O Y K O T G N I S I R b y e v a n w i l l a r d
TRAVEL_FEATURES//TOKYO_RISING.EXE Japan’s population may be skewing older, leading the global march to demographic gridlock, but Tokyo feels like a city powered by the young. Sophisticated and sprawling, with half a dozen city centers that long ago grew together, it combines the life force of a national capital of everything — politics, finance, culture, style — with a talent for change and renewal that it earned the hard way, bouncing back after repeated flattening by earthquakes, fires and war over its 400 years of existence. The skyscraper race of the ’90s has slowed down, but a new romance with the city’s waterfront is flourishing, spots for sushi and pâté de foie gras are always being added to its 160,000 restaurants, and the teenagers jamming anime-inspired shopping districts update the outlandish costume of the moment every few months. //FRIDAY//3 PM//SPIRIT_WORLD.EXE
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It’s easy to forget while squeezing onto the subway or dancing to techno-pop, but Tokyo is still the seat of an emperor. At the Meiji Shrine (1-1 Yoyogi-Kamizono-cho, Shibuya-ku; meijijingu.or.jp), the deified spirit of the Emperor Meiji, the current emperor’s great-grandfather, resides in a Shinto temple surrounded by 170,000 majestic trees. A 40-foothigh arched torii gateway marks your entry into this spiritual world, and a network of paths leads to the shrine. The forest feels peaceful and far from the busy city, even though this is one of Tokyo’s most visited outdoor
Avoid Ginza’s stuffy cocktail bars, and their sky-high seating fees, by heading south to Shimbashi, an area favored by hard-partying salarymen who work in the surrounding skyscrapers. Start at the refined sake bar Kuri, which stocks over 100 varieties of nihonshu and serves three-cup tasting flights (from 950 yen). Then walk under the train tracks to Dry-Dock, a tiny nautical-themed bar with porthole windows and a rotating selection of top domestic craft beers on tap. Finish the night at the even smaller Oyster Bal Bono, a divey new bar where you can pair a pint with a plate of fresh oysters. Who needs décor when you can admire a perfect plate of food? The unassuming luncheonette Maruyama Kippei, which opened in 2012, serves superlative tonkatsu — breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet — in a modest space that could easily be mistaken for a spartan sushi bar.
//FRIDAY//4 PM//STYLISH_SWARM.EXE Abandon tranquillity with a short walk to the shopper-clogged streets of the Harajuku district. Shops selling everything to outfit the fashionable teenager crowd Takeshita Dori, a jam-packed pedestrian-only alley. Omotesando, a tree-lined boulevard, projects a more mature vision of chic with European designer outlets like Dior and Louis Vuitton; Paris-inspired cafes; LaForet, a boutique complex featuring up-to-the-minute styles; and Omotesando Hills, a Tadao Ando-designed shopping arcade devoted to high-end fashion. //FRIDAY//6 PM//SLURP_SHOPS.EXE Ramen is dead? Hardly. The Japanese government recently announced investments of up to 2 billion yen (over $17 million) in Ippudo’s parent company to support the worldwide proliferation of their noodle shops. And in the heart of Ginza, two stylish, newish spots are doing their own form of trailblazing with deliciously distinct bowls. At Mugi to Olive, slurp a light bowl of the signature clam ramen (980 yen, or $8.40 at 116 Japanese yen to the dollar) or forgo broth entirely by ordering the silky umami-rich mazesoba that arrives crowned with a sunset-orange yolk (840 yen).chicken-based broth.
//FRIDAY//9 PM//MUSEUM MORNING.EXE //FRIDAY//4 PM// When there’s time to visit only one museum, make it the Tokyo National Museum, a vast complex housing impressive thematic collections (admission, 620 yen). The main building’s second-floor “Highlights of Japanese Art,” with exhibitions dedicated to topics like Zen and ink painting, provides an instructive primer on both culture and art. The adjacent modernist structure Toyokan, which reopened in 2013, contains refurbished galleries filled with early Chinese icons and a grisly mummy, among the Asian artifacts. And don’t miss the army of ancient terra-cotta soldiers of China’s First Emperor, part of a special exhibition in the Heiseikan galleries (Oct. 27 to Feb. 21).
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