Tokyo News

New Tokyo fish market to be 40% bigger than Tsukuji

One of the most popular tourist destinations, Tsukiji fish market is getting a new home, about 2.3 km away from the original site.

The new market will also be 40% bigger than the original. The good news for tourists is that observation decks will be built so they can still watch all of the action of the fish market.

Comprising a complex of three- to six-story buildings, the new market will have four main sections.

One is for seafood wholesalers, complete with observation decks for tourists. Another is for fruit and vegetable wholesalers. The third will accommodate seafood middlemen, and the fourth will house trading companies’ offices.

The current market supports a kaleidoscope of related businesses in streets nearby, from tiny sushi bars and greengrocers to chopstick retailers and vendors of rubber boots. The new market will try to replicate that atmosphere by incorporating restaurants and retail shops. Operators for those businesses will be selected by June, metropolitan government representatives said.

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Tokyo favorite to win 2020 Olympic Games

According to this article published in Time magazine, Tokyo are the current favorites to win the 2020 Olympic game bid.

The British bookmakers have installed the Japanese capital as the favorite to host the Games and the reasons do appear compelling, even though this is the second Olympics in a row in which they’re bidding (the Olympics were also held there in 1964). “I think Tokyo is a pretty safe bet,” says Stefan Szymanski, the Stephen J. Galetti Professor of Sport Management, in the department of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan (the full audio of the interview is below). “You can trust the Japanese to get everything on time and to budget. You can be sure they will run an efficient, safe Games and there will be no risks involved. You can be sure all the technology’s going to work. So I think it’s big pluses on those fronts.”

Read more: http://olympics.time.com/2012/09/06/tokyo-istanbul-or-madrid-who-will-host-the-2020-summer-olympics/#ixzz25jM5uJBh

Biohazard cafe to open in Tokyo

I couldn’t help feeling that this was some kind of sick joke when I heard this, considering Japan’s ongoing woes with radiation fears and the current debate over nuclear energy.

But yes, according to this computer gaming website, a Biohazard Cafe in Grill will be opening in Tokyo on July 13. The restaurant will open in Parco Part 1 in Shibuya.

And for anyone like me who doesn’t know that Biohazard is actually referring to a computer game, you can read about it on Wikipedia:

Resident Evil, known as Biohazard (バイオハザード Baiohazādo?) in Japan, is a media franchise owned by the video game company Capcom. It was created by Shinji Mikami as a survival horror game series that was initiated with the eponymous PlayStation title Resident Evil in 1996. Since then, the game series has branched out to include action games, and has sold 49 million units as of March 2012.

The Resident Evil media franchise has been expanded to comic books, novels and novelizations, sound dramas, live-action and computer-generated feature films, and a variety of collectibles, such as action figures and strategy guides.

World’s tallest tower Tokyo Skytree to open next week

The Tokyo Skytree, the world’s tallest tower, is set to open in just 4 days on May 22. The 634 meter tower is double the height of the Eiffel Tower and 2nd highest structure in the world behind Burj Khalifa .

The tower is set to become a new tourist attraction in itself with more than 300 shops and restaurants, a planetarium and an aquarium. The tower will be used as a radio/television broadcast and communications tower.

“People will use the Tobu line to go to Tokyo Skytree and they will shop in Tobu shops when they get there,” said Masayuki Kubota, who oversees the equivalent of $2 billion in assets in Tokyo at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. “It’s a very good investment.” He doesn’t own Tobu shares, he said in this article by Bloomberg.

Built in one of the most earthquake prone places in the world, the tower stands on three legs with a central column, typical of a tripod.

The tower stands over the Asakusa district in Tokyo. It is one station away on the Tobu Skytree Line. The tower has its own station aptly named “Tokyo Skytree Station”.

Here is the official site for the Tokyo Skytree tower.

Our first post on the Tokyo Skytree in 2009.

Tokyo’s plans to build worlds largest tower

There is something about many cities around the world, that continually try to outdo each other by building the world’s tallest building or tower.

The topic also has some controversy as the definition as to what is exactly the tallest structure is not always clear. Some buildings just add a bigger antennae to the top of their structure to claim the title.

Wikipedia even has an entry on the world’s tallest buildings.

Tokyo is now trying to enter the competition with the construction of the Tokyo Sky Tree.

When completed, the tower will boast a height of 610 meters, or 2,001 feet. It would rank along with the Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower as the third highest man made structure in the world. The Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is currently the highest man made structure and beats all other buildings and towers in all categories.

The Tokyo Sky Tree will be used to broadcast digital television over Tokyo and is located 1km east of Asakusa.

Tokyo loses to Rio in 2016 Olympic games bid

Not too surprisingly, Tokyo lost its bid for the 2016 Olympic games, with Rio de Janeiro defeating its other contenders Chicago and Madrid. It will be the first time that South America has hosted the Olympic games.

“Tokyo’s bid lacked passion, it didn’t capture the voters’ hearts,” said Munehiko Harada, sports sciences professor at Waseda University.

Not even Barack Obama could save Chicago’s bid when they were eliminated in the first round of voting.

I think the Japanese government are kind of fed up with wasteful government spending. Most of the stadiums that were built when Japan held the World Cup go unused and were a huge expenditure for tax payers. Since China held the 2008 Olympics, I also think it will be some time before the games are held again in Asia.

Cat cafes in Tokyo

I suppose anyone not living in Tokyo probably can’t understand the rise in popularity of cat cafes in Tokyo and “rent a pet” services. This article describes the author’s experience of visiting a “cat cafe”.

Most people in Tokyo live in tiny apartments which are often barely big enough for one person, let alone pets. Many apartment owners also don’t allow their tenants to keep pets, but it doesn’t stop people from being pet or animal lovers.

Japanese also work long hours making it difficult to take proper care of their pets. I remember having to feed my bosses cat when they were on holiday and even though their apartment was a decent size, the place smelt of cat you know what.

Tokyo station to get a face lift

Tokyo station is due to get a 50-billion-yen face lift. The project is due to be completed in March 2012.

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Cherry blossoms to start this week in Tokyo

Warmer weather in Tokyo will see the cherry blossoms bloom this week. It will be at least 10 days earlier than average, according to officials.

The media excitedly attempts to predict when the cherry blossoms wil bloom and Japanese argue just when are blossoms in “perfect bloom”.

Michael Jackson arrives in Tokyo

Michael Jackson arrived in Tokyo today to screaming fans. Fans are spending 400,000 yen a ticket just to spend 40 seconds with the once popular performer.

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