Tokyo

The Imperial Palace is the home of Japan's emperor. It stands near the centre of Tokyo. Stone walls and wide moats separate it from the rest of the city. Thousands of people visit the palace each year on January 2 and the em­peror's birthday—the only days it is open to the public.

Tokyo has played major role in the dramatic growth of Japan's econ- r omy since end of World War II in 1945.

About a quarter of na­tion's businesses have head quarters in Tokyo area. Leading industries include manufacture of electrical machinery, and publishing and printing. Tokyo Stock Exchange is the world's largest. City's rapid com­muter trains carry millions of passengers daily.

The Ginza District is one of Tokyo's liveliest areas. Many exclusive department stores and boutiques line its streets. Ginza, the site of a mint from the 1600’s to 1800 (the word gin means silver), became a shopping and en­tertainment district in the late 1800's. Some of the original stores, including Wako and Mikimoto, are still in business.

Japan's capital and largest city (pop. of city proper 8,163,5731. National centre of finance, commerce, industry, trans­portation.

Home of the Japanese em­peror. Imperial Palace beautifies crowded cen­tral Tokyo.

Many Western influences: clothing styles, popular music, restaurant fare. But Japanese tradition still strong: many traditional festivals, historic shrines and temples, no and kabuki plays, sumo wres­tling.

Cultural institutions of Tokyo reflect culture of both East and West.

Tokyo is national centre of performing arts and mo­tion picture industry. Valu­able Asian art collection at Tokyo National Museum, nation's largest museum. National Diet Library is part of national govern­ment headquarters.

Baseball ranks as Tokyo's most popular sport. Many important track and field events held at National Stadium.

Meiji Shrine, below, is one of Japan's most popular Shinto places of worship. More than two million Japanese visit it on New Year's Day. The torii (entrance gate shown here is one of the largest in Japan.

Tokyo Tower  the city's tall­est structure, rises 333 metres. It houses radio and television broadcasting studios. In addition, two observation platforms offer a fine view of the city.

Tokyo called Edo during most of its history—powerful Edo family lived

there in the late 1100's.

In 1868, Emperor Mutsuhito renamed the city Tokyo (east­ern capital) and moved the capital there. Violent earth­ quake shook Tokyo on Sept. 1,1923. Heavy bombing dur­ing World War II (1939-1945) again brought death and de­struction. Economic and pop­ulation growth followed end of war. But growth also led to housing shortages, traffic jams, and air pollution.

The Asakusa Kannon Tem­ple is one of the country's best-known Bud­dhist temples. The temple traces its origins back to the A.D. 600's, though the main temple structures were built in the 1950^’s. Traditional festi­vals at the temple draw crowds of worshippers. In this colourful scene dancers dressed as tall white herons perform outside the temple. The event is the

Life in Tokyo combines the old and the new. Some people, like the woman above, wear the traditional kimono. But most wear Western clothes. Housing in the city in­cludes both old wooden houses and modem high-rise apartment buildings.

Japan's performing arts are centred in Tokyo. Traditional art 'wins, such as the no drama  are popular. However,western-style drama and music also draw large crowds.

Sporting events rank among Tokyo's chief forms of entertain­ment. Many people, like those above, are baseball fans. Many also enjoy sumo wrestling and other ancient Japanese sports.

At Tokyo's famous Meiji Shrine, Shinto priests greet visitors with a bow. This shrine and other historic places of worship are among Tokyo's leading tourist attractions.

The Imperial Palace attracts thousands of visitors on January 2 and the emperor's birthday, when it is open to the public. A fam­ily poses for a photograph near the palace grounds, above.

Tokyo's Imperial Palace Plaza, foreground, adds beauty and charm to the busy central section of the city. Tokyo, one of the world's largest cities, is one of the most crowded places on earth. But it has many scenic open areas like the plaza.

Facts in brief about Tokyo

Population: City proper— 8,163,573. Metropolitan area popula- tion-11,927,457.

Area: City proper— 578 km²; Metropolitan area— 2,156 km^z.

Altitude: 24 m above sea level.

Climate: Average temperature— January, 4°C; July, 24°C. Aver­age annual precipitation (rainfall, melted snow, and other forms of moisture)—147 cm.

Government: Chief executive— governor (4-year term). Legisla­ture— 126-member assembly (4-year terms).

Founded: 1457.

Tokyo is the capital of Japan. About 8 million people live in the city proper of Tokyo. Tokyo is also the chief city in the most populous urban centre in the world (see City [table]). In 1995, the Tokyo-Yokohama area had an estimated population of over 28 million people.

Tokyo is the main business centre of Japan as well as the home of the Japanese emperor and the headquar­ters of the national government. The city has many banks, commercial establishments, and industries.

These institutions help make Japan one of the richest na­tions in the world.

Tokyo has tall buildings, motorways jammed with traffic, and more neon signs than any other city in the world. Tokyo teenagers dance to Western hit tunes, and the city's restaurants offer everything from hamburgers to the finest European dishes. Many residents of Tokyo go to baseball games and watch films and television shows from Western countries. Theatrical works, op­eras, and other Western forms of dance and music are performed regularly. But in spite of such outside influ­ences, Japanese tradition remains strong in Tokyo. Many of the people enjoy going to city parks to admire their beautiful cherry trees and lotus blossoms. These and other attractive sights in the city reflect the Japanese love of beauty. Large numbers of Tokyo's people take Part in dances and parades during the city's many tradi­tional festivals, some of which have been held for hun­dreds of years. They visit historic shrines and temples and attend old-style plays and wrestling matches.

Tokyo traces its beginning to 1457, when a powerful warrior built a castle there. It became the Japanese capi­tal in 1868. Tokyo has twice been almost destroyed—by a terrible earthquake in 1923 and by air raids in the 1940's during World War II.

About 7 per cent of Japan's people live in Tokyo. The city has become so crowded that it has a severe housing shortage. Tokyo's rapid growth also created other prob­lems, including some of the world's worst pollution and heaviest traffic.

More jobs and educational and cultural opportunities are available in Tokyo than anywhere else in Japan. As a result, the city constantly attracts people—especially the young—from other parts of the country. Between 1960 and 1980, the Metropolis gained nearly 2 million people. Today, Tokyo proper has an average of about 14,000 persons per square kilometre—nearly three times as many as crowded Bombay has.

Housing. Tokyo's soaring population has created a          serious housing shortage. In the past, most Tokyo resi­dents lived in small, one-or two-storey wooden houses, each with its own yard or garden. As the population grew, many apartment buildings were constructed in the city proper in an attempt to provide housing for all the people. Even so, the housing shortage continued. The shortage of housing and of land in the city proper drove up rents and land prices. Many people—even if they could find housing in the city proper—could not af­ford to pay for it. As a result, a building boom began in Tokyo's outlying areas during the mid-1900^’s. The city government has begun financing the con­struction of low-rent, low-cost housing projects. One such project, called Tama New Town, will house 400,000 people after its completion in the mid-1990s. But Tama New Town, like many other Tokyo housing develop­ments, is far from the city proper. Some workers who live in outlying areas spend up to four hours a day trav­elling to and from their jobs in central Tokyo.

Food and clothing. Many Tokyo residents enjoy tra­ditional Japanese foods. Popular Japanese dishes in­clude sukiyaki (beef cooked with vegetables), tempura (fish and vegetables fried in batter), and sushi (rice fla­voured with vinegar and mixed with other food, such as fish or vegetables). Western and Chinese foods are also popular in Tokyo.

On the streets and at work, most of the people wear Western-style clothing. Some older people still put on _a kimono when they get home. The kimono, a traditional Japanese garment of both men and women, is a long robe tied with a sash. Most Tokyo young people wear a kimono only on holidays or other special occasions. Many primary and some secondary school students wear uniforms to school. The boys' uniform is a suit with a jacket that fits tightly around the neck. Girls wear skirts and pullover blouses.

Education. The Metropolis of Tokyo has about 1,200 primary schools, 700 junior secondary schools, and 400 senior high schools. Most of these schools are in the city proper. Some parts of Tokyo do not have enough schools for the rapidly growing population. However, in some old sections of the city that are now largely occu­pied by businesses, many of the school buildings stand nearly empty.

Tokyo has about 100 four-year colleges and universi­ties and 90 junior colleges. About half of Japan's college students attend these institutions.

Social problems, such as poverty and crime, exist in Tokyo. But they are not so severe as they are in many other large cities. Because of Tokyo's strong economy, most people can find jobs. In addition, the local and na­tional governments provide aid for people who cannot support themselves. Tokyo's crime rate is much lower than the crime rate in most Western cities. The robbery rate in New York City, for example, is more than 150 times greater than that in Tokyo. Tokyo has no large mi­nority groups, and so the city is not troubled by conflicts that stem from racial or other social differences.

Demonstrations are often held in Tokyo to protest against such matters as political and educational poli­cies. They have sometimes resulted in violence.

Cultural life   

Few cities in the world can match Tokyo as a cosmo­politan (international) cultural centre. Tokyo's art galIeries, concert halls, museums, and other cultural institutions reflect the culture of both the East and the West.

Arts. Many of Japan's finest artists and craftworkers !ve and work in Tokyo. Some still use the styles and methods of their ancestors to create beautiful paintings jn paper or silk and colourful woodblock prints. But jiany Tokyo artists create paintings and sculptures iising Western styles and methods.

Tokyo is the centre of Japan's performing arts, such as drama and music. Two traditional types of Japanese drama, no and kabuki, rank as favourite forms of enter­tainment in Tokyo. For descriptions of these colourful plays, see Drama (Japan). Five professional symphony jrchestras that specialize in Western music perform in Tokyo. Other Tokyo musical groups present concerts of traditional music, featuring such Japanese instruments jsthe three-stringed samisen, or shamisen, and a kind of  harp called a koto. Japan's film industry is also cen­tred in Tokyo. Japanese films have been praised by audi­ences throughout the world.

Museums and libraries. Some of Japan's finest mu­seums and libraries are in Tokyo. The Tokyo National Museum, the largest museum in Japan, has a valuable collection of Asian art objects. The National Museum of Modern Art specializes in works by modern Japanese artists. The National Museum of Western Art houses a large collection of works by Western artists.

Tokyo's public library system includes a central li­brary and more than 70 branch libraries. The National

Diet Library, which is part of the headquarters of Japan's national government, ranks as the country's largest li­brary. It owns about 6 million volumes, and its functions resemble those of the British Library (see British Li­brary).

Entertainment and recreation. Tokyo offers a wide variety of leisure-time activities. Concerts, films, and plays attract large audiences. Exhibitions of judo and sumo, which are Japanese forms of wrestling, rank as fa­vourite sporting events. Western sports, including ath­letics, baseball, golf, ice skating, tennis, and tenpin bowling, are also popular. Baseball is the most popular sport in Tokyo. Home games of the Tokyo Giants profes sional baseball team and many other sports events are held in the 35,000-seat Korakuen Stadium. Tokyo's larg­est stadium, the National Stadium, is the site of many im­portant athletics events. The stadium seats about 72,000 spectators.

Tokyo also has many amusement parks and night­clubs. At some of the older Japanese-style restaurants, talented young women called geishas entertain patrons with singing, dancing, and conversation.

Almost all Tokyo families own a TV set. Both Japanese programmes and American and European programmes with Japanese soundtracks appear on Tokyo TV.

Religion. Shinto and Buddhism are the chief reli­gions throughout Japan. Tokyo has hundreds of historic Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. But most Tokyo residents visit these places of worship only for public festivals or such special occasions as weddings and fu­nerals. Less than 2 per cent of the residents of the Me­tropolis are Christians.

Large numbers of tourists visit Tokyo throughout the year. In early April, the city's famous cherry trees are in bloom. Autumn in Tokyo usually brings pleasantly mild weather. The city's many festivals are other tourist attrac­tions. These include the exciting parade of Tokyo's fire­men on January 6 and the lively festival of the Asakusa Shrine in mid-May.

Tourists can choose from many fine hotels and res­taurants in Tokyo. Many of the hotels are built and fur­nished in Western style. Others are Japanese-style ho­tels called ryokan. They have such traditional features as sliding paper-panelled doors, tatami mats that cover the floors, and heavy quilts called futons that serve as beds. Tokyo has an unusually large number of restaurants— more than 60,000. Some of these restaurants specialize in Western or Chinese foods, and others serve only Jap­anese dishes.

This section of the article describes a few of the inter­esting places to visit in Tokyo. Other sections discuss additional places of interest.

The Imperial Palace is the home of Japan's emperor. It stands near the centre of the city proper and consists of several low buildings and beautiful parklike grounds. Stone walls and a series of wide moats separate it from the rest of the city. The palace is open to the public only on two days of the year—January 2 and the emperor's birthday. Thousands of Japanese come to pay their re­spects to the emperor on these two days.

The National Diet Building, a concrete and granite structure with a tall central tower, stands southwest of the Imperial Palace. It is the meeting place of Japan's Diet (parliament) and is open to visitors.

Tokyo Tower, a 333-metre steel tower, stands about 2.5 kilometres south of the Imperial Palace. The city's tallest structure, Tokyo Tower houses radio and televi­sion broadcasting studios and has two observation plat­forms.

Parks and gardens of Tokyo attract many visitors. Ueno Park, about 3 kilometres northeast of the palace, is one of the city's most popular parks. Its spring displays of cherry blossoms and summer displays of lotus blos­soms are outstanding. The park includes Tokyo's largest concert hall, several museums and art galleries, a zoo, a temple and shrine built during the 1600's, and tombs of Japanese rulers.

Several Japanese-style gardens in Tokyo are open to the public. Korakuen Garden and Rikugien Garden— both a little north of the palace—are two of the oldest and most famous gardens. Many people visit Tokyo's gardens to admire their beautifully landscaped grounds and to relax at their teahouses.

Shrines and temples attract millions of worshippers and tourists yearly. The shrines are Shinto places of wor­ship, and the temples are Buddhist. Meiji Shrine, about 5 kilometres southwest of the Imperial Palace, is one of the best-known shrines in Japan. Many Japanese visit it on New Year's Day, one of the few times when most Jap­anese women wear traditional dress in public. The Yasukuni Shrine stands northwest of the palace. It is dedi­cated to Japan's war dead and draws huge crowds of worshippers for special festivals in April and October. Tokyo also has a number of famous Buddhist temples, including the historic Kannon Temple in the Asakusa district. The temple traces its origins to the 60ffs, though the present buildings were constructed in the 1950's. Brightly decorated souvenir shops line the approach to the temple.

Tokyo ranks as one of the world's centres of economic activity. Since the end of World War II in 1945, Japan’s economy has grown faster than that of any other country. Tokyo has played a major role in this growth. It is the main centre of Japan's commercial, financial, and industrial activities and of its transportation industry. About a quarter of Japan's business corporations have their head quarters in the Metropolis. About 15 per cent of all the factories in Japan are also there.

Industry. The Tokyo Metropolis has 80,000 factories. Most of them are small and employ fewer than 20 people. However, some are gigantic plants that have from ho000 to 20,000 workers. Nearly 1  1/2 million industrial workers hold jobs in the Tokyo Metropolis.

Tokyo's two leading industries are (1) the manufacture of electronics equipment and (2) publishing and printing. Several huge companies and many small ones in the Metropolis make cassette recorders, compact disc players, computers, facsimile (fax) machines, radios, television sets, video recorders, and other electronics equipment. Many of these products are exported to most parts of the world. About four out of every five Jap­anese publishing companies have their headquarters in Tokyo. The Tokyo area's newspaper companies publish more than 25 daily papers and sell a total of about 25 million copies daily. Much of the material published in Tokyo is also printed there. Other important products of Tokyo include chemicals, food, furniture, and paper.

Several Tokyo companies rank among the 25 largest manufacturing firms in the world.

Finance. Businesses and industries throughout Japan depend on Tokyo banks for loans. The Bank of Japan,

the nation's central bank, has its headquarters in Tokyo. Controlled by the national government the Bank of Japan regulates the nation's entire banking system. Tokyo also has many commercial banks. The largest commercial banks have branches or offices in many Jap­anese and foreign cities.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is one of the world's lead­ing stock exchanges. It has about 100 members and lists about 1,070 stocks.

Trade. Nearly 3,000 companies in the Tokyo Metrop­olis deal in foreign trade. These firms handle almost half of Japan's export business and more than half of the na­tion's import business. The 40-storey Tokyo Trade Cen­tre displays various types of Japanese goods for foreign buyers.

About 173,000 wholesale and retail establishments are in the Metropolis. The 41,000 wholesale companies, which sell to buyers throughout Japan, employ more than 600,000 people. The 132,000 retail shops employ more than 550,000 workers. Most of the retail shops are small. But Tokyo has department stores and shopping centres that are as large, attractive, and modern as any in the world.

Transportation. About 2 million motor vehicles are registered in the Metropolis. Most are cars. In the mid- 1900's, the metropolitan government built a system of motorways to speed traffic through the city. Even so, there are many more motor vehicles than the motor­ways and streets can handle, and severe traffic jams occur frequently. The metropolitan government is trying to provide more public transportation as a substitute for private car travel.