Facts about Tokyo – what makes Japan's capital unlike any other city

Tokyo is the world’s largest metropolitan area, with more than 37 million people, yet its trains, streets and public spaces are remarkably orderly for a city of that size. With 1,400 years of temple history alongside the world’s tallest broadcast tower, this city is filled with ancient sites from the past and cutting-edge landmarks defining the future. Learning facts about Tokyo is a great way to prepare for a trip and experience the culture and sites in a more meaningful way.  For Princess® guests, those extremes can unfold in a single day, from centuries-old religious sites to the streets of modern Tokyo.

Tokyo’s rise began in 1603, when Tokugawa Ieyasu established Edo as the seat of his shogunate. For the next 265 years, it served as Japan’s political center while the emperor remained in Kyoto. Edo Castle anchored a city of merchant quarters and canals that, by the 18th century, had grown into one of the world’s largest.

In 1868, the shogunate ended and Emperor Meiji moved to Edo, renaming it Tokyo, or “Eastern Capital.” Japan rapidly adopted new technologies and institutions during the decades that followed.

Meiji Shrine, completed in 1920 in memory of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, marks that era today. A 40-foot torii gate leads to a wide gravel path surrounded by a dense forest, where mature trees screen much of the surrounding city from view. The shrine sits at the end of the walk, in a setting that feels removed from central Tokyo.

Much of modern Tokyo was built after the city suffered widespread destruction twice in the 20th century. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and wartime bombing in 1945 destroyed vast areas of the city. Senso-ji, founded in 628 and rebuilt after World War II, is one example of how historic sites were reconstructed rather than lost from Tokyo’s cultural life.

More than 37 million people live across the Greater Tokyo Area, a population larger than that of many countries. Within Tokyo itself, 23 special wards function as distinct urban districts, from the commercial towers of Shinjuku to the busy streets of Shibuya.

Shinjuku Station gives you some sense of that scale. The world’s busiest railway station handles more than 3 million passengers a day through a network of platforms, underground corridors and dozens of exits. Despite the volume, Tokyo’s rail system is known for running closely to schedule, with operators issuing formal notices for even relatively short delays.

At Shibuya Crossing, you can feel that sense of lively organization. When the lights change, pedestrians move into the intersection from several directions at once, filling the broad striped crossings before traffic resumes.

Tokyo has been rebuilt repeatedly, but many of its oldest religious sites still occupy the same ground they have for centuries. Senso-ji, founded in 628, began according to legend when two brothers pulled a statue of Kannon from the Sumida River. Today, visitors enter through Kaminarimon Gate beneath its enormous red lantern. They then follow Nakamise-dori past stalls selling folding fans, yukata and Japanese sweets, with incense smoke gathering near the temple at the end of the street.

The Highlights of Tokyo excursion also visits Meiji Shrine, where a 40-foot torii gate marks the entrance to a forest planted with approximately 100,000 trees donated from across Japan. On the Best of Tokyo excursion, guests can see the Imperial Palace area, where stone walls, pine trees and moats surround the imperial grounds, including the two-tier Nijubashi Bridge.

Then there is Tokyo Skytree. At 634 metres, it is the world’s tallest broadcast tower and rises above eastern Tokyo near Senso-ji. From parts of Asakusa, the slender modern tower can be seen beyond the roofs of the historic temple district. You can see two very different periods of Tokyo in the same view.

Tokyo has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city in the world, but high-level cooking here isn’t limited to formal dining rooms. If you’re looking for things to do in Tokyo, Japanese dishes won’t disappoint. Guests can find carefully prepared sushi at small counters, multi-course kaiseki menus and neighborhood restaurants built around a single specialty.

Department store food halls, known as depachika, make another side of the city’s food culture easy to explore. Below some of Tokyo’s major department stores, rows of vendors sell prepared dishes, pastries, pickles and boxed sweets, with each counter arranged with satisfying precision. In Ginza, these food halls sit beneath a district known for luxury shopping and dining. The Best of Tokyo excursion includes lunch at a local venue alongside visits to the city’s major scenic landmarks. 

Princess excursions bring many of these interesting facts about Tokyo to life. Both the Best of Tokyo excursion and Highlights of Tokyo excursion visit Meiji Shrine, Senso-ji and the Imperial Palace area, with Best of Tokyo also including lunch at a local venue.

Guests can also travel beyond Tokyo to Kamakura, the seat of Japan’s first shogunate in 1192. The Kamakura: Image of the Great Buddha & Shrine excursion visits Kōtoku-in Temple, where construction of the bronze Great Buddha began in 1252. Including its base, the seated figure stands approximately 43.8 feet tall.

The excursion also visits Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, originally founded nearby in 1063 and moved to its present location by Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1180, with major pavilion structures built on the site in 1191. Guests travel along the approximately 1.1-mile, cherry tree-lined Wakamiya-Oji avenue, too, before free time on Komachi-Dori Street. You can browse our Tokyo shore excursions to decide exactly how to spend your time ashore completely stress-free.

These fun facts about Tokyo show just how much there is to see once you arrive. Centuries of history remain part of daily life, while each neighbourhood brings its own reason to explore, from temple districts to some of the world’s most ambitious dining. 

But don’t just read about it. Aboard cruises to Tokyo, guests can experience that range for themselves, then look back from the harbour at one of the world’s largest cities stretching toward the horizon.