The Tokyo metropolitan government has an anime to highlight anime as a major sightseeing attraction and has filled it with great sightseeing spots.
The 11-minute video is subtitled in seven languages, including English and Chinese. It can be found on the capital’s English website under the Tourism, Culture and Sports section.
The subtitles are also available in French, Spanish, German, Italian and Korean. Tokyo spent a cool 49 million yen to create the anime entitled, "Welcome to Tokyo".
See the site: Welcome to Tokyo

The Tokyo Sky Tree tower, under construction in central Tokyo and already the tallest building in Japan, topped the 400-meter mark Friday, reaching 408 meters in height in the afternoon, its operator said.
The new communications tower in Sumida Ward is scheduled to be 634 meters high, possibly next spring, after extending its antenna. It will be used mainly for terrestrial digital broadcasting.
Friday’s work was originally scheduled for Thursday but was postponed due to strong winds, according to tower operator Tobu Tower Sky Tree Co.
Read the rest of the story: Tokyo …

A rare flower that has bloomed after a gap of almost 20 years has attracted thousands of visitors to the botanical garden in Tokyo.
Standing at more than 5ft (1.52m) tall, the Amorphophallus titanum is native to Indonesia’s Sumatra island.
At full bloom the plant emits a pungent smell which one visitor described as “like raw garbage that had grown rotten”. It thrives at the edges of rainforests near open grasslands. Though found in many botanic gardens around the world it is still indigenous only to the tropical forests of Sumatra. Due …

What does Tokyo have as a genuine landmark?
Well, there’s 52-year-old Tokyo Tower, but that’s not the draw it once was. Or there’s Tokyo Sky Tree, which, at 603 meters high, is set to be the world’s tallest broadcasting tower when it’s completed soon. But so what?
What Tokyo really needs is a historical monument symbolizing the essence of the Japanese spirit, culture and lifestyle, argues a Tokyo-based citizens’ group whose aim is to rebuild what it considers the ultimate symbol of Tokyo: the main tower of Edo Castle.
"Paris has the Palace …

You can’t beat Japan for variety and quality of native cuisine. Here are some of my favorite types of restaurants, followed by a few recommended Tokyo spots.
Noodle shops
A little more than an hour off my plane from the U.S., I was starving and had some time to kill, as my ride was going to be late to Shinagawa station. It is a very busy, somewhat bewildering train station. I’m a noodle fanatic, so I naturally homed in on a noodle shop.
For a minute or so, I studied the action: People …

Micro-houses are about life reduced to it’s elegant essentials. No that’s a line any architect can fall in love with. Micro-house owners just call them cozy.

It’s on the first floor of a building near Asakusabashi Subway Station. It’s easy to get to and find, and it’s free to enter. There’s a collection of writing and stationary objects that occupies the first floor. The museum is overseen by two senior custodians who are very friendly and kind. They expressed surpise when I walked in out of the blue. Actually, I was the only visitor they had had so far in a while I think.
Unfortunately, the tags for the items are written …

Move over Gucci. Here comes Forever 21. Trend-conscious Japan is outgrowing its longtime love affair with luxury brands and turning to a new passion: Fast fashion.
The star brand of American mall-style clothing — reputed for delivering runway looks at cheap prices — opened Thursday in Matsuzakaya department store in Tokyo’s upscale glitzy Ginza district.
In a move symbolic of the shift to bargain hunting in slowdown-struck Japan, Forever 21 is replacing what was a Gucci boutique, packing five floors with colorful racks of 350 yen ($4) tank tops and 1,580 …

With many people expected to flock to Tokyo Sky Tree in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, during the Golden Week holiday period, ward officials and police officers will be on alert around the structure. The Sky Tree became the highest structure in the country in late March, and since then the number of visitors to the area has sharply increased. According to the Tokyo Sky Tree Info Plaza, an information center near the tower, there had been more than 17,000 visitors in April as of Saturday.

About 200 people lined up on Saturday for the early-morning opening of the first official “Gundam”-themed cafe, based on the popular sci-fi animation series. Female staff members dressed as characters from the series greeted customers to the cafe in Tokyo’s Akihabara district when its doors opened at 8.30 a.m on Saturday.