Some material taken from article in National Geographic Magazine: November 1986
Tokyo has changed from a mainly manufacturing centre, to the centre for the service economy.
Extremely expensive place to live, especially when buying imported goods, such as foodstuffs. Area around the shopping area known as the Ginza is particularly expensive. Golf course membership costs over $1 million. There are long waiting times to play: several months in some cases.
Tokyo started out as a fishing village called Edo on a sheltered bay. It became the centre for a Shogun called Tokugawa Ieyasu, who renamed it Tokyo = the new capital. The old castle is now the Imperial Palace. Has survived a number of disasters, including fires and earthquakes.
Mount Fuji dominates the horizon of the city.
Built next to the Sumida river.
There is only 10% of land as open space in the city (this may now be even less)
The huge number of people are moved around with great efficiency by a railway system which is hopelessly in debt. Shinjuku station is the busiest in the world.
Very safe: a low crime rate, but growing drug abuse problem. Low unemployment rate, although it has recently risen.
Average Tokyo family has about the same space as a typical one-bedroomed flat. Very high property prices, so people tend to rent a property.
City has over a tenth of the country's population, but around three quarters of the population were born elsewhere, and have moved into the city. They have a long life expectancy.
As the space fills in, the only way to expand is to build upwards, although people have something called nisshoken: 'sunshine-right'. Anyone building a tall structure has to compensate anyone that is cast into shadow for each hour of sunlight they lose in a typical day. This is important in winter in particular as many Japanese homes have no central heating, and the sunlight is needed to warm the houses.
Young people have been called moyashiko: the 'bean-sprout' generation: they grow quickly, in the dark, and have little strength.
Exams are important in the education system - there are even entrance exams for nursery school. There is a term: shiken jigoku: 'examination hell'.
Sony is based in Tokyo. Sales of over $10bn a year, and therefore only hires the best people.
Japanese women have become increasingly important in the workforce. Women usually live with their family until they marry. Also have low tax rate.
Few people could manage without the help of the company they work for and there is still a great company loyalty culture, although like many things in Japan this too is changing.
The Japanese have been reclaiming land from the bay for over 400 years, it is not a new thing. They build high density housing in tower blocks on the land in areas such as the Minamisuna district.
A GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH WILL BRING UP LOTS OF USEFUL IMAGES OF THE CITY
Check out http://www.mid-tokyo.com
This has a series of 24 maps of the city