Tokyo
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Overview : Tokyo is a symbol of Japan's success story and a vast scale metropolis on the Pacific coast of Honshu, the largest island of the Japanese archipelago. The city was founded under this name in 1590 as the capital of Edo shogun - the succession given by absolute rulers of Japan and commander in chief of the Japanese army. Edo had a lively own culture, the celebrated "floating world" of entertainment, drama and cherry blossoms, in the woodcut print of that time were immortalized.
With the overthrow of the shogun in 1867 and the restoration of the imperial power, the town was renamed in Tokyo, the Eastern Capital. A forerunner of its rebirth as a dynamic modern city is the parade of a fast developing country. Despite the disastrous earthquake of 1923 and almost complete destruction in the Second World War, Tokyo was in a position to get out of the ashes to rise and as a venue for the 1964 Olympics to act. Later, the city was on the vanguard of the Japanese economic miracle.
Tokyo carrying an army of businessmen, employees and students from the suburbs to the large railway stations in the city. Only through Shinjuku station serve two million people every day. In the business districts with the many skyscrapers full of simply dressed. The anarchy of the architecture and in a confined space densely crowds are an assault on the senses. Electrical shops with sharp neon advertisements next to noble boutiques and hordes of cute schoolgirl, the images of Pop idol and on the latest fashion in glittering. Department stores are part of the consumer illusion.
In the city center antiquated purchase arcades are in the midst of closely cultivated old quarters, where the sounds of the temple bells over the roofs resound. Here still the seasons determine the life rhythm. On first January swarms the Tokyo's people go to a Shinto temple to the New Year way, and in the spring you can see groups in bright flowers excitement when viewing or picnic under the cherry blossoms. During the humid summer rendered many traditional festivals, and also the spirit of the old Edo is preserved - in the neon-through-flooded entertainment districts, the "floating world" of today with karaoke, cinemas, bars and bath houses. The traditional Kabuki theatre enjoys great popularity as well as opera, ballet and symphony concerts, including Tokyo, the passionate followers of the sport sumo wrestling and baseball. The food is another great passion, the man in this city with 60,000 restaurants and the largest fish market in the world meet. From bowls of steaming ramen noodles to fine slices sashimi chefs compete for the freshest products and the presentation of meals is raised to an art form.
Sightseeing : Tokyo has little particularly well-known objects of interest. The main attraction is that you can get to know a city, which at first glance western cities is very similar in their core, however, so fundamentally different. There are no central square or a striking landmark, or any special orientation point for tourists, since Tokyo is an accumulation of different quarters, a dye of minicities.
Ginza with its elegant boulevards and department stores is the quarters of the rich and famous zone. Shinjuku, swarm of employees during the day, after sunset, transforms it into a neon-lit maintenance miracle wonderland. Shibuya and Harajuku find modern shops, sports facilities and beautiful parks. However, in the old quarters Ueno and Asakusa with small houses and shops, potted plants and shrines on the roadside life in the last few decades, hardly changed. The glittering department stores in Ginza are less than two miles from the Pacific ocean, however, will be in Tokyo strangely hardly close to the sea deliberately. Another perspective, the visitors to the increasingly built-up coast, while an evening stroll through the bustling entertainment districts again a new page of this incredibly diverse city revealed.
Tokyo is many things at once - unbridled consumption and oases of tranquility, or the senses and tender, unobtrusive beauty. Tokyo is a very progressive city, as distinct from the past - but above all, it is a fascinating city.
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City Guide
