Honda Plans to Relocate to New Headquarters by 2029

According to foreign media reports, Honda Motor Co. recently announced plans to relocate its global headquarters to a newly developed area in Yaesu, near Tokyo Station, by 2029. The company will abandon its previous plan to rebuild the current headquarters and retain the existing site.

More than forty years ago, Honda's global headquarters moved to the Aoyama Building in Minato-ku, Tokyo, and has remained there ever since. Due to insufficient office space, the company temporarily relocated part of its headquarters operations this May to Toranomon, which is also located in Minato-ku.

Image source: Honda Motor

Honda Motor Co. will transfer ownership of the Aoyama Building to Mitsui Fudosan Residential Company in exchange for partial ownership of a new building being constructed by Mitsui in the Yaesu area near Tokyo Station. Honda stated that the new headquarters will significantly increase office space, which will help consolidate and upgrade headquarters functions, thereby enhancing internal communication efficiency and improving the working environment for employees.

The company stated that it has always been "prudently exploring the optimal solution for the functions of the global headquarters, aiming to create a core hub that promotes transformative communication and stimulates innovative vitality," thereby fulfilling its development commitment to "continuously becoming an enterprise needed by the future society."

Honda also revealed that the company has a unique communication culture called "Waigaya," which helps foster innovation. It allows employees to "go beyond their roles and position limitations, producing better outcomes through lively exchanges of opinions."

Honda Motor Co. stated that since temporarily relocating its headquarters functions to Toranomon, Tokyo in May this year, it has adopted a “single-floor” office layout: instead of being scattered across multiple floors, employees now work together in an open space on the same floor. This layout has proven to strengthen connections among employees, encouraging staff from different departments to gather together for more dynamic Waigaya discussions, and has already begun to inspire various future innovations.

Based on these factors, Honda has re-evaluated the optimal office conditions for its new global headquarters and ultimately decided to relocate its headquarters to the Yaesu area, which includes the former site of the “Honda Yaesu Building” that housed Honda’s global headquarters from 1960 to 1974. After moving to the newly developed Yaesu district, each floor of the new headquarters will have approximately 6.8 times the office space of the Aoyama Building and about 1.8 times that of the current Toranomon office area. Honda stated that this move will significantly enhance productivity and create new value.