With the publication last week of the new Michelin Guide, the world may now know Tokyo to be the culinary capital that it is. Opera, on the other hand, lags slightly behind, although compared to many other cities there is still an embarrassment of riches, writes Benjamin Woodward.
The scene is heavily dominated by European opera companies, trundling through the capital with their singers, chorus, orchestra and sets on a regular basis. It's a task to choose, let alone tell them apart, so here is a guide to some of the highlights of the first half of 2008. Be warned: even the most expensive productions sell out quickly.
Starting with the homegrown, the Tokyo Opera Nomori festival (the Tokyo Forest of Opera) is held annually in April at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan in Ueno. It's a recent addition to the opera calendar, having only kicked off in 2005, but along with the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture, it's definitely a high point of the year for opera.