Almost every random brand, city office, government initiative and sports team in Japan has its own marketing mascot and Tokyo has some of the best or worst, depending on how you look at it. And gave us Koronon , a cat who fights coronavirus by handing out free face masks. Every great city has its iconic landmarks, but Tokyo is in a class of its own. Better yet, the almighty Godzilla watches over us, protecting us from his lofty home in Shinjuku. One of the best districts to explore on foot is Shibuya, which includes smaller neighbourhoods such as Ebisu and Daikanyama.
For a city-centre nature walk, opt for a stroll through trendy Tomigaya, which leads to the lush Meiji Shrine grounds pictured besides Yoyogi Park. Tokyo's train system is ridiculously efficient. In fact, punctuality is such an obsession here that railway companies will apologise if a train departs a few seconds earlier than scheduled.
No matter how wacky, unorthodox or specific your style is, you'll always be able to find a dedicated haunt and a tribe of like-minded people. While dinner and drinks for one might look like a cry for help in other cities, in Tokyo going out on your own is the norm.
Most venues are set up for solo customers. High-end restaurants like Fushikino pictured and The Blind Donkey serve up gourmet meals to diners around an open kitchen — a perfect dinner for one.
To stop noisy parties dominating the room, some bars even ban groups altogether, like Hitori in Shinjuku, which only allows lone drinkers to enter. You can easily go a whole day out in the capital barely saying a word to anyone. There are the iconic gay clubs with their awe- inspiring drag shows, but the community also provides refuge and a platform to help sexual minorities find their footing. Accessibility can be a challenge in a densely packed city like Tokyo, but we're seeing more new initiatives cropping up every day.
Tourist attractions including temples Tsukiji Hongwanji , observation decks Tokyo Skytree , and museums Nezu Museum are going barrier-free. Even bathhouses like Mikokuyu have become fully accessible. Meanwhile, specialist tour agency Omakase offers a one-day excursion to the best accessible spots in town.
As for where all the rubbish goes, there are bins at convenience stores and train stations, but many people just take their trash home. Naturally, the same culture of cleanliness extends to public toilets, trains and buses, too.
Sure, the cost of living is high but you get great quality for what you pay for. Tokyo is rightly famous for its diverse and oddly specific array of goods, services and hangout spots for people with niche interests.
Jaded about humanity? Tokyo will restore your faith in the goodness of people. The Japanese way of life is about being in harmony with the seasons — a trait that has also shaped the personality of the capital.
Every season brings out a different side of the metropolis, changes the cityscape, calls for different celebrations, and serves up different food and flavours. Spring brings joy as the city bursts into a sea of pink cherry blossoms while the longer summer days host vibrant street festivals although the pandemic has temporarily put a stop to that. In autumn, the city mellows as leaves turn yellow and red and nabe hotpot becomes the go-to meal.
Come winter, the city compensates for the longer nights with sparkling illuminations that light up the streets and public spaces. Can you imagine a life without sushi? We can't. Sushi may have been born in the Edo period out of necessity the need to feed hungry workers fast and cheap and abundance fresh seafood off Tokyo Bay , but it has grown into an indispensable part of global food culture, eaten and revered around the world.
Still, no other city does it quite like Tokyo: since the freshness and the quality of the fish are a given —thanks to Toyosu Market , the world's largest seafood market — chefs distinguish themselves through impeccable knife skills and their unique take on the sushi rice, resulting in an extraordinary morsel of food that's unlike anything you've ever tasted.
The proof is in the Michelin guide. With the latest figures, Tokyo maintains its crown as the city boasting not just the most Michelin stars for those counting but also the highest number of starred restaurants in the world. Whatever your poison, Tokyo has a bar to quench your thirst. If you think Tokyo is only good at Japanese food, you are seriously misguided.
Fashion brands are also getting in on the game. The world loves Japanese food for its clean flavours that celebrate seasonal ingredients. Some of our favourites include Nanaya Aoyama , a dedicated matcha ice cream shop, Patisserie Asako Iwayanagi for its visually stunning parfaits, and Ginza Ginger pictured for its bowls of fluffy ginger-infused shaved ice. Both contemporary artists, two of the most celebrated names of our time, are based in this great city.
The red-haired nonagenarian figure synonymous with trippy infinity rooms, polka dots and pumpkins has her own museum in Shinjuku, while the originator of Superflat has a shop in Nakano Broadway as well as a gallery in Motoazabu Kaikai Kiki Gallery. Tokyo is known for its historic shrines and temples, and performing arts such as Noh, Kabuki and Rakugo, which have been enjoyed for centuries. Meanwhile Tokyo is renowned for new trends in fashion, music, art, technology and animation, and as a cultural centre for creators in Japan and beyond.
The Niconico Chokaigi festival, which allows members to connect in person, has been attended by over 15 million people. One of the greatest challenges facing modern Tokyo is a declining birth rate combined with an ageing population.
In , Tokyo will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and there is a need to balance leaving a legacy for future generations with addressing the growing needs of an ageing society. This represents a significant logistical challenge for the City. Tokyo and its many sub-cultures also stand out as noteworthy incubators of innovative design and global fashion trends.
Tokyo and other major Japanese cities consistently rank near the top of the leading global cost of living indexes by Mercer and the Economist Intelligence Unit EIU. The cost of housing and car ownership in particular tend to be quite high in Tokyo and Japan in general, especially by U. The scramble street crossing outside of Shibuya Station is easily the world's busiest, with a thousand people running into the middle of the street , weaving together in a huge organic mass.
It perfectly summarizes the essence of Tokyo's true tourist landmarks: not old buildings, but lots and lots of people coming together in celebration of culture. See the action outside the Hachiko exit of Shibuya Station. Youth fashion stores by the hundreds. There are countless independent fashion boutiques in the Harajuku area -- all dedicated to generally insane forms of youth fashion.
If you count adjacent Shibuya, Omotesando and Aoyama into the region, you have the world's largest fashion district: featuring basically every single major designer brand in the world. Sky-high one-upmanship.
Now complete and open for business, the Guinness-certified structure features shops, restaurants and an observation deck that lets you see almost all the way to Guangzhou. You can eat dirt. At Ne Quittez Pas, in Tokyo's Gotanda neighborhood, every dish is made with a generous helping of dirt. Not normal, backyard variety dirt. This is special nutrient-rich soil.
The unique tasting menu is the creation of Toshio Tanabe, a former gymnast and boxer turned culinary inventor. Whether diners dig into the dirt or not, it does take the idea of organic to a new level. Ne Quittez Pas , Higashigotanda. Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo. More Michelin stars than anywhere else. Tokyo sports , known eateries, more than 10 times the number in Paris. More than anything, though, Michelin has proven something that most Tokyoites already know: this city is the gastronomic capital of the world.
The electronics stores are like theme parks. The Japanese have taken their love of the latest electronic gadgets and modern appliances and zapped it with Yodobashi Akiba, the largest electronics store in a section of Tokyo known for being the center of gadget, video game and anime culture in the city.
Going into any electronics store in Akihabara is like stepping into a wonderland of flashing lights and monstrous screens, but Yodobashi ups the ante by offering six massive floors of televisions, stereos, appliances and game consoles, with three more floors dedicated to restaurants, juice bars, bookstores and music shops. You can commute to the mountains. When concrete Tokyo gets to be too much, you can head out to the wonderful Mount Takao in West Tokyo. Accessible by a single train from Shinjuku, the mountain is particularly famous for its easy hike to the top, stunning autumn foliage and special soba-noodle culture.
Takes a little less than one hour. Earth's biggest fish market. Given Japan's penchant for seafood, it's not surprising the world's largest fish market and one of the largest wholesale markets, period is located in Tokyo. Handling more than 2, tons of seafood each day, Tsukiji-shijo "market" is a haven for fisherman, auctioneers and buyers for Tokyo's best restaurants. As an added bonus, here the freshest sushi and most delectable grilled fish lunches can be had at reasonable prices -- assuming one can stand the mad rush of patrons.
Even the serious museums are weird. Edo-Tokyo Museum is the best place to relive the old traditional style of life in Tokyo, when it was called Edo in the 15th to 19th centuries. The building exterior, however, looks like a giant space cruiser on a "Buck Rogers" back lot, propped up on stilts. This is perhaps an attempt to fuse past, present and future Tokyo into one space. Take me out to the ball game again and again. How baseball-obsessed is Tokyo? It's one of only three cities in the world -- Chicago and Seoul are the others -- with two big-league stadiums in its central downtown area.
The Yomiuri Giants, who play their home games at Tokyo Dome, are loved and detested in equal measure think New York Yankees , while the more-approachable Yakult Swallows do their thing down the road in cozy Jingu Stadium. You'll never want for expensive antique robot toys. Eight floors of heaven for anime fans, Mandarake Complex represents the flagship of the Mandarake chain of vintage anime ephemera. The seventh and eighth floors are like a museum of Japanese toy history -- only everything is for sale.
Although their prices are higher than you'll find in other shops and bargaining is out of the question, you would be hard pressed to beat the selection. The K-Pop boom is old news. That's because anything worthwhile coming out of the K-Pop boom washes up in Tokyo's Koreatown first.
This enclave of souvenir shops, barbecue eateries and bars stretches over several blocks near the bustling mini-city of Shinjuku. The public parks are as pretentious as it gets. Meticulously constructed according to the good Dr. Enryo Inoue's arcane personal tastes, Tetsugakudo Park's numerous small buildings are all dedicated to renowned philosophers.
Outdoor features include a supposedly haunted tree and a "Time-Space Clearing" that is -- and we quote -- "intended to represent the philosophical dimension.
Tetsugakudo Park , Matsugaoka , Nakano-ku,. It's the best place to shop if you're over Looking for the latest fashions circa ?
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