Tokyo ranked third for the sixth straight year among the world’s 48 major cities in terms of their ability to attract people, capital and companies, a Japanese think tank report showed Wednesday.

London came first in the overall Global Power City Index rankings in 2021 drawn up by the Mori Memorial Foundation’s Institute for Urban Strategies, followed by New York. Paris ranked fourth.

The top eight cities were unchanged from last year, according to the rankings fully reflecting the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tokyo failed to replace New York despite improvement in work style flexibility thanks to the spread of remote work amid the pandemic, with the Japanese capital allowing Beijing to widen its lead in economic terms and continuing to receive a poor score for environmental efforts due to a low renewable energy rate.

The report also showed that London, Singapore and Hong Kong, where most flights are international, suffered substantial drops in their scores related to international human and goods flows.

Meanwhile, New York saw its employment-linked assessment worsen markedly reflecting a rise in the US jobless rate.

JIJI Press