101 Facts About Tokyo

well konichiwa mother factors my name is senpai get it cause anyway and today we're here to talk about one of the most exciting and flashiest cities in the entire world norwich oh no way that's next week now this week we're talking about the neon soaked zenith of culture that is tokyo but why is a cafe in japan something entirely different to your local greasy spoon how's the trip on the subway different here than anywhere else in the world and can i get some kind of free ticket because this has just made me want to go to there two out of three those questions are going to be answered so pack your bags because we're going on a cosplay-infused mini break to a packed out land of all-round fun as we go through 101 facts about tokyo number one in case you weren't aware tokyo is a city but that's not all it's a capital city of japan in this instance you can find it if you look carefully enough in the kanto region it's home to over 30 of japan's total population with 36 million people over 14 000 square kilometers number two as you can imagine for what i've just said there it's the largest and busiest metropolitan in the world and is spread across three different districts or prefectures saitama chiba and kanagawa these fellas here the izu islands and the ogasawara islands are also part of tokyo despite being geographically separated by 620 miles number three as we've mentioned tokyo is made up of three prefectures these prefectures in turn have special wards each with different characteristics which is why tokyo is known for having a bigger mix of cultures than um uh a yogurt number four but let's like the film series of the same name go back to the past oh that's not it is it tokyo actually used to be known as edo from when it was first founded in around 3000 bc it didn't become tokyo until 1868. um spoiler alert there number five the name tokyo by the way translates to eastern capital pretty much what it says on the tin really isn't it number six funnily enough despite this name there's no literature or laws that ever made tokyo the official capital of japan it's for this reason that some kyoto residents which by the way has all the same letters of tokyo just mixed up with that [Music] insist that they live in the capital city but then again they didn't put in the paperwork either so number seven the capital also moved the emperor of the country to tokyo the imperial palace is one of the largest tourist attractions in the city but like lizzie's old palace it's mostly closed to the public number eight only the members of the imperial household agency are allowed to go inside the main grounds however if you didn't want to try your luck which we don't really recommend if i'm honest you'll have to swim across a moat and scale a nearly vertical rock wall is it really worth it number nine the imperial house of japan is actually the oldest continuous monarchy in the world originating at approximately 600 a.d and still raining to this day with emperor naruhito that's over one and a half thousand years and how old i'll feel once this pandemic's over number 10. given its location you'll not be surprised to learn that the city is no stranger to natural disaster for instance in september of 1923 the great kanto earthquake ravaged the city the center was burnt to the ground by fires for which the earthquake was responsible with 300 000 houses destroyed and over 140 000 people reported missing or dead number 11 tokyo was a target of intense u.s air raids near the end of world war ii not surprising really considering pearl harbor as a result of this about 70 unexploded bombs are still found in the capital city every year which you know adds a bit of a thrill to the commute i guess number 12. in fact tokyo was subjected of the most destructive single bombings in history from the allies 300 b-29 bombers dropped around 500 000 cylinders of petroleum jelly and napalm this was uh not good obviously it resulted in a 40 square kilometer firestorm which actually killed more than the combined numbers of the nagasaki and hiroshima bombings number 13 bearing in mind this happened in 1944 it's kind of amazing that just 18 years later tokyo became the first city in the world to reach 10 million residents number 14 world war ii left the iconic sensoji temple in ruins it was rebuilt after the war in the same style as the original it became a model of new beginnings and a symbol for the japanese people's resiliency number 15 sensoji temple is also the oldest temple in tokyo at more than 1 400 years old the temple remains solely dedicated to the buddhist goddess of compassion canon number 16. the us bombings of world war ii also destroyed tokyo's collection of cherry blossoms obviously not the worst result of that but still worth mentioning after the war ended washington dc sent cuttings from their cherry blossoms to japan which actually came from the japanese originally number 17. speaking of cherry trees who am i katie tunstall nice up-to-date reference there sakura season is a special time in tokyo as it's when cherry trees bloom and pink and white across the city this means that spring has arrived lovely isn't it really number 18. or if you prefer you can view the blooms at night time which is known as yazakura the sakura is reflected in the waters than guro and sumida rivers accompanied by atmospheric lights or lanterns this isn't sponsored by the way by the tourist board but it may as well be number 19. tokyo was originally set to host the summer olympic games in 1940 but the privilege ended up being awarded to helsinki before the games were canceled due to world war ii but number 20 in 1964 the summer olympic games was held in tokyo and they were the first to be held in asia lovely i for one look forward to their next time which hopefully will go without incident number 21. thing is they were due to do it again in 2020 but this year is an absolute horror show so it's been postponed to 2021 because of the old rona because you know hopefully it'll all be fixed by then right please please number 22 ooh tokyo will then be the first asian city to host the olympic games twice beijing will technically join them in 2022 when they become the first country to host both the summer and winter olympics but tokyo will still be the only one to host two summer ones number 23 it will also be the largest cities who have ever hosted the games due to its exponential growth since 1964 the city is now big enough to take home that title too because remember lads size very important number 24 in march of 1995 tokyo fell victim to a nerve gas attack on the subway 13 people died and 6 000 were injured by the packages that leaked nerve agent sarin in five coordinated attacks on three different subway lines number 25 the responsible party for this was the domestic terrorist group and doomsday cult ayum shinrikyo who believed the world was on the brink of world war iii the cult went underground shortly afterwards number 26 the city holds earthquake drills annually on the anniversary of the 1923 earthquake it also has open fields maintained to accommodate the people left homeless after real earthquakes number 27 alongside temple there are four thousand shrines in tokyo alone japan as a whole is estimated to have over 75 000 temples and 80 000 shrines that's a lot in case you weren't sure number 28 one of the most popular of these shrines is the shinagawa shrine which was built in the 12th century designed to honour the god of food it's also one of 10 shrines that surround the tokyo imperial palace number 29. japanese culture also counts numerous celebrations festivals and rituals in tokyo it's a new year tradition to visit shrines apart from the religious festivals or matsuris and portable shrines or mikoshi's which are all observed in the tokyo calendar meanwhile the viewing of cherry blossoms is most prevalent in april number 30 tokyo's traditional arts reflect its unique culture among these are flower arranging or ikebana folding paper into object forms or origami wood block painting puppet theatre hot springs as public bathing places and delicate tea ceremonies number 31 there are more than 100 universities and colleges in tokyo which is also the highest concentration of universities in the world i mean that is a lot more than 30 of japan's university students attend school in tokyo number 32 another huge icon of tokyo culture is tsukiji the wholesale fish market why is it so cool well it just so happens to be the busiest and largest fish market in the entire world number 33 the main attraction of the market are the live tuna auctions that take place every single morning at sam i'm sorry no i read that wrong 5am it's also well known as a place for visitors and tourists to go because they're often up due to jet lag so much so that free tickets are given away at 4am every day number 34 tokyo skytree is the newest radio tower on the block it became the tallest structure in japan in 2010 and reached its full height of 634 meters or 2080 feet in march of 2011 making it the tallest tower in the world displacing the canton tower number 35. it also has the highest skywalk in the world and its name sky3 came from a public vote that won with over 30 percent of the vote not quite beauty mcboat face though is it number 36 the tokyo tower is a communications and observation tower in the shiba koen district at 332.9 meters it's the second tallest structure in japan it was originally inspired by the eiffel tower which is why they look so similar number 37 despite the similar appearance though it's taller than the eiffel weighs less than the eiffel and has more flaws than the eiffel tokyo holds the true eiffel power that might be the worst pun i've ever done please don't go number 38 there's also a skyscraper in tokyo called the ntt dakomo yoyogi building why is that special well i'll tell you here we go it changes the color of the light on top of the building to tell people if it's going to rain or not and whether they should pack a brolly god we need that in london number 39 one of the other iconic tall things you can see in the city is mount fuji but for something so iconic it's pretty elusive it's only actually visible for around 80 days of the entire year and only when the weather is clear enough number 40 the district of hachioji in tokyo is home to mount takeo the most visited mountain in the world the mountain rewards its climbers for reaching the summit by hosting them at a mountaintop udon shop and bar the summit is well known for its natural beauty and thousand mile views number 41 visitors climb the mountain to pay their respects in the temple of yaku owen enjoy a bath in hot springs feast on delicious food and beer and of course enjoy a hike but for those who like me don't enjoy hiking up a great big mountain the cable car is here to help the meaning of life for such a crowded and heavily built up city tokyo boasts a surprising number of beautiful parks there are over 6 000 different parks and gardens covering more than 2 471 acres within the city number 43 45 of the 51 busiest train stations in the world are in japan tokyo shinjuku station is the largest and busiest railway station in the world on average 3.7 million passengers pass through the station every single day or 1.2 billion per year number 44. in fact the city is well known for its insanely busy public transport with viral videos of the oshia at work oshia or the pushers are hired to literally push the millions of passengers aboard the train system during rush hour christ it makes the london commute look tame number 45. when they were first brought in at shinjuku station they were called passenger arrangements staff and were largely made up of students working part-time number 46 albeit hectic the oshira make the trains run on time as tokyo and japan in general in fact are known for their punctuality and efficiency with the trained schedule if trains do fall behind even by the tiniest amount staff apologize profusely you're listening there tfl number 47. trying platforms were often lined up with blue lights these were installed after a study found that blue lights have a soothing effect and ultimately could reduce the amount of people deciding to end their lives by jumping in front of the trains wow that took a turn number 48 there are over 800 train stations in the wider tokyo metropolis area that's it that's the fact chris rasheen put just put something cool here to fill the time i'm so tired i need to go to the bed 49 one more trying fact each station has its own jingle which is played as the train arrives at the platform sometimes they can correspond with something iconic from that location or sometimes companies buy the airway to promote a new movie like disneyland did for star wars cool right yeah number 50 to prevent flooding five enormous underground shafts have been built to divert flood waters without damaging the city these will also help in the event of a tsunami number 51 built in 2006 the tunnel is about 50 meters below ground extending 6.3 kilometers in total it costs 2 billion come on you could have spent that on chicken nuggets and is the very best of japan state of the art civil engineering technology they're just showing off now number 52 it was also used as a hashtag inspo for a level in the video game mirror's edge i mean here's the two side by side so yeah you can you can see it right yeah yeah number 53 shibuya crossing is said to be the busiest crossing in the world as many as 2 500 people can be seen crossing the street at the same time i would hate to drop anything in that crowd number 54 the busiest shopping area in tokyo is ginza it served as the country's commercial center for century standing on the joint where five ancient roads connected japan's major cities number 55 tokyo to japan is a bit like what only fans is to me it's its finance center major finance corporations in japan have their headquarters in the city kind of like new york and london really the tokyo stock exchange for example is located in kabuto show number 56 tokyo is home to some of the most expensive and acclaimed restaurants in the world and it was named the world's capital of gastronomy in 2017. restaurants in tokyo have acquired more collective michelin stars than paris eat that paris or rather don't because it's so michelin starred yeah number 57 in tokyo 22 sushi restaurants have received michelin stars this number came from hundreds of sushi restaurants in the city with diverse price ranges number 58 the oldest restaurant in the city is the kamagata dozu restaurant which has managed to survive earthquakes and bombings and maintain their business over the very same plot of earth for six generations and over 200 years first opening its doors in 1801 number 59 and from the oldest to the priciest home to the juiciest fattiest and most expensive kobe beef or wagyu beef in the wild the aragawa restaurant in shimbashi tokyo can cost over eight hundred dollars can snake really be worth that much what's it coated in gold number sixty tokyo has also been named the birthplace of cosplay the first cosplay cafes appeared in the akihabara area of tokyo in the late 1990s a temporary maid cafe was set up at the tokyo character collection event in august of 1998 to promote the video game welcome to pier carrot 2. yep that one number 61 since 1998 tokyo's akihabara district contained a number of cosplay restaurants catering to devoted anime and cosplay fans where the waitresses at such cafes dress in video game or anime character costumes tokyo's harajuku district is the favorite and formal gathering place to engage in cosplay in public number 62 the harajuku district in tokyo is also famed for its street fashion for the teens yeah this culture has been in japan for more than three decades the fashion showcases some edgy styles the youth embrace in their dressing in the most recent trends check me out number 63 one of the safest cities to travel in the world as a tourist is well tokyo i mean where else did you think that sentence was going what was i going to say norwich crimes against tourists in tokyo are very rare and the city has one of the lowest crime rates per capita nintendo 64. if you want a little sip sipper coffee by the way avoid tokyo maybe because the starbucks that overlooks the shibuya crossing there is one of the busiest in the world you can also watch a cctv feed into the store online if you want to that's your sort of thing number 65. capsule hotels are very popular in tokyo a capital hotel by the way is something that features a large number of extremely small rooms if you can call them that intended to provide cheap basic overnight accommodation for guests who do not require the services offered by more conventional hotels these captures can also sometimes include tvs and wi-fi so it really does have literally everything one would need number 66 even though many of the hotels were made famous by the capital the first capsule hotel in the world opened in 1979 and was the capsule in osaka located in the umeda district of osaka japan which isn't tokyo but i just thought you'd like to know that anyway number 67 from one end of the scale to the other though tokyo's ritz carlton is home to the most expensive suites in the world and i'm not just talking about a uh curly wurly rooms can go over seven thousand dollars a night but the most expensive designed by frank nicholson costs eighteen thousand dollars a night also known as a lot of chicken nuggets that's right number 68 the henna hotel is operated by robots and in the reception visitors are greeted by a dinosaur robot what i mean get me here please there are actually several hotel branches within the same company the one in ginza is certified as the first hotel with working robots in the world number 69. please remember to tip your robot in shinjuku one can also visit the famous robot restaurant where you can enjoy a robotic show okay it's not really so much of a restaurant in the traditional sense but they do serve bento boxes and snacks during the show number 17. much like seemingly anywhere worth their salt tokyo has its very own disneyland in fact tokyo's disneyland is the first disneyland built outside the usa and the very first in asia it employs over 20 000 people too number 71. tourists can also take advantage of tax-free shopping which is available to foreign tourists at licensed stores when making purchases of over 5000 yen number 72 okay i miss talking about crazy cafes let's talk more about those in tokyo you can find cafes that have such themes as vampires totoro moomins and pompompurin many of tokyo's themed cafes are limited editions and so-called pop-up stores that only exist for a certain period number 73 some of the more popular of these cafes include pikachu themed pokemon themed sailor moon themed and so so many more some of these more popular ones have remained as permanent establishments maybe we should start at one facts cafe cat cafes are actually very popular in the capital as residents live in tiny apartments that often hardly provide them with any space let alone a pet so these people tend to go through their days without any animals to enrich their lives like i do there are lots of other cafes with other tame animals like dogs mini pigs hedgehogs owls bunnies burps and even a capybara number 75 and we can't talk about tokyo's crazy cafes without mentioning one of the most famous the kawaii monster cafe it's genuinely like neon lights meet cute japanese monsters but on acid don't do acid it's a psychedelic mishmash of crazy foods trippy zones and all this takes place inside the stomach of mr 10 000 chopsticks no i'm not kidding number 76 the four zones inside here are suites go round the mushroom disco the milk stand and the mel t room which then lead to the final area bar experiment which is literally inside the tentacles of a neon glowing jellyfish okay not literally basically it's insane and unique and you should go if you're visiting the city number 77 there's a cafe in tokyo that only hires men as staff it's called the big boy cafe i'm kidding no it's not it's called the butler's cafe the owner started the cafe because they thought the japanese women wanted their waiters nice good-looking and western number 78 tokyo is the city to go to for real-life mario kart experience here you can drive through busy shibuya and other parts of the city dressed up as your favorite character while driving a go-kart number 79 yeah what i just said isn't technically correct because you can't do that anymore in 2017 nintendo sued maricar for intellectual property infringement eventually forcing the go-kart company to pay 50 million yen that's worse than it sounds it was 475 thousand dollars but still that's a lot number 80. here's the thing though tourism in japan fell by 99.9 in april all thanks to miss rona so street cart struggled to pay for this lawsuit and you know everything really so they started a crowdfunding campaign named save the street cart on the japanese fundraising website's campfire it ended on june 30th and it reached 11 569 yen of its 2 million yen goal number 81 tokyo has more neon lights than any other city in the world i mean that makes sense really doesn't it the weekend must love it there number 82 vending machines are everywhere japan's national tourism organizations say there are 5.52 million vending machines in the country totaling 62 billion dollars [Music] believe it or not around 3 of japan's total power budget goes towards these vending machines statistics also claim that you'll find a vending machine in tokyo every 12 meters in fact there's one vending machine per every 23 people living in the city number 84. in these vending machines you can buy pretty much anything you can think of the standards like candy and drinks but also hamburgers clothes ice cream and milk packs milk packs number 85. as of december 2019 around 9.4 000 pachinko parlors were operating in japan which means a buttload of them are in tokyo gambling is technically illegal in japan but there is a cheeky loophole that allows people to play the game with the tiny balls not that one pachinko number 86 tokyo is also the city with the highest marriage rate in japan what makes it even better is that most of the married couples stay together too ah how rare while tokyo only ranks eighth in the country's highest divorce rate okadama has the most marriages ending in divorce number 87 godzilla is one of the most recognizable mascots from japan and he's known for destroying the capital you know while trying to save people but still he does destroy it but he's put his city destroying ways behind him or her sorry and settle down with a job as a tourism ambassador of shinjuku number 88 there are three different ways to explain why the district of ikeburuko has to name that it does honestly no one really has any firm idea it sort of translates to pond bag so number 89 the riya goku district is known for its fat men this is actually because the district is home to the riogoku sumo hall as well as many other sumo academies this is an honor because sumo wrestlers are highly respected in japanese culture number 90 official sumo wrestling tournaments are held six times a year three of which are held in the rio goku summer hall in well you i've just mentioned it tokyo each tournament is held over 15 days so you can get a whopping 45 days of sumo fun in tokyo per year number 91 in 2010 tokyo officials almost celebrated the triumph of a man who allegedly reached his 111th birthday however when they got there they found the remains of the man in his bed turns out he died 30 years previously but the family continued to collect his pension money number 92 in a fact that would make dwight schrute cry with happiness tokyo is also home to etoya that's true the largest paper store in the entire world opening in 1904 it's over 100 years old and it's basically the stationary version of ikea number 93 almost every street in tokyo apparently has a haunted house however the experts say that the best ghost hunting spot in tokyo is the coal mine tunnel in hachioji stories of a girl in a red dress and frequent traffic accidents have sent urban legend fiends mad number 94. speaking of things that are spooky there's apparently a haunted skyscraper in tokyo sunshine 60 was built on the side of the tsugarmo prison which was well a prison modern folklore dictates that it's haunted by the people who died in said prison number 95 on may the 5th 2011 tokyo's shia dome nahon tv studios recorded one of the greatest human feats of all time when 21 members of the coalesce dance school squeezed into a mini cooper this set the world record for the most people inside a mini cooper i don't know why either number 96 tokyo is home to more than 279 000 millionaires yep millionaires we can but dream that's more than any city in asia and third in the entire world behind london and new york and just beating out hong kong number 97 the tokyo marathon is one of the major marathons in the world alongside london berlin boston chicago and new york it was the last city to join the world marathon mages in 2013. number 98 researchers at the university of tokyo have created a robot hand that has a 100 winning rate playing rock paper scissors using a high speed camera the robot recognizes within one millisecond which shape the human hand is making and then produces the corresponding winning shape i mean is that cheating it feels like cheating number 99 something else super cool is the research project of kanagawa institute of technology's takeo watanabe and 70 year old swordsmith genre kuro matsunaga who are working together to create a device strong and sharp enough to collect samples from asteroids number one europe they've used traditional sword smithing techniques and materials such as teleheart gain in order to give their rock core a thing enough sharpness and plasticity to not only work in space but pierce asteroids that are millions of years old a number of movies have been shot in tokyo including the wolverine lost in translation kill bill volume 1 part of inception furious 7 and tokyo drift clues in the name among many many others and many more to come so that was 100 facts about tokyo is it your favorite city in the world let me know in the comments down below be sure to give this video a like and subscribe to one-on-one facts if you haven't done so already because i mean we're all a big lovely family here in the meantime or moon time if you live on the moon why not give one of these videos here a watch you're really gonna enjoy it i promise i promise you you are and i'll see you there bye now

Channel: 101Facts

Views: 69,965

Keywords: 101 facts, 101, 101facts, tokyo, tokyo facts, facts about tokyo, tokyo history, tokyo culture, japan, 東京, 東京についての事実, 日本, 日本についての事実, harajuku, tokyo tourism, travel, cherry blossom, olympics 2020, olympics 2021, tsukiji fish market, sushi, tokyo skytree, tokyo tower, tokyo subway, subway pushers, ntt docomo yoyogi building, mount fuji, mount takao, imperial palace tokyo, shinjuku, oshiya, shibuya, kabutocho, komagata dozeu, cosplay, shinbashi, aragawa, akihabara, tour, vlog, disneyland tokyo, cafe

Id: s6IqmBtFvyU

Length: 26min 10sec (1570 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 17 2020