Tokyo

History

Although the site of Tokyo has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the first recorded mention of a settlement is a twelfth-century reference to an obscure village called Edo, meaning "Gate of the Inlet," situated where the Sumida River empties into Tokyo Bay. The temple at Asakusa, east of Ueno station and near the Sumida, dates from perhaps the late seventh century, though the present-day structures have been built since World War II. A provincial general erected a fortified castle at Edo around 1457, but the village remained insignificant until Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616) took it over in 1590. Edo was made the capital of the shogunate in 1603 and remained so until 1868, though for the time being the court aristocracy remained in Kyoto, which retained its cultural preeminence throughout the early Tokugawa period.
Edo grew rapidly through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and appears to have become the largest city on the planet by the end of the 1700s. Edo also overtook Kyoto to become the center of national culture, as theater (in particular, kabuki) reached a high level of sophistication during this time. The growth of the city was also accompanied by difficulties, such as the fire of 1657, in which two-thirds of the city was destroyed, and more than 100,000 people died.
In 1868, the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, the name of Edo was changed to Tokyo, meaning "Eastern capital," when the imperial court was moved there following the fall of the shogunate. Tokyo's population fell during the political unrest of the times, but it recovered and surpassed two million by the end of Meiji period. In 1872, a devastating fire ravaged the city and inflicted heavy damage on the Ginza and Maronouchi districts, which were subsequently rebuilt with Western-style brick structures. The rebuilding program reflected a larger trend in the nation, an effort to catch up with other nations in the world, in the process of which Japan and its capital were increasingly receptive to Western influences. By the end of the Emperor Meiji's reign, Japan was allied with England and had been victorious in war against China and Russia.
Tokyo has not only been prone to fires, the city's most common disaster historically, but has also suffered from earthquakes. The great 1923 earthquake, which destroyed most of the city, was the worst disaster in modern Japanese history. Reconstruction took seven years and included more than 200,000 new buildings, seven reinforced concrete bridges on the Sumida River, and a number of parks, in one of which the Hall of the Nameless Dead was constructed as a memorial to the estimated 30,000 casualties in Tokyo alone.
Tokyo also incurred heavy damage from Allied bombings in World War II, when U.S. Air Force raids reduced large sections of the city to rubble. After Japan's surrender, U.S. troops occupied Tokyo until April 1952. The decade following 1954 was a time of rapid expansion and renovation, culminating in Tokyo's hosting of the summer Olympics in 1964. Tokyo observed its 500th anniversary in 1957. Since then Tokyo's growth has continued unabated, keeping pace with its increasing stature as one of the most important cities in the world.

Libraries and Museums

A large number of Tokyo's prestigious museums are located in the vicinity of Ueno Park. Among these are the Tokyo National Museum (which is Japan's largest art museum), the National Museum of Science, the National Museum of Western Art (in a building designed by Le Corbusier and housing nineteenth-and twentieth-century Western painters, with a focus on Monet), and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (with exhibitions based on its own extensive collections and exhibits of contemporary Japanese art). Near the Imperial Palace are the National Museum of Modern Art and the Nezu Art Museum.
Tokyo's metropolitan region also abounds in smaller galleries and museums, with perhaps the largest concentration around the Ginza. Many small museums are specialized: Zen calligraphy in the Idemitsu Art Gallery in Marunouchi, a large print collection in the Ukiyoe Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Harujuku, and tea ceremony utensils at the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts in Minami-Aoyama.
While each of the major universities of Tokyo has a notable library collection, two other libraries are of note. These are the National Diet Library and the National Archives, both near the Imperial Palace.

Tourism

Entry into Japan is subject to the complex policies of the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice. Visitors from the United States who will be staying in Japan for a period of less than 90 days need to have a valid passport and obtain a short-term visa. Longer stays require an extension or a commercial or student visa.
Standard electrical voltage in Tokyo as in the rest of Japan is 100 volts AC, 50 cycles. Appliances designed to operate on 110–120 volts AC will work on Tokyo's 100 volts but will not run as well and eventually will burn out, though this occurs only with long-term use and not during a short stay. Major hotels in Tokyo have 110-to 120-volt and 220-volt outlets as well and can usually supply adapters if appliance plugs will not fit the outlets provided.
Travel in Tokyo is safe, easy, and efficient, and getting around is relatively inexpensive. The subway and train system is extensive, though transferring between the two different subway systems is more costly than traveling on only one. Transfers are sometimes a bit more complicated between JR lines and private railways. English-language signs abound, and English-language subway and train maps are available at major stations. Tickets are dispensed from vending machines, though there is always an attendant on hand (who usually speaks little if any English). There are many services to aid the foreign traveler, among them the Japan National Tourist Organization.