Tag - walking-the-wards

 
 

WALKING THE WARDS

Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Feb 1, 2008
Harboring dreams
Second of two parts
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jan 4, 2008
Where ambitions have long soared
First of two parts
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Dec 7, 2007
Winging it in Ota Ward
Ota Ward is totally fly. For starters, it hosts Haneda, the only airport actually situated in Tokyo's 23 wards. Although a plane would come in handy in navigating this southernmost and largest of the city's wards, you'd miss out on roasting wieners at Ota's weekend barbecue hot spot, Jonanjima Seaside Park.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Nov 2, 2007
Well-heeled in Chuo Ward
From the opulence of world-renown Ginza emporiums, to the glittering scales on the fish auctioned from slick palettes in Tsukiji market, Chuo Ward wheels and deals precious commodities.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Oct 5, 2007
All at sea in Shinagawa
In Edo Period Shinagawa, popular footwear included geta (traditional wooden sandals) perched on meter-high, box-frame stilts weighted down with large stones. A fashionista freakout? Not exactly. Turns out these uberplatforms, a pair of which are on display at the Shinagawa Historical Museum, were designed to keep feet high and dry while collecting nori (seaweed).
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Sep 7, 2007
Booking uphill in Bunkyo
Walkers in Bunkyo Ward won't get far before their legs let them know the place has hills — lots of them. A Bunkyo Civic Center official concurs: "We've named 113 slopes, but there are even more."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Aug 3, 2007
Home to the outsider
Western Taito Ward is a paradise for nonconformists who stray off the beaten track. Throughout the incense-scented alleys of Yanaka, and across the parklands of Ueno, it's hard to miss the area's preponderance of "strays"; tourists, artists and the homeless who, with a surprising number of cats, all wander this quintessentially shitamachi (downtown) neighborhood.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jul 6, 2007
A very red-light district
You won't find many red lights larger than the enormous paper lantern at Taito Ward's Sensoji, or Asakusa Kannon Temple.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jun 1, 2007
To infinity and beyond
At the southern end of Edogawa Ward, Kasai Rinkai Koen Seaside Park dips its toes in the Pacific Ocean. From there, it's possible to see Tokyo Disney Resort across the water in Urayasu.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
May 4, 2007
The sun shines in spiritland
Toshima Ward is rife with zombies and familiar spirits. In the wee hours near the stationopolis of Ikebukuro, pale-faced university students, partied-out salarymen and a host of others wander the streets until the first trains arrive. These are Toshima's innocuous shades; there are others more spine tingling.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Apr 6, 2007
Where mod confronts odd
Several decades ago, commuters riding the Mekama Line into Meguro Station were tagged country bumpkins. Today, developers pack the ward with suburban homes as fast as they can pour cement. Old dwellings with gardens give way to duplexes with flowerpots, and chic furniture stores now clog Meguro Avenue to satiate design-hungry homemakers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Mar 2, 2007
Shinjuku's split personality
In Shinjuku, the first challenge is getting out of the station. Said to be the world's busiest; traversed by approximately 3 million commuters a day, Shinjuku has been a Japan Railways stop since 1885. The Chuo, Keio and Odakyu train lines as well as subway stops joined later, and the depot morphed into a dizzying, multileveled warren of platforms, shops and restaurants.
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Feb 2, 2007
Cabbages and kings
Those who live and work in Itabashi are hesitant when it comes to tallying up the highlights of this northwestern Tokyo ward. "There's really nothing remarkable here," says ballerina and homemaker Chieko Muraoka, 37. "It's quiet and small-scale, but we like it that way."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jan 5, 2007
Chiyoda's good circulation
Many consider Chiyoda the heart of Tokyo, and no wonder. The ward pumps lifeblood in and out with circadian regularity.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Dec 1, 2006
Katsushika a cut above all your expectations
Many of Tokyo's award-winning swordsmiths choose to live in Ka-tsushika. Why? "Land has always been cheap here," said Shoji Yoshihara, 61, designated an Important Living Cultural Property of the ward and deputy head of All Japan Swordsmiths Association. "The process of making swords is noisy and smoky, so you need as much space as you can afford," he added.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Nov 3, 2006
A wave to Setagaya
Home to approximately one tenth of the total citizenry of all of Tokyo's 23 wards, Setagaya houses 800,000 people, the same figure as the population for the entire island of Oahu, Hawaii. At both places, people seem to have come in waves.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Oct 6, 2006
Animal magic in the jungle of Setagaya
Taxi drivers claim that, unless you've lived there all your life, Setagaya is nearly impossible to navigate. Major thoroughfares pulse straight across the second largest of Tokyo's 23 wards, but off the highway a maze of tapering, winding one-way alleys will often as not dead-end you in someone's back yard. Forget the map, bring a ball of string.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Sep 1, 2006
Slow train coming downtown
Arakawa Ward snuggles like a puzzle piece in the bends of the Sumida River. The third smallest of Tokyo's 23 wards, it has an intimate, unpretentious atmosphere that matches the attitude of many of its residents. Asked what makes Arakawa special, locals and even city officials tilt their heads in thought, as though the question has never occurred to them before.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Aug 4, 2006
Shibuya's got glamour, and more
Anyone with more than a week in Tokyo has spent some time with Shibuya's mascot, Hachiko, waiting and watching thousands of individuals merge on cue into a tsunami of mass determination and consumerism, a scramble of humanity.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jul 7, 2006
Reach for the sky
Sumida Ward spans an area that has endured ruinous fires, floods, plagues, and seismic as well as economic jostlings. Residents of this battered part of the city nonetheless have always kept their pride buoyant and their spirits aloft. Even when the chips are down, residents of Sumida Ward insist that things are looking up.

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