Tokyo Excess

‘Tokyo is cool.’  This is how I would describe Japan overall, and Tokyo in particular.  This is where the Japanese have intermingled the past, present, and future to create a unique living culture.  Cool is about an experience that encompasses great food, creative pop culture, modern life side by side with lively traditions, futuristic urban environments, fantastic shopping, well-run train systems, and amazing conveniences.  Japan is a country that punches above its weight for cultural exports too.  Outside of Japan, people are aware of Pokemon, Hello Kitty, Godzilla, anime, Japanese video games, cosplay, sushi, ramen, haiku, taiko drumming, go, karate, judo, samurai, ninjas, yakuza, sumo, and karaoke.  Even if you have limited exposure to these things, the emojis you use while texting were originally developed for Japanese cellphones in 1999, and the pictograms you now see for washrooms and other facilities evolved from the ones developed in Japan for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.