Stadium where Babe Ruth played in Tokyo is at the center of a disputed park redevelopment plan

TOKYO (AP) — Plans to demolish a historic baseball stadium where Babe Ruth played and an adjacent rugby venue are at the heart of a disputed park redevelopment in Tokyo that critics say trades history and greenery for commercial space.

The plan to remake the Jingu Gaien park area was approved 2 1/2 years ago by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Work clearing land has begun but opponents are still trying to stop the project, which could take a decade to complete.

A coalition on Wednesday presented an open letter to Toshiko Abe, the minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology, asking the project be reassessed.

It's signed by 368 experts — urban planners, architects and environmental scientists — and 1,167 others.

The park area was established a century ago through public donations to honor the Meiji Emperor. At the heart of the issue is citizens' control of public space, and a potential conflict of interest with private developers and politicians deciding how valuable parcels are used.

The stadium oozes history and critics say building skyscrapers in the park space would never be allowed in Central Park in New York or Hyde Park in London.

Ruth and Lou Gehrig played at the stadium on a 1934 barnstorming tour. Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami was inspired to write his first novel while drinking beer and watching a game there in 1978. The stadium is still home to the Yakult Swallows baseball team and hosted a concert this week.

Plans call for developers to build a pair of 200-meter (650-feet) towers and a smaller tower. The stadiums are to be rebuilt in the reconfigured space with the baseball stadium going where the rugby stadium now stands.

The open letter is critical of so-called private finance schemes that give private developers access to park space. Hibiya Park is Tokyo's oldest public park, another example of this approach.

Opposition to the Jingu redevelopment has included novelist Murakami, a conservancy group, and botanists and environmentalists who argue the sprawling project threatens 100-year-old gingko trees that grace the area's main avenue.

A global conservancy body ICOMOS, which works with the United Nations body UNESCO, has said the development will lead to “irreversible destruction of cultural heritage” with trees and green space being lost.

Opposition groups are pitted against powerful real-estate developer Mitsui Fudosan, the Shinto religious body, and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike.

“The problem is that many Japanese citizens are not so much interested in democratically regulating their own city and are used to demolishing buildings,” Kohei Saito, a Japanese political economist at Tokyo University, wrote to The Associated Press.

He said “companies with political power try to maximize their short-term profits without consideration of Tokyo's attractiveness (history, culture), inhabitants' well-being and future generations.”

Zoning changes to allow high-rise buildings in the area were made around 2013 by the Tokyo government when the city won the bid for the 2020 Olympics. Many of those changes permitted building the neighboring National Stadium but also applied to the park area.

“The process of rezoning the area lacked transparency and democratic procedure and constitutes an illegal abuse of the governor’s discretion in urban planning decisions,” the open letter said.

The Jingu district was considered “common property” until after World War II when the government sold it to Shinto under a promise it would remain a common space.

The national government comes into play because the rugby venue is the property of the Japan Sport Council, a national government affiliated body. The rugby venue represents about 30% of the Jingu Gaien area.

Opponents hope the timing later this month of a national election might aid their cause with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba heading a minority government.

Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has ties to the rugby venue.

In addition to serving two decades ago as prime minister, he is the former president of the Japan Rugby Football Union and also served as the president of the 2020 Olympic organizing committee until he was forced to resign after making sexist comments about women.

Opened in 1926, developers argue the baseball stadium is too old to save. However, Fenway Park in Boston dates from 1912 and Wrigley Field in Chicago from 1914. Both have been refurbished and are among the most venerated in the United States.

Meiji Kinenkan, a historic reception hall in Jingu Gaien, dates from 1881 and is still widely used with no calls for its demolition. Mitsui Fudosan’s headquarters building in Tokyo dates from 1929. Koshien Stadium, located near Osaka, was built in 1924 and has been in use since a refurbishment.

The new rugby stadium would be an indoor venue with plastic grass, which players view as the least desirable surface for the sport.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Workers at a construction site near the Jingu stadium in Tokyo, Wednesday, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Construction site near the Jingu stadium in Tokyo, Wednesday, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Visitors walk past the Jingu stadium in Tokyo, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Workers at a construction site near the Jingu stadium in Tokyo, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

A general view of the Jingu stadium in Tokyo, Wednesday, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones blasted apartment buildings and the power grid in the southern Ukraine city of Odesa in an overnight attack that injured six people, including a toddler and two other children, officials said Wednesday.

Four apartment buildings were damaged in the bombardment, according to regional military administration head Oleh Kiper. Power company DTEK said two of its energy facilities suffered significant damage. The company said that 10 substations that distribute electricity in the Odesa region were damaged in December alone.

Russia has this year escalated its long-range attacks on urban areas of Ukraine. In recent months, as Russia’s invasion of its neighbor approaches its four-year milestone in February, it has also intensified its targeting of energy infrastructure, seeking to deny Ukrainians heat and running water in the bitter winter months.

From January to November this year, more than 2,300 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 11,000 were injured, the United Nations said earlier this month. That was 26% higher than in the same period in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023, it said.

Russia’s sustained drone and missile attacks have taken place against backdrop of renewed diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort on Sunday and announced that a settlement is “closer than ever before." The Ukrainian leader is due to hold talks next week with the heads of European governments supporting his efforts to secure acceptable terms.

The ongoing attacks, meantime, are inflaming tensions.

The overnight Odesa strikes “are further evidence of the enemy’s terror tactics, which deliberately target civilian infrastructure,” Kiper, the regional head, said.

Moscow has alleged that Ukraine attempted to attack Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northwestern Russia with 91 long-range drones late Sunday and early Monday. Ukrainian officials deny the claim and say it’s a ruse to derail progress in the peace negotiations.

Maj. Gen. Alexander Romanenkov of the Russian air force claimed Wednesday that the drones took off from Ukraine’s Sumy and Chernihiv regions.

At a briefing where no questions were allowed, he presented a map showing the drone flight routes before they were downed by Russian air defenses over the Bryansk, Tver, Smolensk and Novgorod regions.

It was not possible to independently verify the reports.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, on Wednesday called the Russian allegations “a deliberate distraction” from the peace talks.

“No one should accept unfounded claims from the aggressor who has indiscriminately targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilians since the start of the war,” Kallas posted on X.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Romania and Croatia are the latest countries to join a fund that buys weapons for Ukraine from the United States. The financial arrangement, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase American weapons, munitions and equipment.

Since it was established in August, 24 countries are now contributing to the fund, according to Zelenskyy. The fund has so far received $4.3 billion, with almost $1.5 billion coming in December alone, he said on social media.

Ukraine’s air force said Wednesday that Russia fired 127 drones at the country during the night, with 101 of them intercepted by air defenses.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that 86 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russian regions, the Black Sea and the illegally annexed Crimea peninsula.

The Ukrainian attack started a fire at an oil refinery in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, but it was quickly put out, local authorities said.

This story has corrected the day of the alleged Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian president’s residence to late Sunday and early Monday.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, a Russian Army soldier fires from D-30 howitzer towards Ukrainian positions in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)