Photo: Unsplash
About Tokyo
Tokyo is a city of neighbourhoods, and each has its own character: Shimokitazawa for second-hand clothes and small live-music bars, Yanaka for old wooden houses and temples, Akihabara for electronics and anime shops. Much of the food is simple and good: late-night ramen counters, conveyor-belt sushi, yakitori under the railway arches at Yurakucho. Eating out doesn't have to be expensive: set lunches, ramen shops and convenience stores are the cheap way to eat well.
History
Tokyo began as Edo, a castle town where Ōta Dōkan built the first Edo Castle in 1457. After Tokugawa Ieyasu set up his shogunate here in 1603, Edo grew to more than a million people by the mid-18th century, while the emperor stayed in Kyoto. In 1868 the emperor moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo, "eastern capital". The 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake and the air raids of 1945 destroyed much of the city twice within 22 years; Yanaka and Nezu are among the few old districts that escaped major damage, which is why their wooden houses and temples still stand.
- Country
- Japan, capital
- Population
- Tokyo Metropolis: approx. 14 million (2026) Tokyo Metropolitan Government
- Area
- 2,194 km²
- Time zone
- UTC+9 (Japan Standard Time), no daylight saving
- Language
- Japanese
- Currency
- Japanese yen (JPY)
Highlights
Tsukiji Outer Market — breakfast of fresh seafood at the stalls early in the morning; the wholesale market and its tuna auction moved to Toyosu in 2018 Shinjuku Golden Gai — around 280 tiny bars in six narrow alleys, many with only five or six seats; no photos without permission teamLab Borderless — the digital art museum at Azabudai Hills, open there since 2024 (it left Odaiba in 2022) Yanaka Cemetery — an avenue of cherry trees and the grave of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun; a short walk from Nippori Station Depachika — the food halls in department store basements: prepared dishes, sweets, gift boxes Hama-rikyu Gardens — a former shogun's garden on Tokyo Bay with a seawater pond that rises and falls with the tide; Tokyo Cruise water buses stop at the garden's own pier
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Neighbourhoods
Practical Info
Entry rules depend on your nationality. Check before you travel: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
Japanese Yen (JPY). Credit cards are widely accepted in the city, but carry cash for small shops and rural areas.
Tipping is not customary and can be considered rude; excellent service is standard without extra payment.
Tokyo is very safe with low crime rates; watch out for pickpockets in crowded areas like Shibuya and Shinjuku.
Tourist SIMs and eSIMs are sold at the airport and online.
Japanese is the official language; English is spoken in tourist areas and by younger people, but not fluently.
Useful phrases Japanese15
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