Japan- March 2017

 

Tokyo, capital of Japan, is lmost populated city in the world.

Shibuya is the most populated intersection with 100,00 people crossing it a day!

Lots of neon and shopping!

Park near Shibuya

Japan is a sovereign island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian mainland, and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk  in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the southwest. Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet "Land of the Rising Sun" in reference to its Japanese name.

Japan is an archipelago  consisting of about 6852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaid, Kyushu and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area and often are referred to as home islands. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions; Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one. The population of 127 million is the world's 10th largest. Japanese make up 98.5% of Japan's total population. Approximately 10 million people live in the capital city of Tokyo.

The greater Tokyo area is the most populated city in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government. Tokyo is in the Kanto region  on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu  and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government  since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji  moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868; at that time Edo was renamed Tokyo. Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture.

Some personal observations: Tokyo and all of Japan that I saw is clean. So many people but no litter, no trash cans. People feel responsible for their own trash and take it with them. Everyone is very polite and accommodating. They bow in greeting and good byes. The staff in restaurants, stores, hotels cannot do enough for you. There are signs in English which is helpful at train stations, finding streets, etc.,  but most people do not speak English. And when they do, the accent makes it difficult to understand. There was no TV in English. So people do not hear it spoken very much. People wear uniforms from their jobs in stores and hotels. It is easy to see who works in a place since they are wearing a specific uniform for that company. There is little, if any, honking of car horns. The streets, though crowded with people and cars, are quiet.