Heart of Tokyo, Ginza and Akihabara
The historical center of Tokyo was built around the Imperial Palace and the vast park that surrounds it. Around it, we find all the districts of a traditional city: business, shopping, culture and leisure districts.
Kasumigaseki. The small district of Kasumigaseki gathers ministries; there are the main administrative buildings of the capital.
Yotsuya. Yotsuya district closes the loop around the imperial palace. It is a student district, remarkable especially for the Saint Ignatius Catholic Church, which was donated by the Brooklyn City Council and the Saint Sophia Catholic University, founded in 1914.
Ginza. Ginza is one of the most famous, most adored and most expensive areas in Tokyo. In 1990, the square meter had reached the colossal figure of one million francs (about 150 000 €). This district consists of two parallel thoroughfares running from southwest to northeast, the Chūō-dōri and the Shōwa-dōri, crossed by a large orthogonal avenue, Harumi-dōri, which runs from northwest to southeast. The avenue is closed to traffic every Sunday, so that Tokyoites can make the most of every store.
Marunouchi-Nihombashi. Here begins the muffled world of finance with the wide facades of some large stone buildings. This is the district where the headquarters of the major Japanese and international banks are located, as well as the headquarters of the airline companies and the large central post office.
Akihabara. Today's central district, Akihabara was the northwestern gateway of Edo. From the 1930s, Akihabara became the place where household appliances were sold. In the 1980's, household appliances lost its interest and Akihabara, also called Akiba, the electric city, became a center for selling computer products and electronics. The district then attracts a new population of " otaku ", computer freaks, but also video games and mangas. Thisotaku culture has shaped the district.
Akasaka, Roppongi and Shiodome
Central districts, Akasaka and Roppongi form the heart of rich and cosmopolitan Tokyo. Tall buildings, western restaurants and luxurious hotels are the norm.
Akasaka - Nagata-chō. This area is home to a multitude of small neighborhoods, including Akasaka - Nagata-chō, where the financial elite are based. During the Tokugawa shogunate, this area was the residence of the lords who left Edo in 1868 to return to their native lands.
Shinbashi. To the east of Akasaka, there is the small district of Shinbashi. It used to be the geisha area. It is still possible today to see around the Enbujō theater, the tea houses and some restaurants frequented by these ladies in kimono.
Roppongi. Since the sixties, Roppongi has become the privileged district for foreigners invited by their Japanese partners. It is here that bars and nightclubs have multiplied, but also restaurants of very good quality, because of the proximity of the embassies and consulates. It is an ideal district to go out and party.
Shiodome. Once a swampy area, then a railway terminal, Shiodome has become one of the most modern areas of the city since a modernization project in the mid-1990s. There is now a high concentration of skyscrapers. Close to Ginza, it is not the most touristic area of Tokyo, but it is representative of a modern urban planning.
Odaiba
A group of artificial islands in Tokyo Bay, Odaiba is a former industrial site redeveloped in the late 1980s. Wide avenues, seaside, it blows an air of seaside resort and relaxation. The district has recently been put in the spotlight, as it is the location of many Olympic events in 2020 and the new Toyosu fish market has moved nearby.
Odaiba. Odaiba was the site of the cannons placed there by the shogun to protect the city from the threat of Commodore Perry in 1853. However, it is not for this historical fact that Odaiba attracts crowds of Tokyoites, especially on weekends. Young couples, families, everyone comes to rest in Odaiba. The spacious avenues have an American city look reinforced by the presence of a small statue of Liberty.
Tennozu-Isle. Artificial peninsula located in front of Odaiba, west of it. The new district that has been built there for a few years is still not very popular with tourists, but it is promising. The city's ambition is to make it a new hub for contemporary art, by encouraging the installation of museums, galleries and stores. If most of the island is still quite quiet, it is very pleasant to stroll along the old docks and have a drink on a terrace by the water.
Shinjuku and Shin-Okubo
Shinjuku. What has been said about Shinjuku? To tell the truth, this district has always had a sulphurous reputation. In the 20th century, this area quickly became the barometer of the changes in Tokyo society. Without a doubt, the station, which attracts 3.5 million passengers a day, is the center of the district. It also serves to sharply divide the district into east and west. In the west, the modern Shinjuku where the big hotels, the administrations, the skyscrapers and the big city hall since 1991 have been settled. To the east, department stores and pleasure districts.
Kabuki-chō. Located in the northeast of Shinjuku, the Kabuki-chō district developed around 1950. If there is one area where prostitution is rampant in Tokyo, this is it. The neighborhood is not dangerous and, by day, it looks like nothing. At night, neon lights and loud music fill the streets, and bars, karaoke bars, love hotels and clubhouses open their doors. In the 1980s, the area had a sulphurous reputation because of the yakuza groups that reigned there, but in recent years the atmosphere has become considerably more relaxed. Beware, however, of touts who can lure you into bars and charge you exorbitant amounts of money.
Shin-Okubo. In the 1980s, the opening of South Korean borders on the one hand, and the need for labor on the other, led to a wave of Korean immigration, which settled in the northern part of Shinjuku. The recent boom of the area is due to the growing interest of Japanese in Korean cultural products such as K-pop and dramas. It is a very lively area that always seems to be bustling with activity. The sanitation of Kabuki-chō makes this neighborhood all the more vibrant by contrast.
Ikebukuro
Ikebukuro has always been considered a kind of suburb of Shinjuku, less funny, less crazy and more needy. However, times have changed and, in the last ten years, Ikebukuro attracts young female otaku fans of cosplay and manga. The district has a little air of Akihabara for women.
The station is topped by one of the world's largest shopping malls, the Seibu depāto and the Sunshine City complex. To the east, chic stores, fashionable boutiques, cafes with terraces. To the west, the nightlife attracts a clientele of students or small workers.
Shibuya and Harajuku
Shibuya is probably, after Shinjuku, the district of Tokyo which sees the most people in one day. The stores attract a young clientele, the restaurants are innumerable and Japanese pop culture is at hand.
Harajuku is the district of the young people of which they do not intend to yield an inch of ground. During the 1980s, it was the meeting place, in Yoyogi Park, for rebels to the Japanese system and straitjacket. After the police intervention and the closing of the park, the wave of non-conformist youth surged during weekends in the streets of Omotesandō. This was the "bamboo shoot" generation(Takenoko-zoku, named after the Takenoko store that originated this style), which took over the city with sounds and colors. All this inevitably followed the fashion or preceded it. Piercing, hair with grunge, trash or destroy cuts, words are not enough to say the energy that these followers of the rock of the 1950s produced. Small groups were formed, between boys or girls, with a magneto set on the asphalt. You can still see some of them on weekends at the entrance to the park.
Omotesandō is another trendy and chic neighborhood. From Harajuku Station, a street goes down along the railroad. If you turn right, you enter a small street teeming with people, especially on Sundays, called Takeshita-dōri. It allows, by turning left afterwards, to reach the Tōgō shrine. The street is a jumble of small colorful stores that is a bit reminiscent of what Soho was in London, circa 1965.
Daikanyama is the more upscale and residential part of this area of the city. Located just south of Shibuya, Daikanyama's upscale, quiet, tree-lined streets are particularly pleasant for a half-day stroll. Still not very touristy, this area of the city is full of charm and ideal for a leisurely stroll from cafes to galleries and fashion boutiques.
Shimokitazawa is known as the young and vintage district of Tokyo: it is the roots of Harajuku, just west of it, in the Setagaya district. There are hundreds of thrift stores, antique stores, record shops, and small cheap restaurants. The terrain and narrow streets give this area a village-like feel in the heart of the big city.
Ueno, Yanaka and Asakusa
These districts are often referred to as shitamachi, the lower city. Traditionally, the lower city was opposed to what constituted the yamanote, upper city. The districts of the lower city were more popular, and the risks of floods and fires more common. With the expansion of the city, the term shitamachi came to designate more traditional areas in the north of the city, where the streets are winding and where one can still find many small shops and workshops.
Asakusa. the "old" district of Tokyo, from the 19th century, Asakusa became the fashionable district where a certain dandyism was developed, an aesthetic (iki and inase) which was the prerogative of both the recluse and the bourgeois. Activity developed around the Sensō-ji temple, where nagaya (long houses where transvestites took refuge) flourished. Asakusa suffered greatly from the 1923 earthquake and the bombings of World War II, but there is still a scent of another Tokyo.
Ryōgoku. Separated from the rest of Tokyo by the Sumida River, Ryōgoku was connected to Tokyo in 1659 by the construction of a bridge. If the district used to be considered a bit dull, it is now undergoing a profound transformation and a real estate revaluation. Sumo fans will not miss it, as it is the location of the Kokugikan, which also hosts the boxing events of the 2020 Olympics.
Ueno. Ueno, east of Edo, is where peasants or migrants from northern Honshū used to arrive. The station was opened in 1880 and it was at that time only a modest wooden station with a tile roof. Located in the heart of the lower city, Ueno has retained the popular and somewhat old-fashioned look of the old parts of the capital. In the beautiful park, there are a number of museums and galleries among the richest in the capital.
Yanaka. Located next to Ueno, this district preserved from the wars is cherished by Tokyoites who find there with nostalgia the city of the beginning of the 20th century. It is full of temples, old stores and craft stores. Some places are magical, like the "cherry tree tunnel" on Sakura-dōri Avenue, when the trees are in bloom. Despite the increasing number of visitors, it is a place of calm and serenity.
