Tokyo ward to adopt law to promote urban greenery

A Tokyo ward plans to adopt new legislation to promote urban greenery -- the first legislation of its kind in the city.

From October, Setagaya Ward will require property owners to set aside a certain amount of space for planting trees, flowers and grass when they build or renovate a house.

Owners of lots of more than 300 square meters will have to allocate 5 to 25 percent of their land for this purpose.

Building applications will be rejected if owners do not comply with the regulation. They will also have to pay a fine if the area for vegetation is too small and they do not obey an improvement order.

Setagaya says it will become the first ward in Tokyo to introduce such legislation and the 3rd municipality to do so after the cities of Nagoya and Yokohama.