40 Amazing Facts About Tokyo

Here are 40 amazing Tokyo facts.

1-5 Tokyo Facts

1. There are 5 enormous cylindrical shafts underneath of Tokyo, Japan which fill with water in case of a flood so it does not to destroy the city. – Source

2. There’s an anime and manga in Japan called Saint Young Men, which is about Jesus and Buddha living as roommates in Tokyo while taking a vacation on Earth and attempting to understand Japanese society. – Source

3. In 2010, when Tokyo officials went to congratulate the oldest man in the city on his 111th birthday, they instead found his skeletal remains on his bed. He had been dead for 30 years and the family was taking in the pension money he was still receiving. – Source

4. Allied carpet bombing of Tokyo killed more civilians than the atomic bombing of both Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined. – Source

5. During Tokyo’s property bubble the grounds of the Imperial Palace (1.32 square miles) were valued higher than the entirety of the real estate in California. – Source

6-10 Tokyo Facts

6. Researchers in Tokyo have developed a mirror that tweaks the viewer’s reflection in real-time to make it look like they’re smiling. The projected application for this tech is for use in shopping mall bathrooms, in hopes that happier shoppers will buy more. – Source

7. The 2020 Olympics will take place in Tokyo, as predicted in the manga Akira in 1982. – Source

8. In 2013 a 39-storey hotel in Tokyo “disappeared,” in that it was demolished without explosives or a wrecking ball. All 39 floors were disassembled by a small crane from inside the building and there’s a time lapse of it shrinking floor by floor. – Source

9. You can pay a travel agency in Tokyo to take your stuffed animal on a vacation, without you. – Source

10. After WW2, cuttings from Washington DC’s cherry trees–originally a gift from Japan–were sent back to Japan to restore the Tokyo collection decimated by US bombing during the war. – Source

11-15 Tokyo Facts

11. The tallest free-standing tower in the world, the Tokyo Sky Tree, had its final height chosen solely because of wordplay; several numbers were considered because of their alternate meanings, they ended up choosing 634m for “Musashi”. – Source

12. A Japanese scientist made a replica of Tokyo using oat flakes to represent population centers and bright light to represent mountains, water, and other obstacles on a dish. When he placed a living slime mold in the model, it created a network that resembled Tokyo’s rail system. – Source

13. Japan has nearly twice as many 7-Elevens as the United States, with 2,079 stores in Tokyo alone. – Source

14. There’s a hamburger joint in Tokyo called Whoopi Goldburger. – Source

15. There’s a skyscraper in Tokyo which tells you, using colored lights, whether you should bring an umbrella when you go outside. – Source

16-20 Tokyo Facts

16. There is a building in Tokyo built in 1972, whose rooms consist of tiny 90 square foot capsule apartments that can be individually replaced like lego pieces. – Source

17. There is a 12 story luxury paper store in Tokyo. On the 12th floor, they serve salad grown on the 11th floor, which is an organic indoor farm. – Source

18. The University of Tokyo is developing a tactile hologram system. In other words, they are creating a hologram that you can touch and feel. – Source

19. Tokyo has a butler themed cafe. According to the owner, Japanese women “want a cafe where the waiters are male, good-looking, will treat them nice, but most importantly are Western.” Butler’s cafe” is the sole cafe hiring only foreign men as staff.” – Source

20. 45 of the 51 busiest train stations in the world are in Japan. The busiest, Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station, serves roughly 1.2 billion passengers each year. – Source

21-25 Tokyo Facts

21. At noon on September 1, 1923, a massive earthquake hit Tokyo. Major fires popped up across the city, because people were cooking lunch over fires when the quake hit. Over 100,000 people died. – Source

22. Blue ‘anti-suicide’ LED lights are installed on Tokyo train platforms in an effort to reduce railway suicides. They are thought to have a calming effect and research found an 84% decrease in suicides at stations with the blue lights installed. – Source

23. In 1923, a “fire tornado” went through Tokyo and incinerated more than 38,000 people. – Source

24. Tokyo train stations each have their own unique theme song. – Source

25. The rock and roll culture of the 50’s is still being preserved in Tokyo today. – Source