Tourism Cool Tokyo

Future and Past Are Close Together

The Japanese capital Tokyo with its 9.5 million inhabitants is located on Honshū, the largest island in the country. The metropolis is divided into 23 districts, of which the nightlife district Shibuya with the famous crossing is the best known. Here is also the bronze statue of the dog Haikiko, who was waiting for his master for more than ten years at the Shibuya railway station in the 1920s and 1930s, although he had already passed away - every child in Japan knows this story. The 634-meter-high Tokyo Skytree in the Oshiage district, which opened in 2012 as a television tower and is the second tallest building in the world after Dubai's Burj Khalifa, offers an outstanding view of the entire city.
In Tokyo you never know exactly if you landed in the past or future. In the entertainment part of Asakusa in Tokyo's Taitō district, Sensō-ji, the oldest and most important Buddhist temple in Tokyo, is very close to Asakusa Shrine. Also worth a visit is the "National Museum of Western Art" inaugurated in 1959 which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2016 and is located on the edge of the Ueno Park. Not far away is the Tokyo National Museum, considered to be the best museum of Japanese art, as well as the zoo, next to the Toshogu Shrine.

The famous „Shibuya Crossing“

Olympia 2020, Anime and Okonomiyaki

All year long, there are interesting events taking place in Tokyo. Every spring countless visitors from home and abroad come to the "Anime Japan", the world's largest anime fair. Numerous exhibitors from cartoon production meet here and are looking forward to the award ceremony of the Tokyo Anime Award. Almost at the same time, the annual Tokyo Marathon takes place. However, the focus is currently on the Olympic Games, which will be held in Tokyo from 24 July to 9 August 2020. Most recently, the games took place here in 1964.
And what would Japan be without its passion for food? In the 80,000 restaurants, of course, there are excellent sushi, but also many western fast food chains. Other very popular dishes include ramen (pasta mostly processed in soups), melon bread, dumping and rice balls or Okonomiyaki, a mixture of cabbage, egg, fish or meat and pasta served on a hot plate.

Sensō-ji, the oldest and most important Buddhist temple in Tokyo

TEXT Markus Feller