Tokyo dazzles visitors with a perfect mix of futuristic neon and ancient tradition. While Godzilla destroys the city in movies, the real streets function with clockwork precision and incredible safety. For instance, commuters calmly squeeze into trains until they literally cannot move. Furthermore, chefs here earn more prestigious awards than anywhere else on earth. Prepare to get lost in the electric jungle.
Tokyo
Uniformed staff push passengers onto crowded trains. During rush hour, “Oshiya” wearing white gloves shove people inside the carriages. Consequently, the doors can close so the train departs exactly on time.
Tokyo holds the most Michelin stars in the world. The city features over 200 starred restaurants, which beats Paris easily. Therefore, food lovers consider it the ultimate dining destination on the planet.
The Imperial Palace grounds once cost more than California. During the economic bubble of the 1980s, real estate prices skyrocketed. Thus, that small square of land theoretically held more value than the entire US state.
Vending machines sell everything from soup to underwear. You can find one machine for every 23 people in the city. Amazingly, you can buy hot coffee, bananas, and even umbrellas on the street corner.
Shinjuku Station handles 3.6 million passengers daily. This massive number makes it the busiest transport hub on Earth. In fact, more people pass through here each day than live in the entire city of Chicago.
Traffic lights signal “go” with a blue light. Historically, the Japanese language used the same word for blue and green. As a result, the government uses a turquoise shade that legally counts as blue.
Citizens return millions of dollars in lost cash annually. People hand over lost wallets to the police constantly. Specifically, the police collect nearly $30 million (28 million Euros) in lost money every single year.
The Tokyo Tower copies the design of the Eiffel Tower. However, engineers built the Japanese version 43 feet (13 meters) taller. They painted it bright orange and white to comply with aviation safety laws.
Crows build nests out of stolen coat hangers. The clever birds steal wire hangers from balconies because twigs are scarce in the city. Consequently, power companies must remove these metal nests from electrical lines to prevent blackouts.
Shibuya Crossing allows 2,500 people to cross at once. When the lights turn red, traffic stops in all directions. Then, a sea of humanity floods the intersection in a chaotic but organized scramble.
Shops in Tokyo sell over 300 flavors of KitKats. You can buy wasabi, sake, and even baked potato versions of the chocolate bar. Nestlé creates these unique tastes because the name sounds like “kitto katsu,” which means “surely win.”
The city was originally a small fishing village called Edo. It only became the capital when the Emperor moved there in 1868. Before that, Kyoto served as the imperial center of Japan for centuries.
Train stations use blue LED lights to prevent suicide. Companies installed these calming lights at the ends of platforms. Studies showed that the soothing color reduced tragic incidents by nearly 84 percent.
You can sleep in a capsule the size of a coffin. Capsule hotels offer cheap beds that measure roughly 6 feet by 3 feet (2 meters by 1 meter). Businessmen use them when they miss the last train home.
Summer brings haunted houses to cool people down. Japanese tradition says that getting scared gives you the chills. Therefore, theme parks open spooky attractions in August to help people beat the humid heat.
