Tokyo: City overview

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Tokyo is the place where the rest of the world goes to imagine how the future might look -- a megalopolis of some 30 million consumer-citizens that renders most science fiction redundant. The electronic and economic brain of the world's most technologically advanced society, the Japanese capital glows in a neon haze that blurs the boundaries between hyper reality and virtual reality. For the first time visitor, arriving in Tokyo can feel like you're tripping on LCD screens. Bombarded by information, advertising and commerce, Tokyo fulfils the maxim that capitalism abhors a vacuum. There's a reason Tokyo has embraced modernity with such dedication. The city was destroyed twice during the 20th century, first by earthquake and then by firebombs. Tokyoites await the next "big one," aware that they will probably have to rebuild parts of their city once again in the near future -- a factor that perhaps explains Tokyo architects's post-war preference for brutalist concrete. Visit the city's shrines and temples though and it's still possible to imagine the old city of bamboo and cypress trees, ghostly memorials to a cryopreserved culture as bullet trains and monorails carry commuters through the chaos of the morning rush hour.

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