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| Ranking Among Int'l Cities/Regions: #23 |
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• Tokyo’s population is three times as dense as that of Mumbai, India
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| • Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea are among the world’s five top theme parks |
| • Men play all the roles in Kabuki theater |
• The name Tokyo means eastern capital
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| • The city traces its origins to 1457; it became capital in 1868 |
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Kimonos and baseball
Tokyo is a tourist destination harboring a raft of unique Japanese cultural traditions and a major business center for companies with an eye on the Asian market. For tourists, it is often the first stop on a visit to the Land of the Rising Sun, and it offers many examples of what visitors regard as particularly Japanese: flowers and gardens, geisha, Japanese art, Kabuki and other theater, karaoke, kimonos, ryokan inns, sake and sushi, Shinto temples, sumo wrestling and tea ceremonies. Visitors expect to be greeted by the occasional bow, and to bow in return. They may attend a baseball game, too.
About Tokyo
Although Kyoto remained the official capital of Japan until 1868, Tokyo had been the political capital from 1603 because the warrior who became Japan’s shogun (military ruler) that year lived in Tokyo. The same was true of his descendants who succeeded him as shogun. As a result, Tokyo (then called Edo) became a city of more than a million people by the early 1800s. The city could have yielded a plethora of traditional architecture to admire and study today, but that did not happen. In 1923, an earthquake destroyed much of central Tokyo and killed about 120,000 residents. During World War II, American bombers destroyed about a third of Tokyo, and after that, the demands of a crowded city — population: more than 12.5 million — doomed most of the remaining traditional buildings. Therefore, today’s visitors find a huge metropolis that looks familiar. But under that veneer, they find rich layers of Japanese tradition, which is a key motivator for vacationing or extending a business trip in Tokyo.
Locals participate in numerous festivals and ceremonies that date back hundreds of years; visitors may witness some of these events in the city’s gardens and at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Some artists still create traditional-style paintings on silk or woodblock prints. Kabuki theater and other typical stage arts remain popular. Visitors can watch judo exhibitions or sumo wrestling matches. The geisha survive although not in the numbers of a century ago. Some older women still wear the kimono; otherwise, the kimono appears only on special occasions. One such occasion would be a tea ceremony.
Tokyo is a foodie’s adventureland, too, the place to taste sake and eat sushi and sukiyaki as well a wide range of Japanese specialties that have not crossed the ocean. Not to be overlooked, Tokyo’s visitors find friendly hosts in a safe and clean city. All Japanese study English, so the language is widely spoken; signage in tourist areas is in English as well as Japanese. Weather is comparatively moderate, but in summer.
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• Drop by at a tachinomiya, or standing bar, for a drink and snacks at reasonable prices. As the name suggests, you will stand, but you will share space with others and may make new friends. Also, check out the karaoke scene.
• Eat the puffer fish, which is poisonous unless cooked properly by a trained chef. Or, try grilled eel.
• Sample one or the other of these traditional entertainments — No plays and Kyogen, which are short comedies.
• Attend professional sumo wrestling tournaments (January, May or September) at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan.
• Eat sushi or tempura and drink sake in the land where they come from. You also can have a meal called kaiseki ryori, which refers to a type of multicourse meal first devised for use by samurai warriors when they entertained guests. It consists of one soup and three dishes (sashimi, a grilled food item and a stewed food). It can include other dishes, too, such as an appetizer, a fried food and a steamed food.
• Select from self-guided tours found at www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/route/index.html. An example is the Edo Craftsmanship Tour designed to help you learn about traditional Japanese crafts and how they are produced. By following this route, you will see craftsmen using centuries-old techniques to produce their handicraft items.
• Make a furin, or wind bell, using glass-blowing techniques. Shinohara Furin Hompo, a studio where the Edo-style furin is produced, offers visitors the option to make their own.
• Visit one of Tokyo’s islands, Ogasawara, to swim with dolphins. Or, use the visit for whale and dolphin watching.
• Attend a tea ceremony and take tea lessons at one of a handful of establishments that offer such options for English speakers. Or, attend a tea ceremony in one of the hotels offering the sessions for foreigners.
• Hike up the steep paths used by warriors of old to see the mountaintop ruins of Hachioji Castle, which dates from the 16th century. Then, descend the mountain to visit the Nakajima sake brewery, where if your timing is fortunate, you can observe the sake-making process, as well.
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• See the most popular of Japanese traditional performing arts, the Kabuki theater. Tokyo’s Kabuki-za Theater helps out with explanations in English.
• Learn about sumo wrestling at the Sumo Museum, then try a hearty sumo wrestler’s meal of chanko nabe and sample locally brewed beer.
• Join a sightseeing tour led by a volunteer who uses the occasion to practice his or her English. The guides are locatable through an organization called Systemized Goodwill Guides (SSG). Find a list of SGG Clubs at www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/list_volunteerGuides_o-z.html
• Take a flower-arranging class. There are programs in English meant for the visiting foreigner.
• Attend the Healthy Festa Aloe and Ashitaba on Hachijo Island. The annual event (late December through much of January), in Okoshi Aloe Garden, features aloe and a wild celery called ashitaba, both of which are known as natural health foods. You can test foods made with these ingredients.
• Observe one of numerous traditional local festivities. One example is the August Appreciation Day for Summer Insect Songs (Mushikiki-no-kai) held in a historic garden called Mukojima Hyakka-en. Features include a display of summer singing insects and the releasing of insects.
• Eat kaiten-zushi, which refers to a casual style of sushi restaurant. Another casual choice is called teishoku, a set menu that includes a main dish of meat or fish with a side dish, rice, miso soup and pickled vegetables.
• Learn to make origami paper decorations at the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum located in Koganei Park. Slated for the last weekend of June, the class is included in your entry fee. If your timing is not right, visit the museum anyway because of its restored historic buildings.
• Make a morning of it (starting early) at the Tsukiji Market, one of the world’s four largest markets and called the kitchen of Tokyo. Survey the goods on offer, then have sushi or other foods at on-site restaurants.
• Head for Akihabara, the city’s widely known electronics quarter, for a shopping spree.
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• For amusing souvenirs, buy plastic models of foods served in Japan (models like those seen in restaurants to help foreigners order food) at Kappabashi Street in Asakusa, Tokyo.
• Depending on the season, view cherry blossoms or fall colors. Check for locations at www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/interests/cherry.html. Tokyo’s Ueno Park is particularly noted for outstanding cherry blossoms — as well as for its lotus blossoms in summer.
• Attend a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome Stadium.
• Lunch at a restaurant specializing in ramen noodles. A typical bowl of ramen includes boiled thin noodles, broth, bean sprouts, green onions and Chinese-style barbecued pork. (Ramen noodles originated in China, but are very popular in Japan.)
• Shop for Japanese textiles, especially the silks. Also, spend some time strolling around the fashionable boutiques in the Ginza area.
• Experience Zazen (seated meditation). For locations, see www.tourism.metro.tokyo
• Retreat to any of a number of this big city’s gardens beginning with the outer gardens of the Imperial Palace (Kokyo Gaien) and the Imperial Palace East Garden. Other choices are Korakuen and Rikugien gardens, two of the oldest and best-known, north of the palace.
• Take an escorted sightseeing tour of the city center. Also, consider a sightseeing cruise on Tokyo Bay.
• Take a cable car to the top of the 1,968-foot Mount Takao, less than an hour from the city center, for views of the city, Mount Fuji and other area mountains. Alternatively, there are some in-town spots for over-the-city views, such as the Tokyo Metropolis Observatories, with a vantage point 663 feet above the ground.
• Relax at an onsen, which is a spa experience Japanese style. Onsens are public baths where the Japanese soak away their aches and pains in natural hot springs water.
For a real retreat, have that onsen experience at Oshima Hot Springs Motomachi Hamanoyu on the Tokyo island called Oshima.
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For more information, consult a Tokyo Metropolitan Government site at www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english and the Japan National Tourist Organization at www.japantravelinfo.com
To find a travel agent, at www.japantravelinfo.com, click on Find Tours and Japan Travel Specialists, or go directly to www.japantravelinfo.com
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