Overview and HistoryTokyo will be the first city to turn into a spaceship and fly away, possibly powered by the real volcanic erupting action of Mt. Fuji!Robots, fish, manga, crowds, and all things exaggerated.Here's a true story: a Japanese friend of mine in New York City once amazed me by the way she ate a tangerine. She opened the rind with three small slits, removed the fruit as a globe without breaking the rind into pieces, then sucked the juice from each little wedge of the fruit. She then put the seeds and pulpy bits back into the hollow rind, patted it closed so it looked whole again, and trotted over to the garbage can to drop it in. It looked untouched when she was done with it. Phenomenal! Remember this story when we get to "emptiness" later on.Although Japan's people trace their roots back thousands of years before recorded history, Tokyo itself did not even have a proper castle until the sixteenth century. Maybe that's why they went hyperspeed into building up so fast after they caught one.The city was twice completely destroyed in the last century, first in the earthquake of 1923 and then again in the bombings of WWII. It was completely rebuilt in time for the 1964 Summer Olympics; Tokyo appears to be so modern for these reasons.For an example of some new construction projects, take a loot at the Maru building and the Tokyo International Forum. The Tokyo International Forum is an exhibition and concert hall and conference center that, from the outside, looks like a boat. A shiny steel boat made of glass...The city first became the center of a national government in 1603 under Tokugawa Ieyasu, and only became the imperial capital in 1868. During this time period the population grew to more than one million people, ranking it among the largest cities in the world.Fortunately for these teeming masses, Tokyo was designed around several large train stations all to be connected by the under and over-ground railways. It's got the largest network of trains in the world today, including the monorail and magnetic-levitation bullet trains that travel at speeds up to five hundred kilometers per hour! You can kill a lot of meters going that fast.There are lots of bridges in Tokyo for surface transport. Here's the Harumi bridge, 600m long.Thirty five million people now call Tokyo home, in what is called the Tokyo Metropolitan area. What was once simply a city has now become a group of twenty-three wards, each with their own local government.With 35 million people, taking care of waste treatment is a serious business. Here's the Meguro cleaning factory and its accompanying green space.The government of Japan has its center in Tokyo, as do the Imperial Palace and Japanese Imperial Family. The government is a constitutional monarchy with one emperor and an elected parliament. Contrary to popular belief among four-year-olds, the Power Rangers are not part of this government.Along with London, Sao Paulo and New York, Tokyo makes up one of the world's most important financial centers.In stark contrast to the unbelievable concentration of people, Tokyo has many beautiful parks and temples of outdoor open space. Here's a forestry research lab still within city limits, and a separate panorama from the oldest Shrine of the Kanto sect. This one is dedicated to Konyo Aoki, the person who discovered the sweet potato! Thank you, Konyo Aoki!Getting ThereThe international airport for access to Tokyo is Narita International Airport, and for domestic flights people use Tokyo International Airport (Haneda).There's a shuttle bus between them and both are connected with buses and trains into the city. You can also take the MONORAIL, cool cool cool!! It's about one hour to get to Narita airport from Tokyo center.TransportationAs we mentioned above, Tokyo was laid out with trains in mind. The subway systems were given right of way in the urban planning process and if you look at the map you'll see how big it is.But this is not some bland grey and square urban planning affair. Tokyo's metro stations were designed by various imaginative architects in prestigious competitions. They came up with some extremely natural organic shapes and tones in these efforts. Result: spirals in the underground.Here's a look at the Tokyo station with view from the Yaesu side. This one actually dates to 1914.People and CultureJapanese culture is very formal, extremely polite, and crazy about things that light up. And more things that light up.The concept of "emptiness" is crucial to understanding Japanese culture, and tricky to explain in western language. Think of the grace and control required to eat with chopsticks compared to stabbing with a fork.Emptiness means... the space between things has more potential than a space filled by things.Cherry blossoms are one of the signature fascinations of Japanese culture. They smell so sweet and drift through the air so lightly, so ephemeral and lovely you wonder how they can be real. Filmmaker Akira Kurosawa has made entire movies about the blossoms.Nature is the master of emptiness and the best art uses minimal substance to show the calmness and vast expanses. Maybe this octagonal pavillion will help.Aha! The entrance to this temple has a perfect example of structure defining emptiness.But "High-tech" and "clean" also perfectly describe Japanese culture; everybody knows they have the coolest tech gear.Japanese people also have the longest life expectancy on earth, quite possibly thanks to their fish intensive diet more so than their tech gear.Things to do & RecommendationsRead some Haruki Murakami. Get a book and read it on the metro, his short stories are excellently weird and dark, yet uplifting. Okay I want to be culturally sensitive here but everybody knows Japanese culture has a very very weird side. Murakami will show it to you. Ultra-violence and sex in animation, fetishes, panties for sale in a vending machine?! To know it is to love it, that's what I'm saying.Go directly to The Museum of Photography. What did you expect we'd want to see?Tourist boats are another popular destination for visitors. See Tokyo from the Sumida River.Experiment with the ritual and ceremony of tea-drinking, perhaps in such a tea room as this. See what I mean about emptiness?Like the Empire State building or the Eiffel tower, the Tokyo Tower is a major tourist attraction, especially among people who aren't so into the idea of scaling Mt. Fuji in between rounds of plum wine.Assignment: locate and defeat Godzilla.Lastly, go wrestle with these chairs. Remember what we said at the top about exxageration...Text by Steve Smith.
Tokyo itakuwa mji wa kwanza kugeuka kuwa ndege ya angani na kuruka mbali, labda inaendeshwa na athari halisi ya volkano ya Mt. "Fuji: ""Robots, fish, manga, crowds, and all things exaggerated"" - hadithi ya kweli ya rafiki yangu mmoja wa Kijapani huko New York City aliyenishangaza mara moja kwa jinsi alivyokula tangerine." Alifungua ganda kwa njia tatu ndogo, akaondoa matunda kama mviringo bila kuivunja vipande vipande, kisha akachoma maji kutoka kwa kila kipande kidogo cha matunda. Kisha akaweka mbegu na vipande vya unga ndani ya ganda hilo tupu, akaifunga kwa mikono ili ionekane kuwa imara tena, kisha akaenda kwenye chombo cha taka ili kuipiga. Ilionekana haikuguswa alipomaliza kuitumia. Ni ya ajabu sana! "Hata hivyo, kwa sababu ya ""ukosefu wa utamaduni,"" watu wa Japan walianza kuishi huko miaka elfu kadhaa kabla ya historia ya Tokyo, na kwa sababu hiyo, mji huo haukuwa na ngome ya kweli hadi karne ya kumi na sita." "Hata hivyo, kwa sababu ya ""mwisho wa siku,"" mji huo uliharibiwa mara mbili katika karne ya 20, mara ya kwanza katika tetemeko la ardhi la 1923 na mara ya pili katika mabomu ya Vita Kuu ya Pili ya Dunia." Jengo hilo lilijengwa upya kwa ajili ya michezo ya Olimpiki ya mwaka 1964 na kwa sababu hiyo, jiji la Tokyo linaonekana kuwa la kisasa sana. Tokyo International Forum ni ukumbi wa maonyesho na maonyesho na kituo cha mikutano ambacho, kutoka nje, kinaonekana kama mashua. Mji huo ulijengwa kwa chuma na umbo la kioo na ulijengwa mwaka 1603 na Tokugawa Ieyasu na ulijengwa mwaka 1868. Wakati huo huo, idadi ya watu iliongezeka hadi zaidi ya watu milioni moja, na kuorodhesha kati ya miji mikubwa zaidi ulimwenguni.Kwa bahati nzuri kwa watu hawa, Tokyo ilibuniwa kuzunguka vituo kadhaa vikubwa vya treni, vyote vilivyounganishwa na reli za chini na juu ya ardhi. Ina mtandao mkubwa zaidi wa treni ulimwenguni leo, kutia ndani reli moja na treni za mwendo wa kasi za kuelea kwa sumaku ambazo husafiri kwa mwendo wa kilometa mia tano kwa saa! Kuna daraja kubwa huko Tokyo kwa ajili ya usafiri wa juu. Daraja la Harumi, lenye urefu wa mita 600, lina watu milioni 35 ambao wanaishi katika eneo la Tokyo. Jiji la zamani lilikuwa na wilaya 23 na kila wilaya ilikuwa na serikali yake ya mitaa, na watu milioni 35 waliotajwa katika ripoti hiyo walikuwa na shughuli nyingi za kutunza taka. Kampuni ya kusafisha ya Meguro na eneo lake la kijani kibichi, na pia Jumba la Ufalme la Japani, na Jumba la Ufalme la Tokyo. Serikali ni ya kifalme ya kikatiba yenye maliki mmoja na bunge lililochaguliwa. Kinyume na imani ya kawaida kati ya watoto wa miaka minne, Power Rangers sio sehemu ya serikali hii, pamoja na London, Sao Paulo na New York, Tokyo ni moja ya vituo muhimu zaidi vya kifedha ulimwenguni, kinyume kabisa na mkusanyiko wa watu, Tokyo ina mbuga nyingi nzuri na mahekalu ya nafasi ya wazi. Hapa ni maabara ya utafiti wa misitu bado ndani ya mipaka ya mji, na panorama tofauti kutoka Shrine kongwe ya madhehebu ya Kanto. Hii ni wakfu kwa Konyo Aoki, mtu ambaye aligundua viazi tamu! Uwanja wa ndege wa kimataifa wa Tokyo ni uwanja wa ndege wa Narita, na kwa ndege za ndani watu hutumia Uwanja wa Ndege wa Kimataifa wa Tokyo (Haneda) kuna basi la shuttle kati yao na wote wawili wameunganishwa na mabasi na treni kwenda jijini. Unaweza pia kuchukua Monorel, baridi baridi baridi!! Ni karibu saa moja kwenda uwanja wa ndege wa Narita kutoka kituo cha Tokyo. Mipango ya metro ya jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji la jiji. Vituo vya gari-moshi la chini ya ardhi la Tokyo vilibuniwa na wasanifu-ujenzi mbalimbali wenye mawazo mazuri katika mashindano mashuhuri. Walikuja na baadhi ya maumbo ya asili sana ya kikaboni na sauti katika juhudi hizi. "Kama vile ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Spiral"" ni jina la kituo cha gari moshi cha Tokyo, ambacho ni sehemu ya chini ya ardhi ya Tokyo." "Hii ni moja ya ""Mambo ya Kijapani"" ambayo ni ya kawaida sana, ya kawaida sana, na ya kawaida sana kwa vitu vinavyoangaza." "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""upungufu"" ni neno la kawaida katika utamaduni wa Kijapani, na ni ngumu kuelezea kwa lugha ya Magharibi." Fikiria juu ya neema na udhibiti unaohitajika kula na vijiti vya kula ikilinganishwa na kuchoma kwa uma.... nafasi kati ya vitu ina uwezo zaidi kuliko nafasi iliyojaa vitu. Wao harufu tamu sana na kuelea katika hewa hivyo kwa urahisi, hivyo muda mfupi na lovely wewe ajabu jinsi wanaweza kuwa halisi. Akira Kurosawa, mwandishi wa filamu, aliandika juu ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua ya maua. Labda pavilion hii octagonal itasaidia. Aha! "Hii ni kwa sababu ya ""high-tech"" na ""clean"" pia zinaelezea utamaduni wa Kijapani; kila mtu anajua wana vifaa vya teknolojia ya baridi zaidi, na watu wa Kijapani pia wana muda mrefu wa maisha duniani, labda kwa sababu ya chakula chao cha samaki zaidi kuliko vifaa vya teknolojia." Kupata kitabu na kusoma juu ya metro, hadithi zake fupi ni bora ajabu na giza, bado uplifting. Kwa hivyo, kwa sababu ya utamaduni wa Kijapani, kila mtu anajua kwamba utamaduni wa Kijapani una upande wa ajabu. Murakami atakuonyesha. Jeuri ya juu na ngono katika uhuishaji, fetishes, panties kwa ajili ya kuuza katika mashine ya kuuza?! "Kujaribu kugundua picha ni kama kupenda picha, ""alisema, ""enda moja kwa moja kwenye Jumba la Makumbusho la Picha.""" Ni nini unachotarajia kuona? Mashua za watalii ni marudio mengine maarufu kwa wageni. Jiji la Tokyo linaonekana kutoka kwenye Mto Sumida, na kuna mapambo ya kunywa chai katika chumba cha chai. Kama ilivyo kwa jengo la Empire State au mnara wa Eiffel, mnara wa Tokyo ni kivutio kikuu cha watalii, haswa kati ya watu ambao hawapendi sana wazo la kupanda Mlima Tokyo. Fuji, na wakati mwingine, mvinyo wa plum.Ujumbe: kugundua na kumshinda Godzilla.Mwishowe, nenda kupigana na viti hivi. Kumbuka kile tulichosema juu kuhusu exaggeration...Nakala na Steve Smith.