Wow, Tokyo is an amazing city. I will compare Tokyo to New York, but the comparison is not a very good one. I would say you could multiply NYC by ten to begin to get a feel for the scale of the city. However, you would also have to divide the diversity of the population by ten as well. It has multiple train/subway junctions that remind me a places in Manhattan. For instance, Shubuya is a lot like Times Square, but each of the junctions represents a ward that is easily the size of Manhattan and Tokyo is made of up 23 wards, like NYC's boroughs. Each of the stations is a virtual community unto itself, often tied to skyscrapers and packed with shops and restaurants between the train platforms. It is an important harbor, business and finance center and is split by a river like NYC as well. However, there is no Chinatown, Little Italy, or other districts that make NYC such an interesting and diverse city.
Here a few highlights from the wards I visited:
Asakusa is home to one of the largest and most popular budist temples in Tokyo. From the first gate you walk about two blocks along a strip of small shops selling cakes, drinks and souvenirs. Then you come to a second gate and beyond that are the temple grounds with a few small buildings before the main temple. On the perimiter there are additional temples, a school, and a Shinto Shrine. The whole area is quite crowded and lively with locals and tourists alike.
Shubuya is a shopping and entertainment center and is crowded with high end stores and huge signs and electronic displays. The intersection outside the station is amazing for the shear and continuous volume of pedestrians that build along the sidewalks and side streets like water behind a dam and flood into the streets between the green lights for traffic.
Akihabara is also known as Electric City for all of the Electronic stores in the district. I had been told to visit there my first time to Tokyo and again on this trip, so I decided I'd check it out. However, after being to Shubuya it was unimpressive and almost felt like a ghost town when comparing the crowds to Shubuya.
Shinjuku has the largest and busiest train/metro junction and even employs 'pushers' during rush hour. Like their name suggests, these guys are responsible for packing people onto the train by pushing them on with large devises similar to riot shields. Shinjuku is also home to the Tokyo Metropolitan Governance buildings, which are quite impressive and, I learned after the fact, offer a free viewing platform on there upper levels.
Ueno Park is one of several large parks in Tokyo, and it has several of the major museums around its perimeter. In hinesight, I should have visited a few of the museums but I was trying to see the city instead. Within the park there are several shrines and temples as well but they are smaller than some of the more popular ones in the city. The parks have also become home to many of the growing homeless population in Tokyo and that was noticeable in Ueno.
Yoyogi Park is home to one of the largest and most popular Shinto Shrines in the city. Unlike the temple in Asakusa, the long trail up to the temple has very little built around it and is instead surrounded by trees that canopy the trail which is as wide as a four lane road. The number of visitors is pretty large but the area feels peacefull and uncrowded. Also popular in Yoyogi park, outside the area of the shrine, are the street performers. There were a bunch of guys who looked like a mix between a biker gang and Elvis impersonators with huge hair that danced to oldies all day. There was another group who looked like a mix between renosance actors and emo kids. And then there were a bunch of high school/college age kids that were carrying signs, and giving away, free hugs.
Palace grounds are in the middle of the city and are quite large. The whole complex is surrounded by a moat and grand walls made of huge stones. About two thirds of the complex is gaurded with no public access but a third is a large public garden with some of the old gaurd towers and living areas still standing. The public gardens themselves cover an area that is probably about the same size as central park in Manhattan.
Repongi is the international district crowded with embassies and is also known as the international party district and it has a bunch of pubs and clubs radiating out from the central station and intersection. I explored the area on my first visit to Tokyo years ago, but this time I only hit up a Ramen Shop for lunch and the Repongi Hills to visit the City Viewing level of the skyrises.
Despite the cities size, I was struck by the immensity of Mt Fuji towering over the city, which is a rare site from Tokyo, due to clouds and smog. The first time I was able to see it was from the plane and it made the twisted tangle of commerce and communication below look insignificant. The second time I saw it was from the top of the City View Deck of one of the buildings in the Repongi Hills area of down town Tokyo. From this closer to ground level view the peak still dominated the horizon even though it was far away. Unlike Mt Rainier in Seattle, Mt Fuji is a giant among much lesser foothills, rather than a peak among peaks, which also adds to its grandeur.
Here a few highlights from the wards I visited:
Asakusa is home to one of the largest and most popular budist temples in Tokyo. From the first gate you walk about two blocks along a strip of small shops selling cakes, drinks and souvenirs. Then you come to a second gate and beyond that are the temple grounds with a few small buildings before the main temple. On the perimiter there are additional temples, a school, and a Shinto Shrine. The whole area is quite crowded and lively with locals and tourists alike.
Shubuya is a shopping and entertainment center and is crowded with high end stores and huge signs and electronic displays. The intersection outside the station is amazing for the shear and continuous volume of pedestrians that build along the sidewalks and side streets like water behind a dam and flood into the streets between the green lights for traffic.
Akihabara is also known as Electric City for all of the Electronic stores in the district. I had been told to visit there my first time to Tokyo and again on this trip, so I decided I'd check it out. However, after being to Shubuya it was unimpressive and almost felt like a ghost town when comparing the crowds to Shubuya.
Shinjuku has the largest and busiest train/metro junction and even employs 'pushers' during rush hour. Like their name suggests, these guys are responsible for packing people onto the train by pushing them on with large devises similar to riot shields. Shinjuku is also home to the Tokyo Metropolitan Governance buildings, which are quite impressive and, I learned after the fact, offer a free viewing platform on there upper levels.
Ueno Park is one of several large parks in Tokyo, and it has several of the major museums around its perimeter. In hinesight, I should have visited a few of the museums but I was trying to see the city instead. Within the park there are several shrines and temples as well but they are smaller than some of the more popular ones in the city. The parks have also become home to many of the growing homeless population in Tokyo and that was noticeable in Ueno.
Yoyogi Park is home to one of the largest and most popular Shinto Shrines in the city. Unlike the temple in Asakusa, the long trail up to the temple has very little built around it and is instead surrounded by trees that canopy the trail which is as wide as a four lane road. The number of visitors is pretty large but the area feels peacefull and uncrowded. Also popular in Yoyogi park, outside the area of the shrine, are the street performers. There were a bunch of guys who looked like a mix between a biker gang and Elvis impersonators with huge hair that danced to oldies all day. There was another group who looked like a mix between renosance actors and emo kids. And then there were a bunch of high school/college age kids that were carrying signs, and giving away, free hugs.
Palace grounds are in the middle of the city and are quite large. The whole complex is surrounded by a moat and grand walls made of huge stones. About two thirds of the complex is gaurded with no public access but a third is a large public garden with some of the old gaurd towers and living areas still standing. The public gardens themselves cover an area that is probably about the same size as central park in Manhattan.
Repongi is the international district crowded with embassies and is also known as the international party district and it has a bunch of pubs and clubs radiating out from the central station and intersection. I explored the area on my first visit to Tokyo years ago, but this time I only hit up a Ramen Shop for lunch and the Repongi Hills to visit the City Viewing level of the skyrises.
Despite the cities size, I was struck by the immensity of Mt Fuji towering over the city, which is a rare site from Tokyo, due to clouds and smog. The first time I was able to see it was from the plane and it made the twisted tangle of commerce and communication below look insignificant. The second time I saw it was from the top of the City View Deck of one of the buildings in the Repongi Hills area of down town Tokyo. From this closer to ground level view the peak still dominated the horizon even though it was far away. Unlike Mt Rainier in Seattle, Mt Fuji is a giant among much lesser foothills, rather than a peak among peaks, which also adds to its grandeur.
Just read through Japan. Amazing. We had international students from Tokyo, Osaka and the southern area of Japan. It was so incredible to talk with them. It certainly makes me jealous how much you have gotten to see! Onward! Keep writing.
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