Tokyo

 

Tokyo ("Eastern Capital")  officially Tokyo Metropolis  is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the most populous metropolitan area in the world. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo.

Tokyo is often referred to and thought of as a city, but is officially known and governed as a "metropolitan prefecture", which differs from and combines elements of both a city and a prefecture; a characteristic unique to Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo (each governed as an individual city), which cover the area that was formerly the City of Tokyo before it merged and became the subsequent metropolitan prefecture in 1943. The metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the special wards is over 9 million people, with the total population of the prefecture exceeding 13 million. The prefecture is part of the world's most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy. The city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city. The city is also home of various television networks like Fuji TV and the Tokyo Broadcasting System.

The city is considered an alpha+ world city—as listed by the GaWC's 2008 inventory—and in 2014, Tokyo was ranked first in the "Best overall experience" category of TripAdvisor's World City Survey (the city also ranked first in the following categories: "Helpfulness of locals", "Nightlife", "Shopping", "Local public transportation" and "Cleanliness of streets"). In 2013, Tokyo was named the third most expensive city for expatriates, according to the Mercer consulting firm, and the world's most expensive city, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's cost-of-living survey. In 2009 Tokyo was named the third Most Liveable City by the magazine Monocle. The Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world.

Tokyo Dome

Okuma Lecture Hall – Waseda University

Fuji TV Headquarters and Acqua City – Odaiba

Bank of Japan

Skyscrapers of Shinjuku

Japanese Whaling Group Intends to Resume Its Hunts

 

Apr 15, 2014

TOKYO (Reuters) - The group that conducts Japan's whaling says it expects to resume scientific whaling in the Antarctic after this year's hunt was canceled following an order by an international court.

Last month's judgment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered a halt to Japan's decades-old program of "scientific whaling" in the Southern Ocean, a practice environmentalists condemn, but Tokyo said it would abide by the decision and has canceled the 2014-2015 hunt.

But court papers filed in the United States by the Institute for Cetacean Research, which, with Kyodo Senpaku, actually carries out the whaling, said they expect to conduct hunts in future seasons - albeit with a modified program.

In the filing in a Seattle court last week, the two groups sought an injunction against Sea Shepherd, an environmental group that has pursued Japan's whaling ships during their Antarctic hunts over the past few years. They noted that the Japanese government had not granted permits for the next season.

"Plaintiffs expect they will be conducting a Southern Ocean research program for subsequent seasons that would be in accord with the ICJ decision," they added, according to the papers, which were obtained by Reuters.

An Institute spokesman declined to comment, citing the court case and adding that any decisions about whether it would resume whaling would be made by the government.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Tuesday reiterated that the government has yet to make a decision but it may not take much longer.

"At the moment we are carefully analyzing the content of the ruling," Suga told a news conference. "After analyzing what the issues are, the government will come up with a policy course."

Japan has long maintained that most whale species are in no danger of extinction and scientific whaling is necessary to manage what it sees as a marine resource that, after World War Two, was an important protein source for an impoverished nation.

Japan also conducts separate hunts in the northern Pacific, while its fishermen engage in small-scale coastal whaling. An annual dolphin slaughter has also drawn harsh global criticism.

The ICJ ruling said no further licenses should be issued for scientific whaling, in which animals are first examined for research purposes before the meat is sold, noting that the research objectives had to be sufficient to "justify the lethal sampling".

Kyodo Senpaku, which owns Japan's whaling fleet, said on Tuesday it had urged Agriculture Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to allow the northern Pacific whaling to take place as usual, national broadcaster NHK said.

"The minister gave us strong encouragement by saying that he would firmly consider it, given that the research itself was not gainsaid," Ito said. Company officials were not immediately available for comment.

At the time of the court ruling, observers said one possibility could indeed be for Japan to scale back its whaling plan and submit a new proposal that might be more acceptable in light of the ruling.

"When the ICJ verdict was issued, I ... could see the potential for the Institute for Cetacean Research to re-write their program and to return," Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson said on the organization's website.

"My prediction was that they would return for the 2015-2016 season. It seems that this is exactly what they intend to do."

But other observers say that with Japan's whaling fleet in need of refurbishment and consumer interest in whale meat low, the court ruling might give the government the chance to abandon an expensive program - and boost its international standing.

(Writing by Elaine Lies,; Additional reporting by David Levine in SEATTLE and Tetsushi Kajimoto in TOKYO; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

The Numbers Behind Japan’s Renewed Embrace of Nuclear

 

The Fukushima disaster led Japan to shut down nuclear power plants, but three years of rising costs and carbon dioxide emissions are forcing it to reverse course.

• By Mike Orcutt on March 11, 2014

Why It Matters

Shifting to nuclear power from fossil fuels greatly reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Three years later: An aerial photo taken on March 11, 2014, shows what remains of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station on the third anniversary of an earthquake and tsunami that led to a major crisis at the plant.

In the three years since the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japan has tried to replace nuclear energy with fossil fuels. But the costs have proved prohibitive, and now the government is convinced it must turn its reactors back on.

Prior to the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and meltdowns, Japan was a nuclear powerhouse. In 2010, its 54 reactors generated 31 percent of the island nation’s electricity and 10 percent of the world’s nuclear power.

After the disaster, the government ordered all reactors to be shut down for stress testing to determine whether they could survive extreme events, and only two have since been restarted. In 2012, the prime minister said Japan would phase out nuclear power entirely by 2030.

The hole made by shuttering the nuclear industry has been filled with coal, natural gas, and oil.

Japan has virtually no fossil fuel resources of its own, though, and must buy its fuel from other countries. In 2012, the most recent full year for which the Energy Information Agency has data, Japan was the second-largest fossil fuel importer in the world, behind China. Between 2010 and 2012 annual oil imports rose 4 percent, and imports of liquefied natural gas increased by 24 percent.

Because of this, the cost of power generation in 2012 was $30 billion higher than it was in 2010—a 41 percent jump, according to a report by the Institute of Energy Economics in Japan.

Burning more fossil fuels also means more carbon dioxide emissions. The increase seen in Japan since the Fukushima disaster has been the largest in 20 years. In 2012, Japan’s emissions were up by 6 percent over the previous year.

A draft energy plan published last month put nuclear back at the center of the country’s energy plans, and restarting shuttered reactors has now become a priority. Utility companies have applied to restart 17 reactors.

But given the stricter safety regulations put in place since Fukushima, Japan’s nuclear industry will have an uphill climb. Restarting each reactor could cost around $1 billion in fees and will require a six-month review by the new Nuclear Regulation Authority. In the most optimistic scenarios, Japan might be able to fire up 10 reactors per year.

 

Hanami: a guide to cherry blossom viewing in Japan

 

05 March 2013

Image by KimonBerlin. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike

Location: throughout Japan, but especially good at Yoshino.

Dates: cherry blossoms can begin to appear in Okinawa as early as January and not until May in Hokkaido, but through the bulk of the country they’re usually in flower near the end of March.

Level of participation: 5 – picnic and party among the blossoms.

One of the most beautiful natural sights in Japan is of groves of cherry trees in full blossom, giving the appearance of earthly clouds of flowers. Viewing the blossoms is such a big event that national news services even carry maps of their progress, and it’s a time when the Japanese throw away their reserve and decide to party. Hanami tradition is to have a picnic party amid the blooming trees, and parties begin with the arrival of the earliest buds and endure to the last clinging blossoms. Both daytime parties and moonlit soirees are standard, as crowds flood the parks with beer and good humour. You can enjoy Hanami anywhere there’s a cherry tree in blossom, but a few places have become favourites over the centuries.

In Tokyo, Ueno-kōen has 1000 flowering cherry trees and is ground zero for the Hanami explosion, making it arguably the most popular spot in the country. At Shinjuku-gyōen, one of Tokyo’s largest parks, you’ll be able to set up a Hanami party without such crowds. In cherry-central Kyoto, the pick of the spots is Maruyama-kōen, where the centrepiece is a massive weeping cherry tree. It’s truly one of the city’s most gorgeous sights, especially when lit at night. If you’re in Kyoto on the second Sunday in April, head out to Daigo-ji temple, where a special procession, in period costume, is held to re-enact a cherry-blossom party held here in 1598. Japan’s top cherry-blossom destination, however, is the mountain-top Kansai town of Yoshino, where the blossoms of thousands of cherry trees form a floral carpet gradually ascending the mountainsides. It’s definitely a sight worth travelling for, though the narrow streets of the village become jammed tight with thousands of visitors at this time.

Essentials: the popularity of the most popular Hanami locations means that the best picnic spots are prized bits of turf. You’ll undoubtedly see tarpaulins strewn across the grass as people reserve their spots for the day very early in the morning. If you want to be right in the thick of the blossom parties, you’ll also have to do an early-morning stakeout. If you want to see the cherry blossoms at Yoshino, you’ll have to be content with a day trip unless you’ve booked accommodation long in advance.

Local attractions: in Yoshino, walk about 500m uphill from the cablecar station and you’ll come to Kimpusen-ji, with a hall said to be the second-largest wooden building in Japan. Inside Ueno-kōen you’ll find the Tokyo National Museum, housing almost 90,000 items, including the world’s largest collection of Japanese art.

More info: Japan National Tourist Organization (www.jnto.go.jp)

See more festivals in March here.

This is an excerpt from Lonely Planet's A Year of Festivals.

This article was first published in December 2010 and was refreshed in February 2013.