The legacy of the pleasure-loving inhabitants of old Edo, modern Tokyo continues to host an astonishing number of festivals, rituals, observances and celebrations. Starting with the traditional New Year visit to major shrines, to pray for good fortune during the coming year, the Tokyo calendar is full of high days and holidays, from the supremely populist to the positively esoteric. Some events mark a particular anniversary or date in the Buddhist calendar and are restricted to particular neighborhoods, shrines or temples, while others, such as the spring cherry blossom viewing frenzy, occur citywide.
The traditional arts, too, thrive here, with traditional drama, martial arts, the tea ceremony and flower arranging all widely taught and performed. Tokyo is a stop on the touring schedules of many internationally famous music and dance companies, pop groups and art exhibitions, further adding to the vibrancy of the local arts and entertainment scene. The
Tourist Information Center (tel: (03) 3201 3331) has a database of detailed information on the city’s festivals and the English-language magazines
Metropolis (website:
http://metropolis.co.jp/default.asp) and
Tokyo Journal (website:
www.tokyo.to) publish listings of events, concerts and exhibitions.
The English-language booking agencies,
Ticket Pia (tel: (03) 5237 9999; website:
http://t.pia.co.jp/) and
Lawson Ticket (website:
www.lawsonticket.com), are the major ticket merchants, with outlets located around the city. Events are regularly sold out and bookings should be made well in advance.
Music: Lovers of classical music are well catered for in Tokyo. There are five resident symphony orchestras - including the
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra (tel: (03) 5353 9521; website:
www.tpo.or.jp/english), the
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (tel: (44) 520 1511; website:
www.tokyosymphony.com/e-tokyo) and the
NHK Symphony Orchestra (tel: (03) 3465 1780; website:
www.nhkso.or.jp).
There are numerous major venues, among them the
Bunkamura Orchard Hall, 2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku (tel: (03) 3477 9111; website:
www.bunkamura.co.jp),
Suntory Hall, 1-13-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku (tel: (03) 3584 9999; website:
www.suntory.co.jp/suntoryhall) and the stunningly designed concert hall,
Tokyo Opera City, 3-20-2 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku (tel: (03) 5353 0770; website:
www.operacity.jp).
Tokyo International Forum, 3-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku (tel: (03) 5221 9000; website:
www.t-i-forum.co.jp) stages a variety of musical and cultural performances in its four halls, one being among the largest in the world, with 5,000 seats. Traditional Japanese musical performances, such as
taiko (drum) and
shamisen (string instrument), are occasionally held at
Bunkamura (see above) and in smaller local venues.
Theater: Of Japan’s traditional dramatic arts,
kabuki, with its gorgeous costumes, elaborate staging and complex plots, is probably the most accessible.
Kabuki-
za, 4-12-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku (tel: (03) 3541 3131; website:
www.kabuki-za.co.jp), is a beautiful theater that holds regular performances. English earphone commentary is available. Performances are long, sometimes lasting 5 or 6 hours, however, it is usually possible to purchase tickets for a single act.
Information on programs of other traditional performing arts, including
noh (restrained and highly stylized drama, little changed since Japan’s medieval era),
bunraku (puppet theater) and
kyogen (short satirical plays, often performed as intervals during
noh dramas), can be obtained from the
Tourist Information Center (see above).
Contemporary Japanese theater tends towards the obscure and the language barrier is an additional dissuasion. Far more accessible are the extravagant review-style performances of the glamorous all-female
Takarazuka troop, held at the
Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, 1-1-3 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku (tel: (03) 5251 2001; website:
http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp).
Dance: Overseas dance companies, ranging from ballet to tango, regularly include Tokyo on their itineraries. Performances are often held at
Bunkamura, 2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku (tel: (03) 3477 9111; website:
www.bunkamura.co.jp).
Butoh, an experimental, sometimes grotesque form of expressive dance developed in Japan in the 1960s, has a loyal following among more avant-garde Japanese audiences. Performances take place in various venues, including
Setagaya Public Theater, 4-1-1 Taishido, Setagaya-ku (tel: (03) 5432 1526; website:
www.setagaya-ac.or.jp/sept/). For more details check listed in the event sections of
Metropolis (website: http://metropolis.co.jp/default.asp) and
Tokyo Journal (website:
www.tokyo.to).
Film: Tokyo’s many cinemas were until recently concentrated in Ginza, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro and could be frustrating for foreign visitors. Although blockbusters were shown in English with subtitles, screens closed early and seats were never allocated on purchase, resulting in a serious scrum for good seats. Worse, more tickets were sold than the cinema could seat. But all that is slowly changing. At the giant
Virgin Toho Cinema multiplex (website:
www.tohocinemas.co.jp/roppongi/index.html) in Roppongi Hills shows run late or 24 hours, and seats are always allocated on purchase. Round the Yamanote line is the
Shinagawa Prince Cinema (website:
www.princehotels.co.jp/shinagawa/cinema/), a plush 10-screen multiplex with enormous seats and all the latest films. A good arts cinema is
Cinema Rise, 13-17 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku (tel: (03) 3464 0052; website: www.cinemarise.com).
Rather than literary representations, Tokyo has always inspired powerful images, from the
ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the Edo period to the films of the present day. Juzo Itami’s
Tampopo (1986) and Yasujiro Ozu’s
Tokyo Story (1953) explore aspects of life in the city, while Katsuhiro Otomo’s acclaimed
Akira (1988) is a sci-fi animation set in a futuristic vision of Tokyo. Until recently, it was Ridley Scott’s
Blade Runner (1982) with which many Westerners were most familiar, with scenes of a dark, rainy, neon-studded cityscape. But 2003’s
Lost in Translation blew all that away, presenting Sophia Coppola’s beautiful vision of Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray lost in the neon wonders of modern Tokyo.
Literary Notes: Tokyo is home to Japanese authors as diverse as Kenzaburo Oe, 1994 Nobel Laureate in Literature, and Banana Yoshimoto, author of the cult novel
Kitchen (1993). From the great ’interpreter of Japan’, Lafcadio Hearn (an early foreign resident of Tokyo) and from the diplomatic wives of the 19th century, who delighted in the cherry blossoms and the dainty manners of the people, to Angela Carter, who pronounced Tokyo ’an exceedingly pleasant place in which to live’, Tokyo has merited inclusion in a host of memoirs. These include the writings of William Faulkner, Aldous Huxley, Jean Cocteau and Charlie Chaplin. William Gibson’s novel,
Idoru (1997), explores Tokyo’s technological future, while the darker side of the city is vividly portrayed in
Speed Tribes: Children of the Japanese Bubble (1994) by Karl Taro Greenfeld. A Booker-shortlisted novel set in Tokyo is the wonderful
Number 9 Dream (2001) by David Mitchell. Although written by an American author,
Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden, ignited worldwide interest in Japan and Japanese culture when it came out in 1998.
The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Related Tokyo Content
Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
Related Japan Content
The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
Japan Airport Guides:
|
Japan City Guides:
|
| Japan Attraction Guides: |
|
|
|
Japan Community:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Available Tours to Japan:
|
