Lonely Planet Tokyo

by Lonely Planet

  On 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake rocked northeastern Japan, resulting in a record-high tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people and sparked a meltdown at the Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Fukushima-ken. Tokyo experienced little actual damage, but was shaken nonetheless. (The capital itself is long overdue for a major earthquake and for a time the idea of decentralisation was bandied about – to mitigate the effects of a potential disaster.) Of greater concern to ordinary citizens was the risk of radioactive contamination of foodstuffs, prompting many to form organisations to petition the government for greater transparency of safety monitoring, and in more extreme cases, the abolition of nuclear power.

  With the announcement in 2013 that Tokyo would hold the 2020 Summer Olympics, all talk of decentralisation evaporated. With a renewed focus on turning the city into a showpiece, Tokyo is now focusing on what it does best: building.

  TIMELINE

  10,000 BC

  Tokyo area inhabited by pottery-making people during late neolithic Jōmon period. The Kantō region around Tokyo is among the most densely settled in this era.

  AD 710

  Japan’s first permanent capital established at Nara, ending the practice of moving the capital after an emperor’s death. The city is modelled on Chang’an, capital of the Tang dynasty China.

  794

  Imperial capital moved to Heian-kyō, renamed Kyoto in the 11th century. It is laid out in a grid in accordance with Chinese geomancy principles.

  1457

  Ōta Dōkan orders construction of the first Edo Castle. Later developed by shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in the 17th century, it becomes the largest fortress the world has seen.

  1600

  Tokugawa Ieyasu, victor in the Battle of Sekigahara, establishes his capital in Edo, beginning 250 years of peace under Tokugawa rule, known as the Edo period.

  1638

  Sakoku national isolation policy; Japan cuts off all contact with the outside world, except for limited trade with the Dutch and Chinese off Nagasaki. The policy remains until the 1850s.

  1657

  Great Meireki Fire devastates Edo, killing over 100,000 people and destroying two-thirds of the city. Reconstruction plans include the widening of streets to prevent further conflagrations.

  1707

  Mt Fuji erupts, spewing ash over the streets of Edo 100km to the northeast. The stratovolcano is still active today but with a low risk of eruption.

  1721

  Edo’s population grows to 1.1 million as people move in from rural areas, making it the world’s largest city. Meanwhile, London’s population is roughly 650,000.

  1853

  Black ships of the US navy arrive in Japan under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry, who succeeds in forcing Japan open to US trade; international port established in Yokohama in 1859.

  1868

  Meiji Restoration; Tokugawa shogunate loyalists are defeated in civil war. The imperial residence moves to Edo, which is renamed Tokyo.

  1871

  Samurai domain system abolished, and Tokyo Prefecture (Tokyo-fu) established out of the former Musashi Province. Tokyo is initially divided into 15 wards.

  1872

  Japan’s first train line connects Shimbashi in Tokyo with Yokohama to the southwest; Osaka–Kōbe services are launched in 1874 and Osaka–Kyoto services in 1877.

  1889

  Constitution of the Empire of Japan declared. Based on a Prussian model of constitutional monarchy, the emperor shares power with an elected parliament.

  1914

  Tokyo Station opens. Designed by Tatsuno Kingo, it begins operations with four platforms. Greatly expanded over the past 100 years, it now serves more than 3000 trains per day.

  1923

  Great Kantō Earthquake kills more than 140,000. An estimated 300,000 houses are destroyed; a reconstruction plan is only partly realised due to money shortages.

  1923

  Yamanote line completed. One of Japan’s busiest lines, today the 34.5km loop around the heart of Tokyo has 29 stations. It takes trains about an hour to circle the city.

  1926

  Hirohito ascends the throne to become the Shōwa emperor. Presiding over Japan’s military expansion across East Asia and atrocities, he is spared trial by Allied forces after WWII.

  1936

  In the February 26 Incident, more than 1000 Imperial Japanese Army troops stage a coup d’état, killing political leaders and occupying the centre of Tokyo before surrendering to government loyalists.

  1944–45

  Allied air raids during WWII destroy large swaths of the city, including the Imperial Palace; casualties of more than 100,000 are reported.

  1947

  New constitution adopted, including Article 9 in which Japan renounces war and the possession of armed forces. Japan’s Self-Defense Forces are built into a formidable military arsenal.

  1948

  Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal concludes, resulting in the execution of six wartime Japanese leaders. In 1978, they are secretly enshrined at Yasukuni-jinja.

  1951

  Japan signs San Francisco Peace Treaty, officially ending WWII, renouncing Japan’s claims to overseas colonies and outlining compensation to Allied territories.

  1952

  US occupation ends; Japan enters a period of high economic growth. The Korean War provides an incentive for Japanese manufacturers, who supply US forces.

  1955

  Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) founded; it has a virtually uninterrupted hold on power into the 21st century despite recurring corruption scandals and deep-seated factionalism.

  1958

  Tokyo Tower (333m) completed, designed for broadcasts and inspired by the Eiffel Tower. By the 1960s it is a tourist magnet and symbol of Japan’s high growth.

  1964

  Tokyo Olympic Games held, marking Japan’s postwar reintegration into the international community and the first time the Games are hosted by a non-Western country.

  1968–69

  Tokyo University students take over administrative buildings to protest the Vietnam War. No one is allowed to graduate in 1969 and entrance exams are cancelled.

  1972

  Okinawa, captured and held by US forces in WWII, is returned to Japan. High concentration of lingering US military bases on the islands angers locals even today.

  1989

  Death of Emperor Hirohito; Heisei era begins as Hirohito’s son Akihito ascends the throne; stock market decline begins, initiating a decade-long economic slump in Japan.

  1995

  Doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyō releases sarin gas on the Tokyo subway, killing 12 and injuring more than 5000. Guru Shōkō Asahara is sentenced to death for Aum-related crimes in 2004.

  2009

  LDP loses control of the House of Representatives to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) for only the second time since 1955; by 2012 the LDP is back in power.

  2011

  Magnitude 9.0 earthquake strikes off Sendai in Tōhoku, unleashing tsunami waves, killing nearly 20,000, and crippling the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

  2013

  Tokyo is awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics; plans are set in motion to revitalise the bayfront and make the city a more international destination.

  2016

  Tokyo elects its first female governor, Koike Yuriko; Emperor Akihito (b 1933) announces his wish to retire.

  Pop Culture

  A Studio Ghibli movie; a manga by Tezuka Osamu; day-glo accessories from cutesy pioneer 6% Dokidoki; the latest Sony PlayStation: Tokyo is a master at crafting pop-cultural products that catch the attention of the world. Here more people read manga (comics) than newspapers, street fashion is more dynamic than that on the catwalk, robots are the stars of anime (Japanese animation) as well as real-life marvels of technology, and everyone, including the police, has a kawaii (cute) cartoon mascot.

  Akihabara | MADSOLAR / SHUTTERSTOCK©

  Manga

  Walk into any Tokyo co
nvenience store and you can pick up several phone-directory-sized weekly manga anthologies. Inside you’ll find about 25 comic narratives spanning everything from gangster sagas and teen romance to bicycle racing to shōgi (Japanese chess), often with generous helpings of sex and violence. The more successful series are collected in volumes (tankōbon), which occupy major sections of bookshops.

  As Japan's publishing industry faces a severe decline in sales across the board, manga is the one bright hope, with sales of tankōbon clocking up more than 500 million volumes in 2015, and the market booming for keitai manga – comics read on smartphones. Top seller One Piece shifts more than 14 million units a year alone. Major publishers, including Kodansha and Kadokawa, are based in Tokyo and this is where many mangaka (manga artists) get their start in the industry.

  Comiket (www.comiket.co.jp; short for ‘Comic Market’) is a massive twice-yearly convention for fan-produced amateur manga known as dōjinshi. To the untrained eye, dōjinshi looks like ‘official’ manga, but most are parodies (sometimes of a sexual nature) of famous manga titles.

  Anime

  Many manga have inspired anime for TV and cinema. For example, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, a 1982 manga by Miyazaki Hayao, Japan’s most revered living animator, was made into a movie in 1984. Beloved TV anime Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion were the first successful manga for Tezuka Osamu (1928–89), an artist frequently referred to as manga no kamisama – the 'god of manga'.

  Studio Ghibli (www.ghibli.jp) is Japan's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful producer of animated movies. Its films include classics such as the Oscar-winning Spirited Away, directed by Miyazaki Hayao. In 2016 Miyazaki announced he was coming out of retirement to direct a full-length version of Kemushi no Boro (Boro the Caterpillar), a short movie he had previously made for the Ghibli Museum.

  Miyazaki's creative partner and mentor from their time working together in the 1960s for animation studio Tōei is Takahata Isao. He is the director of anime classics including Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Only Yesterday (1991) and the Oscar-nominated The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013).

  Studio Ghibli's premium product is far superior to the vast majority of low-budget anime, which tends to feature saucer-eyed schoolgirls, cute fluorescent monsters and mechatronic superheroes in recycled and tweaked plots. Nevertheless, the international success of series such as Mobile Suit Gundam and Pokémon continues to tempt many fans to anime's creative source in Tokyo.

  Leading the pack of current talented anime directors is Shinkai Makoto, hailed the 'new Miyazaki' for beautifully realised movies including 2013's Kotonoha no Niwa (The Garden of Words) and the 2015 smash-hit Kimi no Na wa (Your Name). Also look out for movies by Hosoda Mamoru, including Toki o Kakeru Shōjo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time; 2009) and Bakemono no Ko (Boy and the Beast; 2015).

  Hyperfashion

  Visitors are often in awe of Tokyo's incredible sense of style and its broad range of subcultures. It’s not uncommon to see Japanese wearing kimonos for special occasions, and yukata (light summer kimonos) for fireworks shows and festivals in summer. Everyday wear ranges from the standard-issue salaryman suit (overwhelmingly dark blue or black) to the split-toed shoes and baggy trousers of construction workers.

  Tokyo’s fashion designers who have become international superstars include Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and, more recently, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. Other designers include Fujiwara Hiroshi, a renowned streetwear fashion arbiter, who has a huge impact on what Japanese youth wear.

  Fashion trends come and go in the blink of a heavily made-up eye in Tokyo. The streets of Harajuku and Shibuya remain the best places to view the latest looks such as guro-kawaii (somewhat grotesque cuteness). More mainstream, not to mention affordable, are Muji and Uniqlo, whose inspired, practical fashions are simple without being bland; the former also offers an amazing selection of household and lifestyle goods, including furniture, stationery and food staples.

  J-Pop

  Japanese pop music, commonly shortened to J-pop, is a major driver of the country's fashion industry. An icon of the scene is Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (http://kyary.asobisystem.com/english). A runaway success since her musical debut in 2011 with PonPonPon, Kyary (whose real name is Takemura Kiriko) has been compared to Lady Gaga for her outrageous fashions and self-promotion, which includes being the Harajuku ambassador of kawaii (cuteness).

  Avex is one of Japan's biggest recording labels and one of its brightest stars is Hamasaki Ayumi (http://avex.jp/ayu). Noted for her chameleon style and high-concept videos, Ayu – as she is known to her adoring fans – has shifted more than 50 million records since her debut in 1998.

  There was consternation from fans in 2016 as SMAP, a 'boy band' who have sold 35 million-plus records over a 25-year career, announced they would be quitting the scene. However, in this multi-billion-yen industry, there is no shortage of wannabes waiting to fill their shoes.

  Godzilla Resurgence

  Following a major US-movie reboot in 2014, Godzilla, the legendary star of Japanese cinema, has been experiencing a revival in Tokyo. Of course, as true fans know, this pop-culture icon has never really gone away, starring in 29 movies produced by studio Toho in Japan alone. The latest, Shin Godzilla, directed by anime supremos Anno Hideaki and Higuchi Shinji, was a local box-office smash in 2016.

  A mash-up of the Japanese words for gorilla (gorira) and whale (kujira), Godzilla first stomped his way out of Tokyo Bay in 1954, blasting everything in his path with his atomic breath. Recreating something of that moment for a contemporary audience is an installation of the monster's head and claws on the 8th floor of the Hotel Gracery Shinjuku. On the hour from noon to 8pm, the giant artwork comes to life with flashing red eyes and laser lights, and steam ejected from its roaring mouth. Die-hard fans can cuddle up with Godzilla in the hotel's themed room.

  Other Godzilla pilgrimage locations in Tokyo include Hibiya's Chanter Square, where there's a 2.5m-tall statue of the monster on a plinth; and the Yamanote line platform at Shinagawa Station, where his silhouette appears in a floor tile marking the spot from where distances on the line are calculated.

  Pop Culture Districts

  Akihabara

  Akihabara should be the first stop on any pop-culture Tokyo tour. With its multitude of stores selling anime and manga-related goods, not to mention maid cafes and all the electronic gizmos imaginable, Akiba (as it's known to locals) is peak geek territory.

  Top pop-culture books include Hector Garcia's A Geek in Japan (2011), Peter Carey's Wrong about Japan (2006) and Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo (Patrick Macias & Machiyama Tomohiro; 2004).

  West Tokyo

  Book ahead to visit the massively popular Ghibli Museum at Mitaka, a brilliantly creative mini-theme park based around the company's movies. Die-hard anime fans will also want to schedule time in Nakano to cruise the aisles of pop-culture emporium Mandarake Complex. There's also the Suginami Animation Museum (杉並アニメーションミュージアム GOOGLE MAP ; http://sam.or.jp; 3-29-5 Kami-Ogi, Suginami-ku; h10am-6pm Tue-Sun; c; dJR Sōbu-Chūō line to Ogikubo, north exit) at Suginami.

  Northwest Tokyo

  Fans of Tezuka Osamu should hop off the JR Yamanote line at Takadanobaba to view a fabulous mural homage to his characters under the railway tracks there. Further north, Ikebukuro is home to a cluster of anime and manga-related shops and businesses, including butler cafes (cosplay theme cafes aimed at geek gals) and the world's largest Pokemon store.

  Harajuku & Shinjuku

  The streets of Harajuku – Takeshita-dōri, Cat St and Omotesandō – remain the best places to survey Tokyo's multiple style tribes. Among the most striking are the gosurori (gothic Lolita) kids posing like vampires at noon. Think Halloween meets neo-Victorian with the odd glam-rock accent and you’ll get the idea. More wannabe street fashionistas strut their stuff a little further south in Tokyo's trend-Mecca, Shibuya.

  Teens in costume, Harajuku | MICHAEL H / GETTY I
MAGES ©

  Ginza & Marunouchi

  Check out the Tokyo Character Street arcade of shops beneath Tokyo Station and the Hello Kitty emporium, Sanrioworld Ginza.

  Tokyo Robots

  The success of Shinjuku's Robot Restaurant is no fluke. Long before fantasy mecha (a manga/anime term for robot technology) caught on with the likes of Go Nagai's Mazinger Z (an anime featuring a flying robot) and the video series Patlabor, the Japanese had an affinity for robotic devices. During the Edo period (1603–1868), small mechanical dolls known as karakuri ningyō were used by feudal lords to serve tea and entertain guests.

  Fast forward to 21st-century Tokyo and human-scale robots are still entertaining people. At Honda Welcome Plaza Aoyama (Hondaウエルカムプラザ青山 MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %03-3423-4118; www.honda.co.jp/welcome-plaza; 2-1-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku; h10am-6pm; bGinza line to Aoyama-itchōme, exit 5) and the National Museum of Emerging Science & Innovation (Miraikan) in Odaiba, ASIMO, the world’s most advanced humanoid robot, does brief daily demonstrations, including bowing, jogging and posing for photos. Also at Miraikan, marvel as the female android (a human-like robot), Otonaroid, answers questions from the audience and moves in an uncannily human way.

  In Odaiba's Aqua City, you can ask questions of the robot concierge ChihiraJunco, a realistic, multilingual android. Coming soon, next to Tokyo Disney Resort in nearby Chiba Prefecture, will be Japan's second Henn-na Hotel (www.h-n-h.jp/en), staffed by robots.

  Not quite as sophisticated is Pepper, a 1.2m-tall robot developed by SoftBank and Aldebaran Robotics and available for a base price of ¥198,000. As you interact with Pepper, it evolves with your tastes and preferences. You'll likely spot Pepper at shops around Akihabara as well as in the lobby of the Hotel the M Innsomnia Akasaka (ホテル アバンシェル赤坂 MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %03-3568-3456; www.m-innsomnia.com; 2-14-14 Akasaka, Minato-ku; d/tw from ¥22,000/27,000; naiW; dChiyoda line to Akasaka, exit 2).