Summer diaries Part 5.1: Tokyo Drift

Yesterday I arrived in Tokyo after a rather short train ride with the bullet, or Shinkansen as it is called officially. While the train indeed is quite fast it is not as spectacular as one might think – effectively it is the same as a German ICE. Upon my arrival in Tokyo (or Tokyo-to) I was quite surprised to realize that Tokyo and Kyoto are so different. Kyoto feels much more historical, smaller, and dare I say, provincial (in the good sense!). In fact, there seems to be quite some french influence here in Tokyo and the fashion is more on the crazy and aggressive side. Kyoto on the other side is much slower and balanced. Also the food in Kyoto is much more diverse and traditional I guess.

Unfortunately, getting an accessible and stable internet connection in Tokyo is quite a challenge, as you either need to be with one of the big cell companies here, pre-register on the internet, or you need to cram with gazillion people into tiny spaces. Also one more disclaimer about my experience so far: If you intend to buy some electronics stuff, e.g., say a camera, then think twice. I needed a second body and lens and went to BIC camera which is one of the major stores here and the first lens severely back focused so that I wanted to return it. I had a two hour discussion to finally get a replacement because the “Nikon expert” (yes the t-shirt makes him an expert) knew better and we had to shoot 100 pics or so of price tags to “identify” the obvious. They did under no circumstances give my money back. So keep this in mind. In fact, my feeling is that these stores are no better than Best Buy in the US or Saturn in Germany: there you do not expect competent salespeople either.

Tokyo is, being pendantic, not a city but it is a Metropolitan area which is made up of several special wards and smaller towns. Wikipedia says:

Tokyo (東京 Tōkyō^?, “Eastern Capital”) (Japanese: [toːkjoː], English /ˈtoʊki.oʊ/), officially Tokyo Metropolis (東京都 Tōkyō-to^?),^[4] is one of the 47prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area in the world.^[5] It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands.^[6] Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture (東京府 Tōkyō-fu^?) and the city of Tokyo (東京市 Tōkyō-shi^?).

Tokyo is often thought of as a city but is commonly referred to as a “metropolitan prefecture”. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo (each governed as an individual city), which cover the area that was formerly the City of Tokyo before it merged and became the subsequent metropolitan prefecture. The metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the special wards is over 9 million people, with the total population of the prefecture exceeding 13 million. The prefecture is part of the world’s most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 35 million people and the world’s largest urban agglomeration economy with a GDP of US$1.479 trillion at purchasing power parity, ahead of the New York metropolitan area in 2008. The city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city.^[7]

Tokyo has been described as one of the three “command centers” for the world economy, along with New York City and London.^[8] The city is considered an alpha+ world city, listed by the GaWC‘s 2008 inventory^[9] and ranked fourth among global cities by A.T. Kearney‘s 2012 Global Cities Index.^[10] In 2012, Tokyo was named the most expensive city for expatriates, according to the Mercer and Economist Intelligence Unit cost-of-living surveys,^[11] and in 2009 named the third Most Liveable City and the World’s Most Livable Megalopolis by the magazine Monocle.^[12] The Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world.^[13][14] Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics and is currently acandidate city for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.^[15]

One reason why this is important is because Tokyo naturally decomposes into several centers, which often are the center of a special ward:

The special wards (tokubetsu-ku) of Tokyo comprise the area formerly incorporated as Tokyo City. On July 1, 1943, Tokyo City was merged with Tokyo Prefecture (東京府 Tōkyō-fu^?) forming the current “metropolitan prefecture”. As a result, unlike other city wards in Japan, these wards are not conterminous with a larger incorporated city. While falling under the jurisdiction of Tokyo Metropolitan Government, each ward is also a borough with its own elected leader and council, like other cities of Japan. The special wards use the word “city” in their official English name (e.g. Chiyoda City).

The wards differ from other cities in having a unique administrative relationship with the prefectural government. Certain municipal functions, such as waterworks, sewerage, and fire-fighting, are handled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. To pay for the added administrative costs, the prefecture collects municipal taxes, which would usually be levied by the city.^[37]

I am staying in Shinjuku, one of the special wards, which is pretty much in the smack middle.

Shinjuku (新宿) is one of the 23 city wards of Tokyo, but the name commonly refers to just the large entertainment, business and shopping area around Shinjuku Station.

Here is a map of the area to put things into perspective. If you plan to visit Tokyo you might want to check out the Japan guide which has some useful tips.

Let me talk a bit about my first impressions.

The streets and atmosphere. Tokyo is very packed. Much more so than Kyoto. In fact, in several places you virtually float through a sea of people. It is extremely clean, bordering on sterile, although you will often have a hard time finding a trash can. Tokyo reminds me quite a bit of London, Paris, and New York. It has a lot of small streets with shops and extravagant stuff. While there are several skyscrapers, they are by far not as high as those in New York. Also, walking between the trenches of buildings is not as dark as in New York. It has quite some charme from Paris with its Tokyo Tower modeled after the Eiffel Tower and I heard that in general there is a strong french influence in Tokyo.

The fashion. A very brief summary could be roughly like this. Extremely colorful. Expensive designer clothes: yes. Skirts: as short as possible. High heels: as high as possible. Handbags for guys: definitely ok. Clothes in general: as transparent as possible. In a later post I will talk about Harajuku, one of the major fashion district with several small designer boutiques and outrageously expensive stores. There is also quite some puzzling thing going on with the “caucasian type”: almost all fashion or clothing stores exclusively have advertisements with caucasian girls/guys. The same for makeup: caucasians only. If you would take away the people and the language that would give the japanese location away, these stores could easily be in New York or Paris (you can see this on some of the shots below but also later). In fact in Harajuku there is a british store that hired two caucasian males to play british in front of the door.

The nights. The hot district in the evening is, among others, Shibuya, and especially the Center Gai, which is the area branching of north-west of the metro station. The district is very colorful, very loud, and very packed – not just with people but also with bars, restaurants, shops, etc.

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Related articles

• Summer diaries Part 4.1: touchdown in Kyoto
• Summer diaries Part 4.2: Kyoto streets day and night
• Summer diaries Part 4.3: Kyoto Imperial Palace
• Summer diaries Part 4.4: making lemonade in Kyoto
• Summer diaries Part 4.5: Fushimi Inari-taisha
• Summer diaries Part 4.6: Nishiki Market