"Tokyo" Tokyo by AndreasK

Tokyo Travel Guide: 3,920 reviews and 9,251 photos

This picture was taken in Tokyo during a summer festival. In Japan there are festivals (matsuri) held virtually every day of the year.

<b>Tokyo's history</b> dates back to 1457 when lord Ota Dokan built his castle near the humble fishing village called Edo ("rivergate"). In 1590 Tokugawa Ieyasu chose this castle-town for his home. Within a decade Ieyasu had conquered all rivals, taken the title of "shogun" and established the Tokugawa clan as the effective rulers of Japan for the next two and a half centuries. Tokyo has been the capital of Japan since 1868, when the imperial family moved from Kyoto to Edo, which was then renamed "Eastern Capital" (Tokyo). The earthquake of 1923 devastated half of Tokyo and killed 100 000 people. Today, the population of the entire metropolitan area is about 12 million.

I have lived in Japan for almost 12 months during the years 1986 - 1988. Most of the time I spent in Tokyo visiting Saitama and Keio Universities to study policy sciences, learning Japanese at language schools, living with Japanese people, thus learning different aspects of the Japanese live.

Though they do not belong to the city of Tokyo, I have included on this page Hakone, Mount Fuji, Kamakura, and Nikko, which can all be visited on a day-trip from Tokyo. Please check <a/href="http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/.108832/76/" target="_blank">my Japan page</a> for more information.

Last visit to Tokyo: Dec 1987
Intro Updated Mar 24, 2003
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Reviews (17)

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Comments (168)

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Toshioohsako Nov 23, 2007 at 2:15 AM

Very nice Japan photos and introduction. Hope you had a meaningful stay in Japan. Greetings
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globetrott Apr 29, 2003 at 3:38 PM

an interesting page and great pics !
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vigi Apr 18, 2003 at 4:32 AM

Cute capture of the kid eating ice-cream. Great info of this amazing city!
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misakitaguchi Mar 28, 2003 at 10:11 PM

Cute picture of festival!!! Nice page.
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AndyRG Mar 26, 2003 at 8:53 AM

I wish I could send you greetings too from this city...
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CandS Mar 21, 2003 at 2:21 PM

Great info and pics! I wonder if I will ever get to visit there myself...
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Vitalis Dec 12, 2002 at 1:26 AM

Great place kamakura dont you think?
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Sakuzan Jul 25, 2002 at 2:11 AM

How a great traveller you are!
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nathasha Jul 12, 2002 at 6:58 AM

such cute children!!! and great info, thank you :))
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renuschka Jul 5, 2002 at 1:20 AM

I wasn t in Yokohama, I saw samething in the news, but not in