It is the largest city in the world population wise and the second largest city in the world by area. The geisha are there as well as the gardens, the Imperial Palace and the Buddhist temples but, make no mistake, Tokyo is a major player on the world stage. The allure and mystique of Tokyo has always been there but here a few things you really don’t know about the capital city of Japan.
- It may be the cleanest city in the world. There is never any graffiti or trash to be seen anywhere. The pride the Japanese take in their city, and country, is awe inspiring.
- The Tokyo subways can be a nightmare for the unprepared. The rush hour human traffic there is unbelievable to most people in other countries. You are literally packed into the subways cars. And, to make sure, there are people whose job it is to actually push people into the packed cars. They are known as “Pushers”.
- The city itself was known as Edo when it was founded back in the 12th Century. The city is literally 900 years old.
- The Japanese seem a forgiving people. Their 19th Prime Minister was murdered and the killer only got 13 years in prison for it.
- There are vending machines everywhere. You can get anything from a boxed lunch to a dozen eggs to bread along with all of the traditional things you might think come from a standard vending machine.
- In 1962, Tokyo hit ten million inhabitants making it the first city in the history of the world to ever do that.
- If you check out a Tokyo hotel, chances are you will be sleeping in a capsule. They are long stacked tubes and the most unique hotel stay you are likely to ever have.
- There are over 100 hundred universities in the city easily making it the most college bound city in the world.
- Mount Fuji dominates the city but because of smoke, the mountain, where the gods came to Earth, can only be seen for about 180 days a year.
- The Tsukiji Fish Market may just be the largest in the world. It sits on 57 acres and sells roughly five million pounds and $28 million worth of seafood every day.
- They love and revere baseball. It was introduced by occupying American troops after World War Two and Japan has two professional major league level leagues just like in the United States.
- The Shinjuku Station is the busiest railway station in the world. It is estimated that around 3.64 million people travel through it every day.
- The Japanese wear surgical masks if they are sick and have to be in public. They consider it extremely rude to be near people if they are sick
- Tokyo Disneyland was Disney’s first theme park built outside of the U.S.
- If you are on the subway and someone falls asleep and rests their head on your shoulder, it is good manners to allow it. It shows compassion for the difficulty of life.
PHOTO SOURCES: Matador Network, bigskyline.com, wikimapia.com, flickr.com,abc.net.au, allasianfashion.com