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Tokyo
An economic miracle
Originally known as Edo, Tokyo is today the largest city in Japan. Large parts of the city were destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and in the air raids of World War II but Tokyo remarkably recovered from its ashes and raises today a world city status. Japanese companies and their famously hard-working staff were responsible for an “economic miracle” while deep culture was reinforced through various forms.
A city of constant evolution
Tokyo has been Japan’s most important city for more than 400 years. With a deep secular history and tradition, the city always kept evolving to date, having preserved its many traditional cultural forms, from ancient shrines and temples to Noh and Kabuki theatres and Rakugo performances and showing today a seamless continuity of tradition and modernity.
Tokyo offers a number of attractive green spaces in its center and within relatively short train rides at its outskirts, as well as unlimited choice of shopping, entertainment, culture and dining, excellent museums and historic temples. The city center shows its rows of skyscrapers when the
suburbs provide beautiful scenery abundant with greenery and water, particularly at the Ogasawara Islands inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage.
Culture and Sport are part of each
The city cultivates its human resources through supporting cultural facilities as well as maintaining an exceptional level of equality in cultural participation. Culture has multiple meanings: artistic production, but also “lifestyle”, “quality of life”, and “wellbeing”. Tokyo does not see culture as separate from the citizens: there is a cultural element in the lives of many of them.
Sport also establishes itself as an integral part of the Japanese people’s lives; sports clubs can be found everywhere throughout the country, and soccer and baseball are particularly popular and played nationwide. The 1964 Games not only served as a driving force of urban development and economic growth, but also played a role in promoting sports and well-being in the city. So will the 2020 Games, carrying impartiality, interactivity, and tolerance, aiming for a more vibrant, dynamic, and diverse culture.
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Country: Japan
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Population: 13,754,000 inhab.
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Governor: Ms. Yuriko Koike
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Area: 2,194 km2
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Official language: Japanese
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Official website: www.metro.tokyo.jp
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Olympic events: Summer Olympic Games 1964 – 2020