Tokyo, Japan — Activities
Tokyo Culture
Fully embracing the legacy of the pleasure-loving inhabitants of old Edo, modern Tokyo continues to host an astonishing number of festivals, rituals, observances and celebrations (see Special Events section). The traditional arts, too, thrive here, with 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 (www.metropolis.co.jp) and Tokyo Journal (www.tokyo.to) publish listings of events, concerts and exhibitions.
The English-language booking agencies, Ticket Pia (tel: (03) 5237 9999; http://t.pia.co.jp/) and Lawson Ticket (http://l-tike.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; www.tpo.or.jp/english), the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (tel: (44) 520 1511; www.tokyosymphony.com/top-E.html) and the NHK Symphony Orchestra (tel: (03) 3465 1780; 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; www.bunkamura.co.jp), Suntory Hall, 1-13-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku (tel: (03) 3584 9999; 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; www.operacity.jp).
Tokyo International Forum, 3-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku (tel: (03) 5221 9000; 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 5,012 seats. Traditional Japanese musical performances, such as taiko (drum) and shamisen (a stringed 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; 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 stylised 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; 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; 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; www.setagaya-pt.jp).
Film: At the giant Virgin Toho Cinema multiplex (tel: (03) 5775 6090; www.tohocinemas.co.jp/roppongi/index.html) in Roppongi Hills, shows run late, or sometimes 24 hours, and seats are always allocated on purchase. Round the Yamanote line is the Shinagawa Prince Cinema (tel: (03) 5421 1113; 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; 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.
In recent years, 2003's Lost in Translation, presenting Sophia Coppola's beautiful vision of Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray lost in the neon wonders of modern Tokyo, has been the most powerful image to westerners.
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.
Tokyo Tours
Walking Tours
The Tokyo Tourist Information Office (tel: (03) 3201 3331; www.jnto.go.jp) provides a leaflet, ‘Walking Tour Courses in Tokyo', outlining walking routes in several main areas of the city. Mr Oka's Walking Tours of Tokyo (tel: (0422) 517 673; www.homestead.com/mroka/) offers interesting walking tours of the city, in English, by appointment only. The historian runs a number of tours all over the city, and as they are free they are very popular.
Bus Tours
Hato Bus (tel: (03) 3435 6081; www.hatobus.co.jp), JTB Sunrise Tours (tel: (03) 5796 5454; www.jtb-sunrisetours.jp) and Japan Gray Line (tel: (03) 3595 5948; www.jgl.co.jp/inbound/index.htm) all offer a wide variety of half-day, full-day and evening bus tours, with English-speaking guides. These tours takes in a number of sights, such as the Tokyo Tower and the Imperial Palace Plaza, as well as driving through a number of the city's lively shopping districts. Free hotel pick-up is available.
Boat Tours
The Tokyo Cruise Ship Company (tel: (03) 5733 4812; www.suijobus.co.jp) runs a regular waterbus service along the Sumida River, between Asakusa, the Hama Rikyu Gardens, and Hinode Pier. The trip takes 40 minutes (one way). The company also operates a variety of other waterbus services around Tokyo Bay, lasting between 5 and 55 minutes.
Vingt-et-Un Cruises (tel: (03) 3436 2121; www.vantean.co.jp) and Symphony Cruises (tel: (03) 3798 8101; www.symphony-cruise.co.jp/english) offer daytime and evening boat cruises lasting between 1 and 2 hours around Tokyo Bay.
Other Tours
See Tokyo from a rickshaw and discover areas seldom seen by other tourists. Asakusa's Rickshaw Tour Guides (tel: (03) 5806 8881; www.ebisuya.com) operate daily from 0900 to dusk from near the Asakusa pier on the Sumidagawa River and surrounding areas.
