Tokyo is the capital of and largest city in Japan with a population of 14 million and nearly 40 million in the greater Tokyo area. Nearly 500,000 foreigners reside in Tokyo from over 200 countries. Geographically, Tokyo has the shape of a narrow belt with the concentrated urban area in the east and then oddly the far western end basically being a wilderness area with mountains, streams, rafting, camping, etc., and everything in between a lengthy suburban area. Previously known as Edo in Musashi Province, it took on the name, Tokyo (literally east capital) at the time of the Meiji Restoration. Today Tokyo is the nexus of power for just about every aspect of Japanese life from politics to business, academia, media, entertainment, culture, etc. Everything is concentrated in Tokyo, and even amid a declining national population, real estate values are holding firm or slightly rising as people gradually drain away from the rural areas to big cities like Tokyo.
The climate in Tokyo is humid subtropical with hot and humid summers and cool winters and rare light snowfall on occasion. The rainy season is in June and there are three to four typhoons a year in the fall and spring. Tokyo is also seismically active with nearly a dozen minor earthquakes per year, a good size shaking about once every five to 10 years and the Big One about once every 75 to 100 years, but nearly every building is safely designed and built not to collapse even during the Big One.
Tokyo is one of the major hubs for global finance as well as for other industries, trade (maritime ports, international airports, etc.), technology, fashion, theater, concerts, conventions, museums, sporting events, etc. The majority of residents are involved in service occupations but just about every conceivable job is available somewhere in Tokyo. While most Japanese corporate headquarters are located in Tokyo, 99 percent of companies are small and medium-size businesses. There are well over 500 English conversation schools that hire native English teachers and about half as many other types of educational institutions that may employ foreign teachers. In addition to a large hospitality industry (namely hotels), in recent years, convenience stores, restaurants (fast food and ordinary) and all assortment of service industries have begun to hire foreigners with proper visas, e.g., working holiday, student, spouse, cultural, etc.
In addition to the people being polite and reserved, Tokyo is one of the safest large cities in the world, and its transportation system may very well be the best in the world. A maze of trains are supported by a myriad of roads, urban highways and bus routes providing easy access to downtown areas from just about any place on the Kanto plain as well as good access to the city's two large international airports, Haneda and Narita. On the downside, Tokyo has been described as a "concrete jungle," and apartments are generally cramped, more so the closer one moves toward the city center.
Things to see and do in Tokyo are too numerous to mention, but some of the major ones are the Imperial Place (only the outer moat and an interior garden) and adjacent Kitanomaru Park next to Budokan and adjacent Yasukuni Shrine (where Japan's war dead are enshrined with a war museum), Sky Tree, Tokyo Tower, Akihabara (electronic store district), Ginza (shopping and fashion boutiques), Harajuku (young fashion), Roppongi (nightlight), Kabukicho (night life and red light district), Meiji Jinja and adjacent Yoyogi Park, Hamarikyu Park (former imperial hunting grounds with boat rides up the Sumida River to Asakusa and its iconic Senso-ji), Odaiba (new waterfront shopping area and Ferris wheel and Joypolis indoor amusement park), the Shinagawa Aquarium, Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea (technically in Chiba), Shinjuku Gyoen Park, Tsukiji Fish Market, Kasai Rinkai Park (water front park with Ferris wheel), Ueno Zoo, etc. Main train junctions on the Yamanote Loop Line with all assortment of shopping, restaurants, etc. are at Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Ueno. Major museums include the Tokyo National Museum (largest art museum in Japan), the National Museum of Nature and Science, the Shitamachi Museum and the National Museum for Western Art (all in Ueno Park), the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Odaiba, the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Sumida, the Nezu Museum in Aoyama, the National Museum of Modern Art in Nagatacho, etc.
Major festivals in Tokyo include Asakusa's Sanja Festival in the third week of May (notable for its extravagant parade of mikoshi, musicians and dancers), the Sanno Festival at Hie Shrine in June, the Tenno Festival in July (a two-day evening boat festival in Shinagawa with illuminated boats and lanterns floating down the Tenno River), Sumida Fireworks on the last Saturday of July (over the Sumida River with millions of people viewing), the Fukagawa Festival in mid-August, the Koenji Awa Odori at the end of August (the largest Awa dance festival outside Tokushima with nearly 200 groups composed of 12,000 dancers), the Harajuku Omotesando Genki Matsuri Super Yosakoi at the end of August (Yosakoi dance festival with about 100 groups), etc.
Historically, the traditional food of Tokyo was "Edomae" seafood, which literally meant seafood caught right in front of Edo, i.e. Tokyo Bay. Nutrient-rich river sediments from the fertile Kanto plain were said to have contributed to a wide array of delicious seafood in Tokyo Bay. From this the modern version of sushi (with vinegar rice and raw fish) first appeared at a shop in Ryogoku in 1824, referred to as "Edomae nigirizushi." Today many restaurants still use this "Edomae" moniker, but this is generally meant to indicate sushi of high quality and not the place of origin. Ryogoku was also the origin of chanko nabe, which today is the standard eating regimen for Sumo wrestlers with many such restaurants in the Ryogoku area where the grand sumo arena is located. Chanko nabe is a hot pot dish with all assortment of vegetables, meat and other things in it. Eaten as a group, it is said to foster a sense of community. There is a Tokyo-style soba, which is soba noodles served in soy broth with a variety of toppings, and the Tsukishima area of Tokyo created monjayaki with many of these specialty restaurants located there. Monjayaki is similar to okonomiyaki and cooked in the same way on a grill in front of you, but lacking an egg in the mix it does not stick together like okonomiyaki does, and thus is a bit messier to eat.Read more >
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