Tokyo - The City that never switches off the lights!

I have found that often when blogging there is so much one can say that you end up saying nothing! Tokyo is a case in point – we fell in love with Tokyo, but I can’t tell you exactly why! It wasn’t the technology paradise that I was expecting, but there is enough gadgetry to keep you busy, it wasn’t to mass throng of humanity - because once you spend any time in India other place simply feel underwhelming in terms of crowd and population, it definitely is not the history and ancient culture, because thanks to the second world war, most of Tokyo and indeed most of japans big cities were all flattened and had to start from square one – literally.



I think the thing about Tokyo, is the relentless confidence that you see everywhere, and in everyone. People in Tokyo, have a swagger – not an American ‘in your face’ type of confidence, but a much more impressive stance, embedded in quality and style. Everyone and everything in Tokyo is stylish and therefore most of it is expensive. You just have to walk around to see that!



We spent 7 days in Tokyo, for many people that was the total length of their Japan trip! So we did have some time to let the city wash over us. The way we approached the place was by area. There were not a great number of places that one must tick off in Tokyo, so we decided to spend a day or evening in the main areas of the city, these were:

• Shinjuku – Business and entertainment
• Shibuya – young trendy and the location of the famous multiple crossing that you see in the pictures
• Harajuku – young and trendier! Shopping mecca now
• Ginza – where the mega rich still shop - $270 for a Mango anyone?
• Akihabara – Electronics Town
• Roppongi – Party capital, sleeps by day, never sleeps by night
• Odaiba – reclaimed land, malls, and amazing views of the city
• Asakusa – where we lived, sight of an amazing temple also

Each of the areas was different, but they all had a buzz to them. You get a pretty big dose of Neon while in Tokyo, there are lights everywhere! And they are on all the time. Also people seem to love shopping here. It is amazing how much they do, and how quickly you can get sucked into the materialistic fervour. I went mad in Akihabara! it is crammed full technology, TVs, Camera, laptops etc. The big things in Japan are the phones which seem many years ahead of Europe. We loved pottering around these shops.



I think that Tokyo is definitely a city where if you lived here, it would feel mighty different. There is a real vibe and buzz to the place, driven many by the young, this buzz would just grow and grow if you lived here. You would also get a feel for just how expensive it is to live here. Tokyo is officially the most expensive city in the world. Staying in a hostel for 30GBP per night, you don’t get the right impression. I am sure it is not easy to live here, and you can see why people are so driven and strive for success – it’s the only way to maintain this lifestyle in this Mecca for all Cities.



Visiting for days doesn’t do the place justice. We saw the above areas in isolation, and didn’t see how it was to live and breathe the city. Also despite being underwhelmed by the volume of people, one has to see the scale of the place in the context of the whole country. Taking the Tokyo metropolitan region there are 32m people living there, this means 1 in 5 Japanese live there. It also makes Tokyo the largest city in the world.



Basically if you are looking for old style culture, delicate leafy suburbia, cool conditions and somewhere that lets you recharge – avoid Tokyo. It will not do any of this. What it will do is give you a hard but friendly shake and blast you with bright lights, and amazing people.