"Tokyo, Japan-Asia's 6th largest ci ..." a Tokyo Travel Page by dlytle

I have passed through Tokyo, meaning the Narita airport, several times but have only recently gone ‘downtown’ to Tokyo. What a place! Boasting everything from ancient temples and classical entertainment to cutting edge fashion and avant-garde architecture, it appears to me that Tokyo has something to satisfy, and surprise, every visitor.

Tokyo is actually dozens of cities (these districts are called wards) within a city. At the core is the business center of Chiyoda Ward; to the east is the center of the former Edo-town people's culture, '***amachi', and to the west is the skyscraper city of Shinjuku, where the Tokyo government now resides. Meanwhile, around all the major stations are mega department stores, shopping, and restaurant districts, and their inevitable companies, the playgrounds of the nights. But the interesting thing about Tokyo is that no matter where you are, you only have to step a street or two back from the main thoroughfare to discover the communications of people, where "community" still means a helping hand and a smile.

What may also be surprising about Tokyo is that it is by no means all-concrete: there are parks and gardens everywhere and within an hour of the city center there are beaches and a green hinterland. Slightly further afield are volcanic islands with white sandy shores, and deep mountains for trekking, fishing, and camping.

Tokyo is clean and safe, easy to get around, and to get things done. Commercial areas not separated from the lives of the people. Houses are in all of the backstreets forming real communities where you can walk to the local fishmonger, tofu maker, and vegetable store, and where people are still in tune with nature, celebrating the seasonal changes with age-old observances. The low crime rate is famous, and the efficiency of the city's public transport legendary. Computerized systems keep the city functioning smoothly; shopping is easy, and information is on tap from any source in the world via printed media or on screen.

From its establishment in 1603 to the end of the 19th century Tokyo prospered as a castle town named Edo. Peace and stability brought to society by the Tokugawa shogunate allowed Edo to grow rapidly. By the 18th century it was the largest city in the world, with a population of over a million, exceeding even London's. Edo was clean and well organized and the people led a rich and colorful culture life.

In Edo, all roads led to the shogun's castle. Samurai mansions gathered at its gates; provincial lords had embassies nearby; and artisans and merchants came from Kyoto and Osaka to supply their needs. Vestiges of those times can still be witnessed today, not only in the former gates and stone walls of the old castle moat, but in the way that the modern city is laid out, with the city's main business center and political hub on the periphery of the old castle, along with the important gateway to the, city, Tokyo Station. To the east of the station is the ever-thriving Nihonbashi wholesale district and the famous shopping streets of Ginza, literally "seat of silver""which was once the side of the shogun's mint. In those famous shopping districts like Ginza, long-established purveyors of incense, decorative papers, traditional clothing, and pearls are wedged firmly among gleaming new towers of high-class boutiques.

And what of the castle it self? In 1868, when the power was taken back from the shogun to the emperor and he came from Kyoto to rule. Later, palace was built in its place. This is where the emperor and empress reside today. Part of it, the Imperial Palace east Garden, is open to the public.