Tokyo, capital of Asia
Jan 7th, 2008 by Ad Blankestijn
The British newspaper The Independent has undertaken a survey into the relative status of national (and regional) capitals. Tokyo scores fourth overall, behind London (surprise, the home ground of the newspaper), New York and Paris. It is therefore the capital of Asia!
But contenders are giving chase at high speed: Peking, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong are all fast runners up.
[Tokyo MidTown - new development in Roppongi]
The researchers used a number of original criteria to weigh the importance of the various capitals. They ranged from number of inhabitants, stock market capitalization and other economic factors to more exotic factoids as hits in Google and number of travel guides published about that destination.
That Tokyo scores high is no surprise. It has already been officially declared the culinary capital of the world with the rain of stars in the Tokyo Michelin guide: 190 for one city!
But having lived there for 17 years, I could give hundreds of other reasons why it is a fantastic place. It is safe, public transport is clean and punctual, there is great architecture, there are wonderful museums, historical sites, beautiful parks, and it is easy to get out of into the countryside - Takao with its mountain hikes is only an hour away. It is the most convenient place I can imagine, it shops stock everything from the whole world. It has vibrant neigborhoods and not one, but more than ten city centers (Ginza, Nihonbashi, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro etc). To me, Tokyo is No. 1!
What about you?
