Japan
🇯🇵 Tokyo
Neon and shrines, quiet trains, and a politeness that feels like a warm coat.
A little history
Tokyo was Edo, a shogun’s city of wooden houses and water. In 1868 it became the emperor’s capital and took a new name. It was shattered by earthquake in 1923 and by war in 1945, and it built again — denser, kinder to the timetable, still fond of a garden behind a gate.
Things worth knowing
- Trains are famously on time. A delay of a minute can earn an apology.
- Vending machines sell hot tea as well as cold.
- There is a shrine in the middle of skyscrapers. Nobody finds this odd.
- People often wear a mask when they have a cold — a courtesy.
What they eat
Ramen is a hug in a bowl. Onigiri is a rice triangle for a train journey. A perfect egg is a small art. You can eat extremely well from a tray at a station, and nobody will look down on you.
A local story
In the evening, office workers still raise a glass and then catch the last reliable train. The city is huge. The manners are small and precise. That is how it holds together.
A little more
A good way to “see” Tokyo from a chair: one shrine, one bowl of noodles, one garden no bigger than a sitting room. The neon is real. So is the quiet. Both are the city.
If you would like a proper read, this opens a BBC page in a new tab. Come back here when you are done.