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INTRODUCING TOKYO

THE CAPITAL OF COOL

Tokyo is a city of wonderful and often bemusing contrasts and contradictions. Traditional Japanese gardens and ancient temples sit at ease in the shadows of towering skyscrapers. The conservative suits that fill the subway at rush hour can often be punctuated by a colorful kimono. There is a set way of doing almost everything, yet fashion-wise absolutely anything can go. The list goes on. The Japanese like to think of themselves as being unique (sometimes a touch too much), but thanks to a patchwork of districts, each with its own personality, not to mention an unorchestrated blend of new, old, home-grown and imported, their capital is undoubtedly one of the most distinctive cities on the planet.

THE WORLD’S ULTIMATE CITY

Metropolis. Mega city. Call Tokyo what you will, but there is no disputing the status of Japan’s capital as one of the world’s great cities. Just over 13 million people call Tokyo home, nearly 35 million if you count the neighboring prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba, which with Tokyo make up the most common definition of the Greater Tokyo area, an unbroken urban sprawl that spreads mile upon mile west, north and east from the center of Tokyo.

Japan is a pioneer in the field of robotics. Honda’s humanoid Asimo robot, pictured here performing at the Miraikan in Odaiba (page 78), can talk, dance and even kick a football. Do not be surprised to soon see robots working as home helpers, receptionists and performing many other roles in Tokyo.

Tokyo’s current place in the world, only 70 years after the city was all but decimated by war (90 after it was leveled by an earthquake), is nothing short of miraculous. From a business perspective, the Tokyo Stock Exchange has become one of the main financial hubs in Asia, while Tokyo also competes with Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai as the Asian base for many multinational corporations, not to mention being home to major Japanese corporations with global reach and recognition, companies that have forged a reputation for cutting-edge and precision technology and efficiency.

In a sporting sense, after rebuilding from World War II, the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 was one of the first opportunities for Tokyo to show the world it was back. Since then, Tokyo has become the host venue for the 2002 World Cup, held jointly with South Korea, as well as a regular host of football’s Confederation Cup and many other major sporting events across a range of disciplines. And with the awarding of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, Tokyo is now gearing up to once again be the focus of the world’s greatest sporting celebrations.

The crowds, energy, lights and fashions of Shibuya at night epitomize modern Tokyo.

Culturally, traditional Japanese arts and craft have long been appreciated and influential overseas but, emanating from Tokyo, so too has modern Japanese culture. On the back of manga (comic books), anime (animation), video games and related products, Akihabara is the center point of a globally reaching otaku (geek) culture. Tokyo also has one of the world’s most vibrant contemporary art scenes, highlighted by major annual events such as the Roppongi Art Night and the biannual Design Festa, the world’s largest freestyle art fair.

The latest technology on display. Japan’s home electronics makers produce world-leading products, which you can check out in megastores like Yodobashi and Bic Camera or in the home electronics district of Akihabara (page 54).

In Harajuku, you will see that style-wise anything goes in Tokyo.

Fashionable districts like Shibuya and Roppongi have some of the best clubs in Asia.

But one thing that differentiates Japan from other “world cities” is the population breakdown. For better or worse, and despite people from 190 different nations living in Tokyo, Tokyo remains predominantly Japanese. Of the 13.2 million people living in Tokyo, only around 3 percent are non-Japanese (compare that to over 30 percent in London or more than 35 percent in New York), the majority of that figure being Korean and Chinese nationals, many of whom were born in Japan.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange in the Nihombashi district is one of Asia’s main trading venues.

Despite Tokyo’s reputation for high-rise, high-tech and neon, tradition often punctuates the modern metropolis. Here, women wear kimono as they enjoy the spring cherry blossoms.

A helicopter cruise takes in Tokyo Tower and sprawling central Tokyo. For the especially well-heeled, helicopter taxis also run from Narita Airport to the city center.

Relaxing after work at the yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurants underneath the rail tracks by Yurakucho Station. Japan has a very rich and varied culinary heritage of its own, but Tokyo is also a truly global culinary city. With an estimated 90,000–100,000 licensed eateries, Tokyo’s dining scene stretches from Korean, Chinese and Southeast Asian to European, Middle Eastern and beyond.

The subway whizzes by. Tokyo’s spider web of a train and subway network runs with incredible efficiency, only stopping (or just slowing) briefly when typhoons hit or when somebody commits suicide on the tracks.

If you want to experience Tokyo’s crowds first hand, try a rush-hour train or the Shibuya Crossing at night.

FROM EDO TO TOKYO: THE SHOGUN’S CAPITAL

In 1590, 13 years before unifying Japan and becoming the first of the Edo-era shoguns, Tokugawa Ieyasu chose the town of Edo as his base of power. At the time, what is now Tokyo was not much more than marshland and estuaries centered around a small and ageing fortress, but by the time the Edo era had come to an end in 1868, Ieyasu’s capital had become the world’s largest city.

Gogatsu ningyo (lit. May dolls) are an example of how tradition still underpins modern Tokyo life. Displayed on Kodomo-no-hi, or Children’s Day (May 5th), by families with sons, these sets are said to bring good health and happiness for boys. Ornate dolls for girls are also displayed each year as part of the Hina-matsuri (Doll Festival) in March.

At the heart of Edo was the Tokugawa’s Edo Castle, originally built in 1457 by a daimyo (lord) called Ota Dokan, but then transformed by Tokugawa Ieyasu and subsequent shoguns into what was reputedly the largest castle in the world in its day. At its peak, its inner compound was some 8 kilometers in diameter, the outer compound 16 kilometers, and at its heart was a castle donjon with a 50-meter-high, five-tiered façade. During 260 years of Tokugawa rule, the castle was a potent symbol of power that remained unbreached, only succumbing to fires that frequently wreaked havoc on Edo.

A traditional dance performance.

During the relative stability and peace of Tokugawa rule, Edo grew rapidly both in size and economic strength. By the early 1700s, the population had reached one million, and to find space for the ever-growing populace hills were leveled, marshes reclaimed and estuaries filled. In Dokan’s day, areas such as Ginza and Nihombashi would have been under water, but during the Edo era they would both begin to flourish, Ginza initially as the location for the shogunate’s main silver mint and Nihombashi as a commercial center and the point from which all distances from Tokyo would be measured. Edo grew in all directions, even taking large chunks out of Tokyo Bay, but even amid such rapid growth the rigid social lines of Tokugawa rule were never blurred. The samurai classes had their parts of town and each level of merchant and worker had theirs. Today, in some parts of Tokyo you can still see distinctions between the “high city” of the samurai and the “low city” of the common man.

The classic view of the Imperial Palace (page 40) in central Tokyo combines the Fushimi Yagura guard tower and Nijubashi Bridge.

Many major traditional festivals, such as the autumn and spring festivals at Tosho-gu Shrine in Nikko and Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine in Kamakura, feature processions in historical costumes like this samurai armor.

Tradition, though important, can be tinkered with, especially when it comes to fashion. In this case, zori sandals meet platforms.

Decorative hagoita at the annual Hagoita-Ichi fair by Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa. A hagoita is a flat wooden racket used for playing the traditional New Year’s game hanetsuki, although ones like these are used as good luck charms.

A ukiyo-e (woodblock print) depicting an Edo-era kabuki actor.

You can still see rickshaws in Asakusa, although only as a tourist attraction nowadays.

Dolls on a souvenir stall.

With Tokugawa rule ended by the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Edo went through a series of dramatic changes. When the 17-year-old Meiji Emperor moved from Kyoto to briefly take up residence in Edo Castle (it burnt down in 1873 and the site is now home to the current Imperial Palace), he renamed Edo the “eastern capital”, Tokyo. The Meiji Government also set about modernizing Japan. With help of foreign expertise previously kept out of the country by Edo-era isolation policy, Japan developed its railways and industries. From the 1880s onward, much of central Tokyo also underwent a Western-style facelift, European architects and later their Japanese students erecting brick buildings. Horse-drawn carriages replaced rickshaws. Gas street lights appeared. The Meiji Emperor even took to wearing Western clothing. Tokugawa’s former power base had become the modern mega city of its day.

A statue of the legendary 14th-century samurai Kusunoki Masahige near the Imperial Palace.

A glimpse of old Edo courtesy of the master ukiyo-e artist Hiroshige.

Performing the tea ceremony. Sado or Chado, as it is most commonly known in Japanese, is still a popular and very well-respected pastime.

Decorative saké barrels (kazaridaru) at Meiji Jingu Shrine. Although the ones on display are always empty, shrines often use saké in parts of their rituals.

TOKYO’S COLORFUL FESTIVALS

Year round, Tokyo’s calendar is marked by festivals of all shapes and guises, from local street fairs to ancient parades and from midsummer fireworks displays to seasonal flower festivals, a collection of matsuri (festivals) woven into the fabric of Tokyo life.

Dancing in the streets at one of Tokyo’s numerous summer festivals.

In early spring, the focus of the city’s festivities is the fleeting wave of cherry blossom (sakura) that arrives in Tokyo in late March and early April as it sweeps northeast over Japan, with it signaling the start of hanami (cherry blossom viewing) parties and picnics in parks and alongside river banks all over the city. In Ueno Park, hanami manifests itself in thousands of saké- and beer-fueled parties on a sea of blue tarpaulin picnic sheets under delicate pink blossoms, while in other places the viewing is a more peaceful, contemplative affair, the lawns of Shinjuku Gyoen and a row boat on the picturesque Chidorigafuchi moat by the Imperial Palace being two of the most attractive and tranquil viewing spots in Tokyo.

As spring begins to warm with the approach of early summer, the first of Tokyo’s grand festivals begin. Taking place in odd-numbered years, the Kanda Matsuri in mid-May features processions of men in Edo-era costumes, bearers of mikoshi (portable shrines) and priests on horseback, while a week or so later the Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa attracts almost two million onlookers who come to watch hollering teams of bearers bounce highly decorative mikoshi through the teeming streets in honor of the 7th-century founders of Asakusa’s Senso-ji Temple and take in the parades of floats and food stalls.

The procession of samurai at the Tosho-gu Grand Spring Festival.

Picnicking under spring cherry blossoms. A favorite annual event in Japan, hanami (blossom viewing parties) take place all over Tokyo when the sakura is in bloom.

Paper lanterns at temple and shrine festivals can look mystical but often just bear the names of people who have given donations.

When the heat and humidity of summer arrives in July and August, matsuri madness reaches its peak. Illuminating Tokyo’s eastern skies on the final Saturday of July, the Sumidagawa Hanabi Taikai is the largest of dozens of summer hanabi taikai (fireworks displays) that take place in Tokyo, in this case with 20,000 rockets painting a rainbow of colors above the Sumida River. Despite the often oppressive heat, outdoor dance events are popular too, especially August’s Koenji Awa Odori (a modern-day offshoot of the centuries-old Awa Odori folk dance festival held in Tokushima Prefecture), which sees 12,000 dancers split into hundreds of colorfully dressed male and female troupes take to the sun-baked streets of Koenji to perform Awa folk dances to up-tempo rhythms and a pulsating mix of drums, flutes and traditional stringed instruments.

Processions in historic dress are a feature of many major shrine festivals.

Fireworks displays (hanabi taikai) are a summer institution all over the country, including Tokyo. For a major event like the Sumida River Fireworks in late July, somewhere in the region of half a million onlookers head to the banks of the Sumida to watch some 20,000 rockets being set off.

In Autumn, the number of matsuri taking place in Tokyo begins to drop off from the summer peak, although major traditional parades and displays of horseback archery take place in both Kamakura and Nikko as part of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine’s and Toshogu Shrine’s seasonal celebrations, each offering a window on important periods in Japan’s feudal past and a chance to enjoy some of the traditions that accompany almost every Japanese festival—the aromas and flavors of the street food, the colorful silk kimono or cotton yukata that accent the crowds, the simple fair games for children.

It is very common to get dressed up for Shichi-go-san (lit. seven, five, three), a rite-of-passage festival in November for girls aged three and seven and boys aged five.

The Asakusa Samba Carnival. Not all festivals are bathed in Japanese tradition.

It would not be a festival without the food stalls. Yakitori (grilled chicken), yakisoba (fried noodles), okonomiyaki (a kind of thick savory pancake), grilled fish, cotton candy and kakigori (shaved ice) are all common finds at a festival.

TOKYO’S CUTTING-EDGE ARCHITECTURE

A mish-mash of architectural styles coupled with an unshackled approach to urban planning has given Tokyo a distinctive appearance. Like many major cities, Tokyo has its gray urban sprawl, but no other city punctuates the mundane quite like Japan’s capital. With a blank canvas afforded them by a combination of loose planning regulations, adventurous developers and the freedom given by the Japanese acceptance of impermanence, Japanese architects have created pockets of architectural wonder and, occasionally, architectural bewilderment, in the process names such as Toyo Ito, Tadao Ando, Kisho Kurokawa and Kenzo Tange becoming internationally acclaimed for their distinctive, ground-breaking styles.

The distinctive “ball” that appears to have fallen and lodged itself into the Kenzo Tange-designed Fuji TV offices on Odaiba.

Another of Tange’s works is the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Shinjuku, which houses a fashion college, IT school and medical college. The cocoon design is said to symbolize the nurturing of the students inside.

To pluck a few examples from the air, conceptual architect Toyo Ito’s Mikimoto Ginza 2 Building, said to be inspired by jewelry boxes (Mikimoto, after all, is Japan’s most prestigious jeweler) and punctuated by striking cell-like windows, is one reason Ito won the prestigious 2013 Pritzker Prize for Architecture. Ando’s Omotesando Hills mall, built in 2006, features a six-level atrium that reaches three stories above ground and three below, with a spiraling ramp connecting the different levels. Tange’s Fuji TV headquarters, which is defined by a titanium-paneled silver sphere that appears to have lodged itself into the giant walkways connecting the structure’s two main buildings, is the defining sight on the man-made island of Odaiba.

Contemporary foreign architects have also left their mark, none more so than Phillipe Starck’s Asahi Beer Hall, which combines a stout building with a polished black granite façade on top of which sits a 300-ton golden “flame” with a taller structure that is designed to look like a glass of chilled lager. More high-tech is the Chanel store in Ginza, housed in a 10-story building designed in 2004 by Peter Marino that uses 70,000 light-emitting diodes on its exterior walls to frequently change its appearance.

The Tokyo Skytree, at 634 meters, is the second tallest structure in the world.

Designer Rafael Vinoly shaped the outside of the Tokyo International Forum like an elongated boat, while the cavernous interiors are defined by swooping steel trusses and glass panels.

The Kenzo Tange-designed Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (aka Tocho) in Shinjuku, which opened in 1991. At 243 meters, the twin-towered building was Tokyo’s tallest until Tokyo Midtown was completed in 2006.

Mikimoto Ginza 2 in Ginza is home to jewelers Mikimoto. Acclaimed architect Toyo Ito used a simple rectangular shape to fit the limited space and concentrated on creating a memorable façade, which has a honeycomb effect from multiple irregularly placed windows.

The Prada Aoyoma building, designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron. Many of Tokyo’s most striking structures have been built for major fashion brands.

The 2000s also saw the rise of the urban complex. The towering Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown, often described as cities within the city, have combined to transform the Roppongi area into one of Tokyo’s most fashionable and cosmopolitan addresses, just as Ando’s Omotesando Hills mall redefined one side of Omotesando-dori. And even more recent than those has come a structure that you could not miss, even if you wanted to, in the shape of Tokyo Skytree, a 634-meter-tall broadcast tower-cum-tourist attraction that now looms large over eastern Tokyo.

The AO Building in Aoyama and its “twisted” tower house luxury fashion brands, cafés, restaurants and interior design stores.

The National Art Center in Roppongi.

The Nakagin Capsule Tower is a retro classic. Built in 1972 and designed by Kisho Kurosawa, the mixed-use residential and office tower comprising 140 small capsules is a rare example of Metabolism Movement architecture.

The Audi Forum Tokyo, aka “The Iceberg”, in Shibuya Ward was designed by Tokyo-based Creative Designers International.

THE WORLD’S TRENDIEST CITY

Teen trends and fashions move like ever-shifting sands in Tokyo. One minute platform shoes are in, the next it is crop tops. One season neon is the new black, and then pink is the new neon; or tie-dye is suddenly in vogue after a month or two of nothing but stripes. The only constants are where the styles are born—the streets of Shibuya and Harajuku.

In Shibuya, in boutique-filled buildings like 109, new youth concepts and trends are unleashed on Tokyo before spreading out across Japan, often out of date in Shibuya by the time the rest of the country has caught on. Along streets like Takeshita-dori in Harajuku it is a similar story, while in Akihabara, an area known for its home electronics stores and anime and manga shops, otaku (geek) teens show off incredible cosplay fashions that can range from dressing up as comic book characters to donning a blood-splattered gothic nurse look.

Other world cities might argue against Tokyo being the “trendiest”, but Tokyo undisputedly has an amazing range and variety of fashions, from cosplay to glitzy and simple but trendy fashions offered by popular brands such as Uniqlo. Fashion-wise, anything can and does go in Tokyo.

No other part of Tokyo is as colorful as Shibuya (page 90) on Halloween.

Posing on the street for amateur photographers in Akihabara (page 54).

Some styles, of course, persist. Gyaru (a word derived from “gal”) street fashion, which is characterized by bleached or dyed hair, highly decorated nails and heavy make-up such as dark eyeliner and false eyelashes, has been dominant since it first came to prominence in areas like Shibuya and Harajuku in the 1970s. Yet, even that has branched off into numerous sub-gyaru styles.

You get a real mix of styles in the shops and streets of Shibuya (page 90).

Harajuku (page 84) is the place to check out the latest fashion trends among teens and young adults.

Hime-gyaru, for example, favor a princess look with pink or pastel dresses adorned with lace and bows. The ganguro look that was big in the 1990s and early 2000s brought dark fake tans and outrageously bleached hair to the basic gyaru style, and then warped into the manba and yamanba styles—look out for the same fake tans but with a mix of bleached and neon hair and heavy white make-up above or below the eyes. Confused? Unless you are a teen, you should be.

Some themes last too. Cuteness (kawaii) never seems to go out of fashion, whether reflected in the cuddly character goods and sparkly trinkets high schoolers have hanging from their ubiquitous cell phones or the distinctive mannerisms some seem to affect, be that pouting or raising the pitch of their voice to dog whistle range. Whatever you think of the fashions and styles, you have to tip your hat to Tokyo’s youth for one thing—they are not afraid to express themselves and Tokyo is a much more vibrant and dynamic city for it.

Among the suits and Western-style fashions, traditional clothing like these kimono are still a fairly regular sight. On Coming of Age Day, on the second Monday of January, woman aged 20 celebrate adulthood by wearing kimono like the ones pictured, with a fake fur stole. Some people wear kimono to events such as weddings, while others working in traditional stores or restaurants might wear them to work.

Outside the Louis Vuitton store in Ginza (page 44). No matter how long or deep Japan goes into recession, the high-end fashion brands still remain in demand.

A FOODIE MECCA

From simple ramen to sublime kaiseki-ryori, from kebab trucks to Michelin-starred French cuisine, the breadth and quality of food in Tokyo has made the city a gourmands delight, a city many call the culinary capital of the world.

Lanterns outside a restaurant often highlight the type of food and drink on the menu. This particular place has (left to right) oden, soba, seasonal kushikatsu and shochu.

To put Tokyo’s culinary clout into numbers, there are somewhere near 100,000 licensed eating establishments in Tokyo, the top end of which have garnered more than twice as many Michelin stars as any other city in the world. At last count, Tokyo’s 281 starred restaurants were way ahead of the 70 in Paris and 67 in New York.

Restaurants in Tokyo do not only cover the full range of Japanese cuisines but also European, Chinese, Korean, Southeast Asian and almost everything else.

Fresh sashimi (slices of raw fish).

A street vendor cooks up yakisoba (fried noodles).

Casual yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurants in Yurakucho, a stone’s throw from the plush Ginza district.

To judge Tokyo simply by its plushest restaurants, however, does not do the city and Japan’s culinary heritage justice. Tokyo is the foodie capital of the world, not just for its high end but because of its incredible epicurean depth and breadth, across which chefs from each culinary walk of life tend to share the same level of craftsmanship and dedication, be they focused on perfecting a single broth and noodle combination or creating seasonal delicacies delivered with artistic aplomb and traditional elegance.

Specialization is a defining trait, from affordable restaurants that serve only soba noodles to highly refined establishments where elaborate courses can revolve around a multitude of uses of tofu, and from low-budget kaitenzushi restaurants, where customers pluck the nigiri from conveyor belts, to $200-plus a head sushi-ya in well-heeled areas like Ginza and Roppongi.

Fast food the traditional way. Counter-only places like this often offer great tasting food at reasonable prices for a quick lunch or dinner. Looking at the signs, this one does a super cheap 500 yen lunch box of grilled eel on rice.

A teppanyaki restaurant. As with many sushi and tempura restaurants, one of the great things with teppanyaki (besides the hotplate-fried meat, seafood and vegetables) is being able to watch the chefs prepare your food up close.

Some areas even specialize. The Okubo area, next to Shinjuku, has Tokyo’s best selection and biggest concentration of Korean restaurants. Nearby Hyakunincho is best for “ethnic” (meaning Southeast Asian) cuisine. Yokohama has Chinatown. More cosmopolitan locales, such as Roppongi, Aoyama and Omotesando, are the places to look for both traditional high-end dining and innovative modern takes on Japanese cuisine, not to mention international fare of all kinds.

In less fashionable areas, Shimbashi is great for boisterous after work izakaya, although such traditional watering holes are found everywhere. Ryogoku, home to Japan’s main sumo stadium, is known for restaurants serving chanko nabe, the hearty hotpot of meat, vegetables and seafood eaten by sumo wrestlers. The Tsukishima area is known for a Tokyo oddity called monjayaki, a runny batter containing a mix of chopped vegetables, meat or seafood that is then grilled into a sticky mess on hotplates built into each table. The variety is such you could spend a month in Tokyo trying a different lunch and dinner every day and still barely have scratched the surface.

Skewers of yakitori on the grill.

Fish cooking on an open hearth. Dishes like these are a perfect match for beer and saké.

At a sushi restaurant.

Fresh produce on display at the outer market area of Tsukiji Market, which provides restaurants in Tokyo, from high-end sushi bars in Ginza to back-street izakaya, with much of their seafood.

An assortment of sashimi (slices of raw fish) served with freshly grated wasabi (for mixing with soy sauce as a dip) on decorative bamboo leaves.

A sushi chef puts the final touches to a serving of mushi ebi (steamed shrimp sushi).