-EAST (train location, on-board congestion, and ticket gate passing information).
The vast amount of data held by TAKANAWA GATEWAY URBAN OS can be used to plan events and develop products that are tailored to the lifestyles of customers.