A bowl of whisked green tea in the teahouse of Hama Rikyu Onshi-teien is about as Japanese as it gets. The garden was once a pleasure dome for the shogun, but now you too can pause and savour the moment, as ducks glide by in the pond at your feet and precision-plucked pines pose like puffed clouds. But cross the narrow wooden bridge over the pond and look backwards: framing the teahouse, the pond and the pines are the skyscapers of Shiodome, gleaming glass and granite and all built since the turn of the millennium. If that's not an only-in-Tokyo moment, then nothing is.

INTRODUCING TOKYO

HIGHLIGHTS

THE AUTHORS

GETTING STARTED

When To Go

Costs & Money

Internet Resources

BACKGROUND

History

Arts

Architecture

Environment & Planning

Government & Politics

Media

NEIGHBOURHOODS

Itinerary Builder

Imperial Palace

& Marunouchi

Central Tokyo

Ginza

Tsukiji & Shiodome

Akihabara & Kanda

Ueno

TOKYO POP

Asakusa

Akasaka

Roppongi

Ebisu, Daikanyama

& Meguro

Shibuya

Harajuku & Aoyama

Shinjuku

Ikebukuro

Sumida River

Odaiba

SHOPPING

Imperial Palace

& Marunouchi

Ginza

Asakusa

Central Tokyo

Roppongi

Ebisu & Daikanyama

Shibuya

Harajuku & Aoyama

Shinjuku

Ikebukuro

Odaiba

EATING

Imperial Palace

& Marunouchi

Central Tokyo

Ginza

Tsukiji & Shiodome

Akihabara & Kanda

Ueno

Asakusa

Akasaka

Roppongi

Ebisu & Daikanyama

Shibuya

Harajuku & Aoyama

Shinjuku

Ikebukuro

Sumida River

Odaiba & Around

ENTERTAINMENT

Dance

Opera

Classical Music

Bars

I(araoke

Continued from previous page.

Clubs

Live Music

Comedy

Cinemas

Jazz

SPORTS &

ACTIVITIES

Health & Fitness

Watching Sport

SLEEPING

Imperial Palace

& Marunouchi

Central Tokyo

Ginza

Shiodome

Akihabara & Kanda

Ueno

Asakusa

Akasaka

Roppongi

Ebisu

Shibuya

Shinjuku

Ikebukuro

EXCURSIONS

Nikko

Hakone

Kamakura

Enoshima

Izu-hanto

TRANSPORT

DIRECTORY

LANGUAGE

BEHIND THE

SCENES

INDEX

WORLD TIME ZONE

MAP LEGEND