Restructuring
According to Educationvv, Tokyo experienced the so-called “economic miracle” during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1947 Tokyo was restructured with the reduction from 35 to 23 neighborhoods. In 1954 the second subway line was created with the Marunouchi Line and in 1961 with the Hibiya Line. In 1958 the Tokyo Tower was built and in 1964 the first Shinkansen line (Tōkaidō Shinkansen) was inaugurated, coinciding with the celebration of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.. This prosperity transformed a war-torn country into the world’s second largest economy in less than 20 years. During this period, the Japanese government prioritized infrastructure and manufacturing industries. As a result, Japan dominated a wide range of industries such as steel, automotive, semiconductor, and household appliances.
In the following years Tokyo grew in extension; The Ogasawara Islands were returned to Japan in 1968 and the Tachikawa Air Base in 1977. During the 1970s there was a massive migration to cities, and especially to Tokyo. In 1978 the Narita International Airport, which provided support for Tokyo International Airport, which serve mainly domestic flights was inaugurated. The large population in Tokyo (which became the most populous city in the world in 1965) led to an economic bubble that started in 1986 and exploded in 1990, causing a recession throughout that decade, also called the lost decade (10 ushinawareta jūnen).
The 20 of March of 1995 the city concentrated the attention of the international media after the terrorist attack of the Aum Shinrikyo cult in the subway system in Tokyo. In it, twelve people died and thousands were affected by the nerve gas Sarin.
Despite that, Tokyo continued to grow; in 1991 the Tōchō or Tokyo Metropolitan Governorate Building was built and in 1993 the Rainbow Bridge over Tokyo Bay was inaugurated. This led to Tokyo being one of the most dynamic cities on the planet with a wide range of social and economic activities, coupled with the investment boom at the end of the 20th century, probably the largest in history. As a result, the city has more modern buildings than London or New York.. Projects have also been carried out in Tokyo to reclaim land from the sea. Although this practice has been carried out for several centuries, today it is carried out on a large scale; Odaiba stands out among these areas. Other recent urban projects include the Ebisu Garden, Tennozu Island, the Shiodome, Roppongi Hills, and Shinagawa.
Economic situation
Tokyo has the largest economy in a city in the world, with a gross domestic product of 1.315 trillion dollars, which makes it the second largest economic power in the world. It has a large international finance center, headquarters of various companies, banks and insurance companies, and several connection points for transport, publishing and broadcasting companies in Japan.
Tokyo is the main financial center of Asia. The Tokyo Prefecture Stock Exchange is one of the most dynamic in the world. Most of the country’s financial institutions, and also multinationals, are based in Tokyo.
Many of Japan’s largest electronics companies manufacture their products in Tokyo, most of which are exported to other countries. These include Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi, and of course the world’s largest automaker, Toyota. The press is also one of the main industries in the city. Most of Japan’s press and publishing companies are based in Tokyo, as are most of the magazines and newspapers published in the prefecture. Other important industries are petrochemicals, automobile manufacturing, logging, and mobile phones. Other large industrial centers located in the Tokyo metropolitan region are Yokohama and Kawasaki, both major producers of ships, petrochemicals, automobiles, and iron and steel products. Tokyo City Hall (Tōchō), nicknamed ”
During the centralized growth of the Japanese economy after World War II, many companies moved their headquarters from cities like Osaka, which is the historic capital of commerce, to Tokyo, in an attempt to take advantage of and gain better access to government. . This trend slowly began to grow the population in Tokyo, along with the cost of living for living in the capital.
For fourteen years in a row, Tokyo was ranked by the “Economist Intelligence Unit” as the most expensive city (or the highest cost of living) in the world.
Gastronomy
Tokyo’s signature cuisine has its roots in the times when the Tokugawa shogunate settled in Edo in 1603. In Japanese, Edo-mae refers to food made with fish from Tokyo Bay, and is a term that today refers to generically to Tokyo cuisine.
The Edo-mae took on a distinctive feature as the cuisine of the different neighborhoods of Shitamachi (lower city in Edo) was combined. The representative dishes are soba, tempura, tenpura, oden, roasted eel (kabayaki); and, of course, the Sushi. The Tokyo version of sushi is known as Edo-mae-zushi, and is said to have been born in Honjo Yokoami, present-day Sumida neighborhood in the 18th century. Oden is a stew of boiled fish and eggs, created in Edo around 1850.
In addition to Tokyo Bay, the Tama region is a great supplier of ingredients for Tokyo cuisine, especially freshwater fish such as trout and carp, as well as vegetables such as Wasabi.
Chanko is the food consumed by sumo wrestlers (the word is believed to derive from chan, a kitchen helper, or chan kuo, a Chinese word for a type of frying pan). Due to the city’s inextricable link with this martial art, chanko has become a popular food, which is why there are plenty of restaurants specializing in chanko. In general, there are two types of chanko: yose-nabe, which consists of chicken broth with fish, chicken, and vegetables; and chiri-nabe, which is a fish and vegetable stew, consumed with soy sauce and vinegar.
Like any metropolis, Tokyo is very receptive to the cuisine of other regions and countries. Western cuisine has a predominant place. European and American chefs have found in Tokyo a fertile field to develop culinary projects that are well received. As examples, the French Joël Robuchon (“20th century cook” according to Gault-Millau) and Alain Ducasse, have started their projects in Tokyo in the first decade of the 21st century.
Sightseeing
Being one of the main centers of history and culture in Japan, Tokyo prefecture receives more than half of the international tourists who come to the country, with 58.3. Annually, nearly 2.6 million people visit Tokyo, representing an annual income of two billion dollars. This flow of visitors makes it the sixth city in the world with the most international visitors, behind London, Paris, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore. Being the main entrance to the country, Tokyo is a critical development region for the promotion of international tourism. Among the visitors who come to the city, 63.8% come from Asian countries, 18.5% from North America, 12.7% from Europe, and the remaining 5.0% come from other countries.
Tourist attractions in the prefecture are numerous, and are managed or supervised by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.