Visiting Tokyo is like stepping on to another planet – and that’s the view of someone who actually lives there! You’ll be mesmerised by its gaudy and dazzling neon signs, deafened by its incessant noise and astounded by its bumper-to-bumper traffic. But you’ll also find yourself standing back and admiring a city that has constantly re-invented and renewed itself after being razed to the ground once by an earthquake and once by wartime bombing raids. This is a metropolis of concrete and steel and can often seem like the stereotypical urban nightmare. But step back from the frenetic main roads and you could find yourself in a world of tranquil backstreets, where wooden houses are fronted by neatly-clipped bonsai trees, and temples and shrines bear witness to the upholding of ancient Japanese traditions and heritage.
Tokyo may not be one of the great sightseeing cities, but it is something of a modern-day utopia. Trains run on time, crime is hardly worth worrying about and shops and vending machines provide everything you need (and many things you never thought you did) 24 hours a day. Welcome to the perplexing and beguiling capital of Japan.
