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Capital: Tokyo
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An early civilisation of hunter gatherers using stone tools and primitive pottery called the Jomon people occupied the Japanese islands from 8000 BC to about 200 BC when they were replaced by the more advanced Yayoi culture that introduced agriculture, improved pottery and eventually bronze and iron. The first identifiable Japanese state appeared at the end of the 6th century leading to the Nara era (600 - 784 AD) when the first historical records were created. When the Buddhist temples in Nara grew too powerful, the capital was moved to Kyoto in 784, introducing the Heian period that lasted until 1185 when military power under Genji shoguns moved to Kamakura near present day Tokyo while the imperial capital remained in Kyoto. Then, in 1336, followed the Muromachi period with a military government in Kyoto and a century long civil war (1467 to 1568) and eventually the Edo period that began in 1603 under the great shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa and lasted until direct imperial power was restored under Emperor Meiji in 1868. During the Meiji period (1868 to 1912), Japan evolved from an isolated feudal agricultural nation to a modern state with a strong industrial base whose military class nurtured imperialistic ambitions that led to defeat and demilitarisation after W.W.II. When the Emperor renounced claims to divinity after the war, business and the almighty Yen became the guiding gods of the nation with the remarkable success we all know. In 1994 Japan had the 7th highest gross domestic product per capita in the world and ranked 8th on the Human Development Index. |
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I had been in Tokyo before on business in 1973, 1974 and 1975. I had stayed in the very expensive Imperial and Okura hotels which I certainly could not afford now. They probably would not have let me in with my backpack!
Anyway, I was lucky as usual and I found a room in this inexpensive ryokan in a the northern suburb of Nippori for only 40.00 $US a night.
Japan is very expensive, these boxed melons sell for 12 000 yen or 120 $US each.
Kobe beef is no doubt the best in the world but I have not tasted it for it costs 3500 yen for 100 grams or 350 $US per kilo!
Having been here before, I would not have come a fourth time had it not been that I wanted to visit my friend Naoko in Tokyo and my sister Monique in Koriyama in the north.
Naturally, I went sightseeing for there is so much to see in Tokyo. Here is the modern Yoyogi Stadium in Yoyogi Park, between Shinjuku and Shibuya.
Below left, with my friend Naoko before the great Buddha of Kamakura an hour by train south of Tokyo. Below right, the Shinto Tsurugaoka Temple in Tokyo
The National Museum in Ueno Park is of course a must.
Busy, colourful Shinjuku is full of shops and people.
Below on the left, an ancient street in the centre of Shinjuku that has been kept as it was in old times as a living museum. On the right, a strange looking cinema in Shibuya.
Part of the extensive "Red light" zone in Shinjuku.
Left, more of the "red light" zone of Shinjuku - right, a Shinto priest blessing a shop, for a fee of course!
Entrance to the Sensuji Temple in Tokyo's Asakusa area.
Believers doing a water purification ritual in front of the Sensuji Temple.
Another view of the Sensuji Temple with a column of incense smoke rising from the place where believers do the smoke purification ritual.
