Sunday, April 24, 2011

Cultural Landscape of Tokyo, Japan

Wired.com
Tokyo National Museum is the largest and specializing in traditional Japanese art. It includes National Museum of Western Art, National Museum of Science and Ueno Zoo. Tokyo’s first comprehensive solo exhibition includes details of the 16th century chapel of Saint Vigor De Mieux “the chapel of Apple”. It has involved relocation, border transgression, and creation that respects the scenery within the site and gives play to the structure of the existing culture.
Architecture in Tokyo has largely been shaped by Tokyo’s history. First was in the Great Kanto earthquake and later after extensive firebombing in World War II. Recently, Japan has experienced 9.0 magnitude earthquakes. Many Buildings, houses, and parks have been destroyed completely. Japan is temporarily facing those damaging issues, but Japan will rebuild the architecture and recover from the damages anytime soon.  

Travel-visit-places.com





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Metrolic.com


Sunday, April 10, 2011

Urban-Economic Geography of Tokyo, Japan

Noeman.org
facstaff.gpc.edu

Tokyo, Japan has the largest metropolitan economy in the world, and is one of the three world finance “command centers” along with New York City and London. Tokyo is a major international finance center, housing the headquarters of several of the world’s largest investment banks and insurance companies, and serves as a hub for Japan’s transportation, publishing, and broadcasting industries. Tokyo was rated by the Economic Intelligence Unit as the most expensive (highest-cost of living) city in the world for the past 14 years. The average salary in Tokyo is around $50,000, which is much higher than other cities like Osaka and Nagoya, where the average is only $28,000.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Political/Cultural Geography of Tokyo, Japan

Thanks to Time.com
Imperial Palace, Thanks to Hiren.info
The main language in Tokyo, Japan is Japanese, but nowadays many people are learning English as a second language. Religion in Japan is quite different from other countries. Many Japanese people do not following a single religion, but incorporate elements from various religions in syncretic fashion, known as shinbutsu shugo. Religion is not a very strong force in Tokyo. About 70% profess no religious membership, 84% claim no personal religion, 64% do not believe in God, and 55% do not believe in Buddha. The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected member of the Diet. The Diet consists of a House of Representatives, containing 480 seats, elected by popular vote every 4 years or when dissolved and a House of Councillors of 242 seats, whose members are elected every 6 years.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Physical Geography of Tokyo

Courtesy of (Flickr.com)
Courtesy of (Zimbio.com)
Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. It is located near the east side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. The mainland portion of Tokyo lies northwest of Tokyo Bay and measures about 90 km east to west and 25 km north to south. Also within the boundaries of Tokyo Metropolis are two island chains in the Pacific Ocean directly south. These islands stretch more than 1,000 km away from the mainland. The majority of mainland Tokyo is in the humid subtropical climate zone, with hot humid summers and mild winters with cool spells. Like the rest of Japan, Tokyo has a one-month seasonal lag, making August the warmest month averaging around 81 degrees, and January the coldest month with temperatures around 43 degrees. Snowfall is sporadic but does occur annually, and typhoons are seen each year, though few are very strong. Tokyo has enacted a measure a measure to cut down greenhouse gases. Governor Shintaro Ishihara, created Japan’s first emissions cap system, which will supposedly reduce greenhouse gas emission by a total of 25% by 2020 (Wikipedia.org).