Talk:Tokyo/Archive 2003-21

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Current discussions can be found at Talk:Tokyo


Early discussions

I moved this page because it seems to be about Tokyo the city, not the greater Tokyo region. It's also quite a stub! I've only been to Tokyo once or twice, so I don't have a good idea of districts there. But we need to copy over the huge city article template and get this puppy hoppin'! -- (WT-en) Evan 08:03, 8 Nov 2003 (PST)

I did my best to transfer the information to the huge city template. Tokyo is still a stub (now full of stubs), but I'm concerned I may have gone overboard on the districts. The 23 wards of Tokyo seem overwhelming. On the other hand, there isn't really any larger subset of the city that is recognized. I appended some well known destinations to each ward to try to make the wards themselves comprehensible. Using the destinations themselves would make for an even more unmanageable list of districts.
Some of the specifics like hotels still need to be moved out to their respective districts, but I thought I'd wait a bit and see how the districts themselves went over. The "Do" section needs more. Some of the information under safety could be moved out to Japan in general. This is just one more step. -- (WT-en) ted 15:23, 23 Feb 2004 (JST)
Ted, I agree with you that the 23 wards are pretty overwhelming. What about only highlighting wards that would be of interest to travellers-- or is that really all of them? I really think that long lists of administrative districts/wards/whatever are pretty daunting to people... so maybe less is more in this case? (WT-en) Majnoona 07:45, 24 Feb 2004 (EST)
Majnoona,
Thanks for taking a look. Highlighting the wards that would interest travellers seems like a good idea. The only problem I had was defining interest and where to draw the line. Just off the top of my head I can come up with interesting things to see and do in almost all of those wards, and that really just reflects my own interests. Maybe wards of interest to most travellers would be a list of about 15-16. That would cover the main tourist sites. At 15-16, why not go for the whole shebang?
The next larger subset of Tokyo that is well-defined and means something to people is the split within/outside the 23 wards. There is no "downtown" to speak of, but several. Trying to list the multiple "downtowns" or neighborhoods gets you to a very long list as well. Where to assign the neighborhoods that fall between major centers would be totally arbitrary and meaningless to others. I had looked at Boston and seen the list of all the neighborhoods, so I followed that. I just checked out London, which groups all neighborhoods into chunks. That might work, but any such divisions would be pretty arbitrary and might lead to misunderstanding. That is, if a wikivoyager asked someone about a hypothetical "North Tokyo", only another wikivoyager would understand them.
One other solution would be to split regions by transport, rather than geography. This is what people tend to do here. Places are identified by station, then what line that station is on if the listener doesn't know. This is quite manageable, but presumes some background knowledge of the legendary Tokyo train system.
I think the division by ward is useful, as that is the basis of all addresses, there are English language official websites for each ward, and they are a complete division of the city. Perhaps the list could be moved off to a separate page to still provide the organizational structure without blasting people as soon as they hit the Tokyo main page? Would moving it out to a separate page be too much of a violation of consistency?
I was trying to plan ahead for when articles re: Tokyo started to reach the extent of the city itself. I envision pages for specific areas and destinations which might all be linked from the ward pages. Also, itineraries and checklists for people with specific interests might help to make things more accessible.
-- (WT-en) ted 10:05, 25 Feb 2004 (JST)

Rail System

I think that we should perhaps make a more comprehensive map of the rail system in Tokyo. Currently, the Yurikamome and Rinkai Line seem to be absent from the map, and I think Odaiba should be considered a part of downtown Tokyo. I have enclosed a link the official map here, which is subject to copyright laws. Could I request that someone with the skills add the two lines in based on this map?

The current map is unfortunately a PNG, which makes it very hard to edit. There's a decent start at an SVG subway map here, but it's missing all the Toei lines... (WT-en) Jpatokal 01:25, 14 April 2008 (EDT)
I was thinking about this while assembling this revised map, but was afraid it was going to get far too crowded - both the official JR and subway maps are incredibly dense on their own, and when you combine those together into one map and then add in the private lines too... I have seen one printed map that did this fairly well, but it was about 150 cm wide! My monitor's not quite big enough for the job.
However, I think some areas not directly on the Yamanote would benefit from local maps. For example, Odaiba could use a mini-map showing the Yurikamome and Rinkai lines and their closest connections to the central network. - (WT-en) Dguillaime 15:11, 9 January 2009 (EST)

Tokyo Q

Nice quick whip-around. Consider linking with Tokyo Q at www.tokyoq.com for up-to-the-minute chatter. Rick Kennedy long-time resident


What does "Get your bags in before you do" mean? Before you do what? This was translated literally into French as something even more incomprehensible, then changed to something completely different. -(WT-en) phma 12:12, 3 Mar 2004 (EST)

"...before you get in". Thanks for the question about that- it made me look and clean up one or two other things there. Just out of curiosity, how did the translation sound in French? Amusing, I hope. (WT-en) Ted 14:01, 3 Mar 2004 (EST)
"Obtenez vos sacs dedans avant que vous" - "Obtain your sacks inside before that you". Baraguin. -(WT-en) phma 14:12, 3 Mar 2004 (EST)
Cheers! (WT-en) Ted 19:05, 3 Mar 2004 (EST)

Shouldn't understand:language go into a "Talk" section and understand/expenses into a "buy" section? Not trying to be a nitpicker. -- (WT-en) Nils 06:02, 16 Apr 2004 (EDT)


Lost in Translation

I'm a little apprehensive about introducing the visitor to Tokyo through Bill Murray. I think this is kind of unnecessary and I've replaced it with something else. Hope this is alright.

The section was removed alright, but no sign of a replacement? I've reverted the change for now (and personally I think LiT does give an excellent impression of how the average first-time visitor usually sees Tokyo). (WT-en) Jpatokal 22:36, 14 Jul 2005 (EDT)
I have to say it seems a little disjointed: the paragraph starts by saying that the city is featured quite heavily in the film, then goes on to say that actually it is mostly set in a hotel. The final sentence is good, but I fail to see the relevance of the remainder.

Free map

Here's a public domain (CIA) map of Tokyo that could be usable with a bit of cleanup: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world_cities/tokyo.jpg (WT-en) Jpatokal 04:14, 11 Oct 2004 (EDT)

Map: classifications of wards

What's the basis for the "district" classification of wards on Image:Map_tokyo_districts.png? Is "Downtown" Shitamachi? If so I'm not sure Toshima-ku or Bunkyo-ku would count, though I think Koto and Sumida would. If it's "downtown" in an American sense, I don't think that concept can be applied to Tokyo. "Suburb" is a somewhat misleading, it gives the impression if low-density leafy residential areas which merge into open countryside once you cross the border to Saitama or Kanazawa ;-)

The base is the scientific process known as my gut feeling. I'm open to suggestions for improving it... (WT-en) Jpatokal 06:37, 2 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Description of Shinagawa

"Shinagawa, a major train hub" - Shinagawa Station locates in Minato Ward but Shinagawa Ward.

Japones coins

Uh... counsel, I'd like to know where you're going with this line of questioning. --(WT-en) Evan 17:09, 7 Nov 2005 (EST)
They'd like more Japones coins! Wouldn't we all? -- (WT-en) Ilkirk 17:17, 7 Nov 2005 (EST)

Eating: Splurge

The "very expensive" sushi resturant with the best in town is quoted as being 3000 yen for a set dinner. Is this correct? 3000 yen is roughly US$25.00, which would be considered a downright steal in most American & European cities. -- (WT-en) Poodlemcmuffin 12:23, 17 Feb 2006 (EST)

The figure is correct and it's a downright steal in Tokyo too. As the Tokyo/Chuo article explains, the same meal would easily cost you ¥30,000 a few blocks down in the Ginza — but there you don't have to wake up at 5 AM to queue in a fish market! (WT-en) Jpatokal 05:41, 18 Feb 2006 (EST)

City vs prefecture split

In line with the Japanese version of the Tokyo article, I will hereby proceed to split off all 'peripheral' Tokyo (outside the 23 wards) into its own article. (WT-en) Jpatokal 00:41, 11 July 2006 (EDT)

District split

Suggested split

The updated Tokyo district map's central/shitamachi/suburb split no longer corresponds to that in the listing, and I'm not sure it makes much sense to have a separate article for every single Tokyo ward.

So I'd propose that we...

  1. drop the entire downtown/new town split, because even the Japanese can't agree on what's where
  2. Lump together the northern 'burbs (Nerima, Itabashi, Kita, Nakano, Suginami) → Tokyo/North?
  3. Lump together the eastern 'burbs across the Sumida (Adachi, Katsushika, Edogawa, Sumida, Koto, Arakawa) → Tokyo/East?

Opinions? Here's a handy (if ugly) reference map. (WT-en) Jpatokal 00:23, 13 June 2007 (EDT)

Sounds about right to me. I don't think any single one of those burbs has enough attractions to fill its own article. They are not particularly touristed areas of town as far as I know. (WT-en) Texugo 00:35, 13 June 2007 (EDT)

My opinion, based on having lived in Tokyo for a year and visited many more times on business, is that reducing the number of articles on suburbs is a good idea. My personal classification for Tokyo is by major stations on the Yamanote-sen: Shinjuku area, Ikebukuro area, Ueno area, etc. On and inside the Yamanote-sen there is a lot to describe and it probably justifies most of the articles already there. Also, I know from personal experience on another WT region that it can be a pain to move content from one article to another. Thus I suggest in the suburbs that you only consolidate existing district articles which have very little content. Hope these thoughts are helpful. (WT-en) JimDeLaHunt 02:26, 13 June 2007 (EDT)

OK, looks like we have a rough consensus. I've uploaded a map and added Arakawa to the eastern burbs, comments welcome. If we want to get really radical, we could also lump Shinagawa, Ota, Setagawa and Meguro into Tokyo/South...? (WT-en) Jpatokal 03:04, 13 June 2007 (EDT)
Jim's idea sounds fine. I simply feel that a ward such as Katsushika is a bit more than a "suburb" (Shibamata, Kameido, Kameari...). BTW, I was the one who updated the map, but I also moved the corresponding wards in the listing. (WT-en) Tensaibuta 06:35, 13 June 2007 (EDT)
There are other district articles that are more fine divisions than the map shows, e.g. Tokyo/Harajuku. I haven't looked to see how many of these exist. What do you want to do with those articles? Merge their content into others? Change them to be subdistricts of the new district split? Leave them as top-level districts? (WT-en) JimDeLaHunt 16:17, 13 June 2007 (EDT)
Where does Ikebukuro fit? Since it's a major railway station and travel destination, perhaps the Toshima district should be called Ikebukuro instead. That is, call it "Ikebukuro district", which is defined as the area covered by Toshima-ku. Similarly, how about calling the Bunkyo/Taito-ku area "Ueno district"? (WT-en) JimDeLaHunt 16:17, 13 June 2007 (EDT)
I would keep Harajuku and other famous ones as subdistricts of the new district split. Also I think you're right about calling Toshima district "Ikebukuro" and Bunkyo/Taito-ku "Ueno" (leave the "district" part out of the titles). These are the names by which travellers are most likely to refer to those areas, regardless of what the administrative divisions technically are. We can just slap in redirects for some of the lesser-known place names. (WT-en) Texugo 22:32, 13 June 2007 (EDT)

I'd like to produce a map of within-the-Yamanote Tokyo and sort out the subdistricts at that point, but let's get the bigger blocks sorted out first. I think calling Toshima Ikebukuro is sensible, but dubbing Bunkyo/Taito "Ueno" is more problematic because Asakusa, also a major tourist destination, is in the area. So either we make Asakusa a subdistrict of Ueno, which sounds a bit weird, or we raise it up to a district of its own...? Or we could call Bunkyo/Taito "Shitamachi" and make both Ueno and Asakusa its subdistricts, which is the case right now.

Also, any second opinions about the Shinagawa, Ota, Setagawa and Meguro → "South" idea? (WT-en) Jpatokal 05:09, 14 June 2007 (EDT)

FYI, the map has been updated with the Ikebukuro/Ueno renamings as proposed and the existing subdistricts (did I miss any?) penciled in. Shift-reload the image if it doesn't show up. (WT-en) Jpatokal 05:09, 14 June 2007 (EDT)
Very nice map!! One little personnal objection, however. I think we should keep to a classification by tourist areas only (i.e. not classifying by the underlying official wards and not using the wards as reference for the frontiers between each tourist areas). One example : Akihabara is part in Chiyoda, part in Taito. Furthermore, as you pointed out saying that Bunkyo "is in" Ueno seems strange. (WT-en) Tensaibuta 08:37, 14 June 2007 (EDT)
Vector version now here. I think we should try to follow the ward lines as boundaries, because they're the only lines we can all agree on easily. The only two districts I know that don't fit the wards nicely are Akihabara and Odaiba, and in practice they can just be considered parts of Chiyoda and Minato respectively.
Also, the gray ward names are in the map now so that we know what goes where. They should probably be cleaned out from the final version and just be listed in the descriptions. (WT-en) Jpatokal 09:13, 14 June 2007 (EDT)
Here is what I had in mind (done quite quickly... needs some improvment if we decide to keep it).

[[Image:tokyomapinterpretation.png|thumb|400px|Tokyo districts]]. I see your point, but I am stil not fully convinced by keeping the ward boudaries (WT-en) Tensaibuta 09:34, 14 June 2007 (EDT)

Thanks, everyone, for these good ideas. I'm responding to (WT-en) Jpatokal's updated "Image:TokyoSpecialWardsMap.png| Suggested split" at the top of this section. I have a hard time understanding either TokyoSpecialWardsMap.svg or "Image:tokyomapinterpretation.png| Tokyo districts". I like the use of train station names for Shibuya - Shinjuku - Ikebukuro - Ebisu - Ueno. (I think it will be fine to have "Asakusa" under "Ueno" just like "Harajuku" is under "Shibuya"). I like the "North" and "East" districts. I think a "South" district for Ota, Setagaya, Meguro, and Shinagawa-ku would work fine, but looking at those articles, I think all but Ota-ku have good content, so we'll want to keep all four of them as subdistricts. We should definitely extend our "Chiyoda" district to include all of Akihabara, and I don't know Odaiba well enough to have an opinion. Finally, this leaves us with three top-level districts named after "ku", namely Minato, Chiyoda, and Chuo-ku. That's fine, because these are "ku" names which travellers are actually likely to hear and learn. (Part of me is tempted to name the "Chuo-ku" district "Ginza", though.) Good work, everyone! (WT-en) JimDeLaHunt 16:01, 14 June 2007 (EDT)
I am still not convinced (at all) with the idea of mixing special wards with tourist destinations. Another example, I think this one is much more convincing than Akihabara: the whole of Yoyogi area (including NTT Docomo's tower, listed under the Shinjuku article, the Microsoft tower in the introduction as well as Takashimaya, also listed in Shinjuku), as well as South Shinjuku district, is NOT in Shinjuku ward, but in Shibuya Ward. The Shinjuku ward boundary is actually just in front of Shinjuku JR station. So using the wards as boundaries for districts is, imho, not the best choice... I'll try to rework my map a bit (WT-en) Tensaibuta 18:55, 14 June 2007 (EDT)

The more I think about this, the harder it gets. There are just too many neighborhoods in Tokyo, and they don't all deserve their own articles, but it's very difficult to create sensible boundaries or tie them together with anything other than the wards. But I'm not saying that we need to obsessively follow the ward boundaries -- for example, Nishi-Shinjuku is universally considered Shinjuku despite being in Shibuya ward, just like the area around Meguro station is considered Meguro even though the station itself is technically part of Shinagawa. I just think these should be exceptions, not rules.

Also, I don't want to tie wards together and then resplit unless we have to. If the southern wards of Tokyo can stand on their own, then we don't need an artificial "Tokyo/South" level.

Finally, maybe it's just because I studied at Todai, but for me "Shitamachi" -- that is, the touristy bit of it -- is very much the Bunkyo-Taito area: Yanaka, Sendagi, Nezu, Ueno, Asakusa. The average visitor to Tokyo just doesn't ever cross the Sumida, unless they're going to Ryogoku for sumo or the Edo-Tokyo Museum. (WT-en) Jpatokal 09:05, 15 June 2007 (EDT)

I will give another shot at the map, and we will see what comes out of it (and I know what you mean....) (WT-en) Tensaibuta 10:46, 15 June 2007 (EDT)
Here is a suggestion of a map+split. Please feel free to modify it, I am not a whiz with vector maps. Furthermore some characters (Koto for instance) got messed up during the svg->png export.
Tokyo
(WT-en) Tensaibuta 09:00, 16 June 2007 (EDT)
Help, I have uploaded a new version of the map above to Shared (same name), but the map displayed here is still the older version. If anyone knows how to change this, or delete the old version... (WT-en) Tensaibuta 21:58, 22 June 2007 (EDT)
I've deleted the file on /en/ which should clear the way for the file on /shared/ to come through instead. - (WT-en) Todd VerBeek 23:02, 22 June 2007 (EDT)

I've come around to kind of liking this last proposal. We'll need to delineate the boundaries pretty carefully, but it does make a lot more sense from the traveller's POV, because after all the only way to get around Tokyo in practice is the train.

Over on Talk:Tokyo/Minato, Sekicho proposed splitting up the useless megadistrict as follows:

  • Akasaka/Kamiyacho
  • Aoyama/Omotesando
  • Roppongi/Azabu
  • Shinbashi/Shiodome
  • Shirokane/Takanawa/Konan (perhaps in the "Shinagawa" article)
  • Shiba/Mita/Hamamatsucho
  • Odaiba

That seems like a lot to me, but I'm also hard-pressed to say where else they could go. Shirokane/Takanawa might squeeze into Tokyo/Meguro as well though, and I'm not sure Shiba/Mita/Hamamatsucho needs their own article (are they too big to combine into Shinbashi/Shiodome?). (WT-en) Jpatokal 03:35, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

It is indeed a lot :) Delimiting by train is indeed probably the best solution. As for Shiba/Mita/Hamamatsucho... Hum, I would suggest Shinagwa area ? (WT-en) Tensaibuta 10:59, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

I see that there are articles for both Sumida and Ryogoku, with overlapping content (largely my fault, I didn't even realize there was a separate Ryogoku article). We don't have any destinations listed for anywhere else in the ward, and the only one I can think of that isn't directly in Ryogoku is the Asahi building - would it be sensible to merge Ryogoku into Sumida with a redirect? - (WT-en) Dguillaime 15:19, 9 January 2009 (EST)

Yes. (WT-en) Jpatokal 01:25, 10 January 2009 (EST)

There were some thoughts of rehashing the districting for the CotM, so a quick reference of the 31 29 district articles we already have might prove useful. Sorted by parent ward for convenience:

Ward Article(s) Status
Adachi
Arakawa
Edogawa
Katsushika
Kōtō
East Outline
Bunkyō Bunkyo Usable
Chiyoda Chiyoda
Akihabara
Usable
Usable
Chūō Chuo
Ginza
Usable
Usable
Itabashi
Nerima
Kita
Northwest Outline
Kita Kita Outline
Meguro Meguro Outline
Minato Minato
Akasaka
Odaiba
Roppongi
Shiodome
Shinbashi
Outline
Usable
Usable
Guide
Usable
Usable
Nakano Nakano Outline
Nerima Nerima Outline
Ōta Ota Outline
Setagaya Setagaya Outline
Shibuya Shibuya
Ebisu
Harajuku
Usable
Outline
Usable
Shinagawa Shinagawa Outline
Shinjuku Shinjuku Usable
Suginami Suginami Outline
Sumida Sumida Outline
Toshima Toshima
Ikebukuro
Outline
Outline
Taitō Taito
Asakusa
Ueno
Outline
Guide
Usable

(table updated 9 Nov.)


Map of Tokyo
Map of Tokyo
Map of Tokyo

Other entries in the Tokyo namespace are all redirects. Some of those Outline-status articles could be bumped to Usable, I didn't review them all. - (WT-en) Dguillaime 22:28, 2 November 2009 (EST)

I'll try to give the older districting discussions a closer look when I have the time, but that summary alone tells me there's loads of work to be done . . .
My first reaction was to consider merging outline articles back into the wards they'd been split off from, but it does seem that a number of them contain enough information to stand on their own (possibly even enough to justify a status upgrade).
Are any of these splits considered particularly shaky or problematic? We can prioritise those first - narrow things down a bit. --(WT-en) Diego de Manila 15:31, 3 November 2009 (EST)
Not immediately so. I think it might be beneficial to merge a few of them -- Shiodome's minor enough that it could be merged back into Shinbashi, and one article should do for Toshima + Ikebukuro, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over keeping them all split out. I do think the multiple suburban wards forming East is a good idea, and propose doing the same with a North (or Northwest?) block covering Nerima, Itabashi, and Kita. - (WT-en) Dguillaime 15:48, 3 November 2009 (EST)
Agree with North block and Shiodome into Shinbashi. I'm also OK with merging Toshima and Ikebukuro, but the name is a bit of a problem, since Ikebukuro is more widely recognized. This same problem crops up for quite a few other Tokyo districts as well... (Ueno/Asakusa vs Taito etc). (WT-en) Jpatokal 21:40, 3 November 2009 (EST)
Nerima-Itabashi-Kita merge time! (Table updated above.) Too bad it still doesn't drag it out of outline status, with Eat and Sleep still barren....
I keep going back and forth on whether Toshima or Ikebukuro is a better name. Honestly, I probably worry too much about a problem that redirects already solve. - (WT-en) Dguillaime 00:51, 10 November 2009 (EST)

MAPS! So how do you peeps feel about the maps I've just uploaded? --> And more importantly, any suggestions on what to do with all the sub-districts, one of the thoughts with splitting it in 3, was to allow to map them more clearly, but I have a hard time finding definitions on where the borders of e.g. Akihabara or Harajuku are --(WT-en) Stefan (sertmann) talk 01:21, 10 November 2009 (EST)

Brilliant, gorgeous, wonderful! Those maps are so much better than what we had before. Two comments: 1) on seeing the map, I agree that Toshima is better than Ikebukuro (which is shown on the map as the station anyway), and 2) "Old Tokyo" is a bit of a misnomer and not used locally, so the less obvious but more accurate "Shitamachi" would be a better choice. (WT-en) Jpatokal 11:31, 10 November 2009 (EST)
I ♥ maps. Couple of additional thoughts: right now, we've got Koto as part of Tokyo/East instead of a separate article; it could be separated out (it's really the only ward in East that's got any worthwhile listings at all), but I'd rather keep it as is. Regarding the overlaid details, perhaps the highways could be de-emphasized and the railways made more prominent? I assume any sensible visitor isn't going to drive, so the highways aren't part of the mental map to the extent that the Yamanote is.
By and large, the listings in the subdistricts are clustered around their respective stations, or are something easily separated like Odaiba -- which I think means we don't necessarily need to draw precise boundaries to keep them understandable. The maps could use arbitrary lines, or fuzzy lines, or even no lines and simply give the subdistrict names in smaller type. - (WT-en) Dguillaime 15:47, 10 November 2009 (EST)
When will this district structure be implemented? --(WT-en) globe-trotter 22:40, 19 November 2010 (EST)

To Jpatokal

I hereby REQUEST you to show all the editors of this article any evidence that my edit is MEANINGLESS or OPINIONATED WAFFLE. My edit bears LEAGAL FOUNDATION.

  • Do you know how many National Treasury Architectures the Education Minister of Japan has designated so far? and how many of them are located in 23 Tokyo Special Wards?
  • What about Special Historic Sites? Special Places of Scenic Beauty? or Special Natural Monuments?

Do not provide wrong information and PLEASE DO NOT LEAD A TOURIST TO AN ATTRACTION of NO cultural, architectural, or historical importance AT ALL.

If a site is culturally worthless, has no historic importance, is advertized not by a historical profession but by travel industry in order for them to make money, and is visited due only to the convenience of its location, we must provide the information!! --85.159.49.243 17:44, 26 November 2007 (EST)

I'm not too sure what "bears leagal foundation" means, but I'd agree that the paragraphs deleted constitute 1st degree waffle. Vague warnings about the fact that "some sites" are "far from the finest" are not useful for travelers, nor are they good writing. Ideally, I think, the "see" section should be introduced with a brief paragraph giving readers an idea of what the main sites are and how long they'll need to see them (links to itineraries would be nice too). We also try to avoid exhorting people to avoid attractions—it's best to simply give an objective description for each attraction listing, so that the traveler can decide on their own whether to visit. --(WT-en) Peter Talk 18:25, 26 November 2007 (EST)
hmmm... then what should we do with these "best of tokyo, but, almost worthless in whole Japan" attractions? anyway, I might write a new artcle about it. now Im busy traveling, will come back to Japan soon. the same person as above --62.245.207.2 08:53, 4 December 2007 (EST)

Eat

Perhaps it would be relevant to include the fact that Tokyo is the city with the most number of Michelin stars in the world - almost double that of Paris. This is because many potential visitors are into such things and there are always gourmets among tourists. Tango —The preceding comment was added by 82.27.181.79 (talkcontribs) 13:07, 2008 February 20

Editing underway

I just wanted to tell anyone who is reading this - which doesn't look like many - that I am working on editing Tokyo, I am about 1/3 way through the districts and still working. Mostly I am cleaning it up, checking phone numbers and adding to listings that are lacking. _User:(WT-en) Trew:Trew 9:46, 16 Sep 2008

Thank you for your efforts. Tokyo is on my watchlist, so I'll be applauding your work! By the way, you appear not to have been logged in when you posted that comment; the edit history shows User:99.189.92.97. Also, in the interests of clean structure, I moved your comment from the Talk page intro to this section. (WT-en) JimDeLaHunt 03:08, 21 September 2008 (EDT)

District-level "By Plane" duplication

Most of the individual districts have fairly large "by plane" sections under Get In, which seems unnecessarily duplicative of the top-level page. I suggest eliminating that subsection from all of the district articles, but maintaining a few specifics that actually are district-level under the "by train" section (for example, recommending the more direct Keisei line between Narita and Ueno). Any thoughts or objections? (WT-en) Dguillaime 18:30, 10 November 2008 (EST)

I'm OK as long as the information is kept; eg. [1] is pretty good. (WT-en) Jpatokal 22:55, 7 December 2008 (EST)
Ahh, making edits finally lures people out of the woodwork.  :) That's the plan, it's just the information that's not district-specific I was aiming at - Narita's already a good article, and links are easy to make. A small improvement for travelers who might want to print out and carry several district articles. -- (WT-en) Dguillaime 23:06, 7 December 2008 (EST)

Railway map

I found this [2] HUGE but incredibly useful map of Tokyo's railway lines - all of them! I think it's the only one in existence, as all the official ones include their own network. It's not PD or CC licensed, but the RAQ (rarely asked questions) section of the authors website, gives some pretty permissive terms.

  • Can I use your maps?
As long as you keep my credit, yes. (referring to the on image credit)
  • Can I link to your map images?
No. I know there aren't that many people who would watch these maps, but I'm still concerned with bandwidths. Do not directly link to maps on this website, please. If you downloaded images and uploaded to your own site, or uploaded to image sharing services such as ImageShack, then it's fine to link them.

So what do you guys say, would it be OK to upload? --(WT-en) Stefan (sertmann) Talk 22:44, 26 January 2009 (EST)

That is indeed a beautiful map. I'd have to say though, I think we still need to get express permission before using it here though. Our licensing doesn't provide for stipulations to keep on-image accreditation (though it would still remain possible see it included in the image file description). As part of that licensing process, the creator needs to know that he is releasing the image not just for use as-is, but also for derivative works, etc. If the creator agrees to the license, it's a thumbs-up. (WT-en) Texugo 23:02, 26 January 2009 (EST)
The map now moved to [3]. (WT-en) Globe-trotter 10:18, 2 November 2009 (EST)

great advice

I've been studying in Japan for a little over two months and most of this advice is spot-on. Hub is a great no-hassle bar, Roppongi is shady and foreigner infested, and the food suggestions are great. One thing that I would argue is that Love Hotels are not as shady as this article makes them out to be. They are actually very clean and nice places to stay for couples. Every hotel is different and every room inside the hotel is different. Also, the Japanese no longer use the outdated term "love hotel". —The preceding comment was added by 221.242.37.235 (talkcontribs)

I have to question this last point. I've been in Japan for five and a half years, and that's still what they are called as far as I know. What are you proposing as a better term for them? (WT-en) Texugo 04:30, 27 October 2009 (EDT)

Tokyo Transfer Guide?!

Is it just my browser that doesn't find a server for the link provided? This would be a wonderful service, but not if it doesn't exist, of course. Toei offers the same (to me, broken) link; Tokyo Metro has a Transfer Planner & Fare Calculation page at here, but it appears to cover only its own trains. --209.172.13.144 12:13, 26 July 2011 (EDT)

  • So far Google Maps is your best bet. It apparently integrades Hitachi's Hyperdia all-Japan rail timetable database with local bases like that of Toei and Tokyo Metro and bus companies, and so far it never failed me. It only seems to lack the knowledge of Suijo Waterbus routes.

Haneda Arport

As Haneda airport is becoming the new gateway to Tokyo, we really need an updated version of Ota ward and places to stay near it.

Is it? Most international flights still arrive to Narita, I think. -(WT-en) Etoile 06:04, 16 March 2012 (EDT)

There has only been an increase in the international traffic to Haneda, Narita is still the dominant international gateway.(WT-en) whatsupskip 20:56, 23 March 2012 (EDT)


Shinagawa Errors

There seems to be several errors with the Shinagawa page, with locations listed as being Shinagawa even though their description says otherwise. These include: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Epson Aqua Stadium, Takanawa Catholic Church. If nobody objects I will change them sometime.(WT-en) whatsupskip 20:59, 23 March 2012 (EDT)

Object. I think it's important that we approach wards from a traveller's POV: if they're going to visit the place by walking from Shinagawa stn, it's in "Shinagawa", even if the address is technically across the line in Minato or whatever. Jpatokal (talk) 00:35, 14 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Narita Airport "Super Shuttle"

I deleted the information about the 1000JPY bus service from Narita Airport to Ueno/Asakusa as it no longer exists anymore.

I have heard there is a 900yen Keisei bus now. Nicolas1981 (talk) 13:55, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Luggage delivery box: bad advice

I've just removed this box as it seemed to be really bad advice; while Tokyo is busy, there's no problem taking luggage on the express trains from Narita into the centre of the city, and the subway isn't that bad out of peak hours; I had no problem lugging a large backpack through Shinjuku Station in the middle of the day. There are also obviously plenty of taxis at these gateway stations (and the 2000 yen fee being quoted should be sufficient to cover most, if not all, of a taxi fare from there to a hotel if travelers don't want to take the subway). As such, there's no reason for this box which basically strongly recommended that people pay 2000 yen to separate themselves from their luggage for a day on arrival and two days on departure! Nick-D (talk) 11:13, 7 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. Nicolas1981 (talk) 06:55, 24 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Wouldn't use the service myself, but it is actually quite popular. Texugo (talk) 12:56, 24 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Articles I think we should have

Or is there a reason why these articles do not exist? Nicolas1981 (talk) 14:02, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Currently Tokyo is split into the official 23 wards, which is not necessarily the optimal split for a visitor, but is clear, unambiguous and understood by everyone. Jpatokal (talk) 00:09, 14 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Seoul is divided into 25 districts. Through discussion we divided it up into 11 areas. You might get some ideas from that article. --Andrewssi2 (talk) 02:48, 25 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

International ferries

The section By boat states:

  • none of the regular international ferries to Japan call at Tokyo
  • then International ferries and cargo ferries that also take passengers can leave from other terminals too, enquire with your shipping company

It needs to be clarified - Fabimaru (talk) 19:31, 9 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Wikibooks import waiting to be merged

Please note that User:Nicholasjf21 has moved a book imported from the English Wikibooks to Talk:Tokyo/Wikibooks, where it sits waiting to be merged into this article. If/when this is done, remember to note somehow that portions of that article were used in this one, so that the previous authors can be properly credited (see, for example, Talk:Colico and Template:Mergecredit — I don't know the preferred method around here). - dcljr (talk) 21:34, 15 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Radioactivity?

This article claims the effects of the Fukushima disaster are pervasive & severe. The site it is on is one I have found reliable in the past, but I cannot judge the accuracy of this. Could someone closer to the situation and/or better equipped to interpret the science take a look? Pashley (talk) 01:56, 25 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The severity of this incident is pretty subjective and there isn't a definitive scientific answer. Basically everyone agrees it is bad, just the scale of 'badness' can't be determined. The article itself suggests that living in Tokyo poses long term health effects, but this might not even be a consideration for a traveller visiting for 1 month.
Also remember that Tokyo is one of the world's biggest cities (Perhaps still technically the biggest?). Any exposure to even very low level radiation will obviously effect more people than if it happened near a smaller city. --Andrewssi2 (talk) 02:46, 25 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Pashley, the article souns very activistic to me. In principle, I tend to believe more peer reviewed scientific papers and reports of international expert bodies (WHO, IAEA, and alike) because like that I can verify how the data were collected and models applied. Although I am not a medical specialist, Dr. Mita's findings seem more or less random to me. His methodology has nothing to do with a randomized study as far as I could tell from the article (and the linked interview with him).
However radiation might be percieved evel due to its invisibility, it is really easy to measure, unlike some other potentially dangerous substances that surround us and even more so the inhabitants of large cities, which tend to be havilly polluted. The radiation levels in Tokyo are known and lower than those in some other regions due to just natural sources. And the physical effects of radiation are the same, no matter if the source is natural or artificial. The effects of low levels of radiation is a highly contraversial topic even within the expert circles.
I agree with Andrewssi2 that a visit (even for a couple of months) can no way significantly negatively affect anybody's health from the radiological point of view (especially compared to the dose absorbed during a transcontinental flight due to cosmic rays). --Danapit (talk) 11:35, 25 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Move Hie Shrine from Chiyoda to Akasaka?

I think Hie Shrine should be part of our Tokyo/Akasaka article, rather than Tokyo/Chiyoda. While technically it might be in Chiyoda, Chiyoda is very wide while Hie Shrine is only a hundred meter from Akasaka, which is a much smaller area. "the only actual sight in Akasaka is the Hie Shrine (日枝神社), located atop a little hill at the edge of the area" Nicolas1981 (talk) 13:46, 12 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Similarly, I suggest putting Hamarikyu in Tokyo/Shiodome rather than the much wider Tokyo/Chuo. Nicolas1981 (talk) 14:05, 12 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Yes offcourse, that makes sense to move Hie Shrine to Akasaka. And while the shrine is already mentioned in Akasaka, but yes as one-liner, so go ahead and convert it into listing but make sure to remove it from Chiyoda to avoid repetition. As for Hamarikyu; yes that makes sense too because it is in walking distance from Shiodome station. --Saqib (talk) 14:11, 12 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Districts

Template which reads "Discussion on defining district borders for Tokyo is underway" has been placed on such a important guide since 2011 while the discussion about districification has been on halt since 2009. Today, I've plunged forward and made a change to region-list and now that Old Tokyo region list is shorten, I've decided to suggest few more changes to region list which will merge "Old Tokyo" region list into "Suburbs" region list. The map is not perfect as I couldn't able to locate source files of existing maps. But I may draw a new map from scratch if there's a requirement. I've some local knowledge of Tokyo as I lived there for months, repeatedly so I'm happy to further discuss the issue and sought it out as soon as possible. Please have your opinions. --Saqib (talk) 16:12, 12 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Let's get rid of this template and just consensus guide us from here on out. Shii (talk) 21:16, 3 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Old Tokyo (Shitamachi) and Suburbs

Map of Tokyo
  East
Many suburban wards, including Adachi, where one can visit one of Kanto's Three Great Temples: Nishi-arai Daishi, Katsushika, known for the charming Showa-era atmosphere of Shibamata and Edogawa, a quiet eastern suburb.
  North
Includes the suburban wards of Kita, Itabashi and the quieter northern Nerima, which contains some of the 23 wards' last remaining farmland.
  Nakano
Home to the otaku paradise known as Nakano Broadway.
  Ota
Half industrial complex, half upscale residential area.
  Setagaya
An upscale residential area that houses the student drinking spot of Shimokitazawa as well as the newly revitalized shopping centers of Futako-Tamagawa.
  Suginami
Typical Tokyo suburb stretching along the Chuo Line.
  Sumida
Now graced with the presence of the modern Tokyo SkyTree, this ward is home to the Edo-Tokyo Museum and Tokyo's main sumo arena (Ryogoku Kokugikan), both in Ryogoku.
  Taito
The heart of Old Tokyo featuring the temples of Asakusa and National Museums in Ueno.
  Bunkyo
Home to Tokyo Dome and the University of Tokyo.

Districts map and list update

I was initally a little confused looking at the main district list and map trying to find some listings locations until I noticed the existence of the Tokyo/Harajuku article (among others). I realise this is a very huge city but sub-districts of districts are not easy to locate if you are not familiar with the area. Could someone please update the Central Tokyo region map to make this a little clearer? --Traveler100 (talk) 21:57, 14 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Tokyo's boundary in Wikivoyage seems to be wrong

Swept in from the pub

Should this be fixed? ויקיג'אנקי (talk) 13:12, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The map you show is of the entire prefecture. Our map is of the city proper. Outside of the wards of the city there are other cities. ChubbyWimbus (talk) 15:15, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Sometimes a major city can be both a region and a city at the same time (and happens a lot in East Asia). We have a good degree of discretion how that is reflected in a travel guide. --Andrewssi2 (talk) 20:49, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Another question about the Tokyo articles...

Map needs to be updated to reflect the changes we made
Map needs to be updated to reflect the changes we made

Since it was decided to merge the articles Tokyo/Arakawa + Tokyo/Koto to the article Tokyo/East, shouldn't these changes be also made in the following two maps? whom would be able to fix the maps? ויקיג'אנקי (talk) 21:11, 16 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Travel Companion

Hmmm...thinking of going..💭 (around) October time... (Near Halloween Time) Just need to sort the details out really :) Paris146 (talk) 23:53, 17 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Wikidata items for dynamic map

Below is the list with all Wikidata items for the 23 wards of Tokyo. This should simplify the work in case we want to change the district set-up in the future. --Renek78 (talk) 20:08, 28 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

23 special wards of Tokyo (i.e. core of the city)

23 special wards of Tokyo
Name Wikidata-ID
Adachi Q213464
Arakawa Q232624
Bunkyo Q212713
Chiyoda Q214051
Chuo Q212704
Edogawa Q214056
Itabashi Q232635
Katsushika Q232628
Kita Q235130
Koto Q215175
Meguro Q233903
Minato Q190088
Nakano Q234087
Nerima Q232655
Ota Q217234
Setagaya Q231645
Shibuya Q193638
Shinagawa Q233495
Shinjuku Q179645
Suginami Q232631
Sumida Q235135
Taito Q232641
Toshima Q236680

The remaining districts

The non-colored areas are the remaining districts, the green colored are the 23 special wards.
Name Wikidata-ID
Akiruno Q240480
Akishima Q212494
Chofu Q210667
Fuchu Q208818
Fussa Q317813
Hachijō Subprefecture Q426586
Hachioji Q208863
Hamura Q270465
Higashikurume Q317830
Higashimurayama Q240489
Higashiyamato Q390788
Hino Q236197
Inagi Q317847
Kiyose Q329754
Kodaira Q213278
Koganei Q242874
Kokubunji Q317834
Komae Q86536
Kunitachi Q330007
Machida Q210628
Mitaka Q242885
Miyake Subprefecture Q1189992
Musashimurayama Q390806
Musashino Q210661
Nishitama District Q1048689
Nishitokyo Q242882
Ogasawara Subprefecture Q1193787
Ome Q237683
Oshima Subprefecture Q1074473
Tachikawa Q269634
Tama Q213263

Incorrect Wikidata

This page ("Tokyo") and "Tokyo (prefecture)" have incorrect Wikidata associations and need to be changed. This Wikivoyage page "Tokyo" (city) belongs with Q7473516 (Tokyo city) and not Q1490 (Tokyo prefecture). And Wikivoyage "Tokyo (prefecture)" is incorrectly associated with the historical Tokyo prefecture Wikidata Q1189121 and should be with Q1490 (Tokyo prefecture).

However the Tokyo Wikidata items Q1490 and Q7473516 are locked and I can't edit them. Could someone with permission to edit please:

  • Change this Wikivoyage page "Tokyo" (city) from Q1490 (Tokyo prefecture) to Q7473516 (Tokyo city).
  • Then, change Wikivoyage "Tokyo (prefecture)" from Q1189121 (historical Tokyo prefecture) to Q1490 (Tokyo prefecture).