Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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included island territorial claims; North
Korea's admission to abducting young
Japanese decades earlier to teach its spies
Japanese language and customs; Japan's
lack of accountability in school textbooks
of atrocities it committed during World
War II; and Japan's denial of sex slavery in
neighboring countries during the war.
Koizumi further outraged his neighbors
with repeated visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni
Shrine, vilified by critics for honoring
Japanese war dead, including those exe-
cuted for wartime atrocities in Asia.
After more than a decade of recession,
the economy seemed to be on the mend by
mid-2000. Tokyo property prices rose for
the first time in 2004, spurring investors
to return. In fact, after years of no new
attractions, few new hotels, deflated prices,
and only a handful of new developments,
Tokyo experienced something of a devel-
opment boom in the latter half of the last
decade, led by auctions of massive land
tracts once owned by Japan Railways near
train stations, especially Tokyo Station.
Several major urban developments mush-
roomed, most notably the Marunouchi
district east of Tokyo Station, with its
spanking-new skyscrapers and tree-lined
shopping street; Omotesando Hills, a posh
residential and shopping center designed
by renowned architect Tadao Ando; Rop-
pongi's Tokyo Midtown, which boasts
Tokyo's tallest building along with shops,
restaurants, an art museum, apartments,
and offices; and leader of the pack Rop-
pongi Hills, which stretches over 12 hect-
ares (30 acres) and contains 230 shops and
restaurants, offices, luxury apartments,
and an art museum (my favorite part of
the Roppongi Hills story: It took devel-
oper Mori Minoru 18 years of negotiation
with 500 property owners to secure the
land for development).
In or near these new developments was a
blitz of foreign-owned luxury hotels, includ-
ing the Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo; Grand
Hyatt Tokyo; Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo; and The
Peninsula Tokyo. In 2007, Tokyo witnessed
the development of new major museums in
more than a decade: The National Art Cen-
ter, Tokyo, and Suntory Museum of Art,
which, together with Roppongi Hills' Mori
Art Museum, formed the new Art Triangle
Roppongi.
But then came the 2008 international
financial meltdown, and Japan, whose
foremost trading partner had shifted from
the United States to China, was left reeling
from a downward spiral in foreign trade.
Furthermore, after Koizumi's rare 5-year
term ended in 2006, Japan once again suf-
fered a revolving door of prime ministers,
with three coming and going over the next
3 years.
In August 2009, widespread dissatisfac-
tion with the status quo brought a land-
slide victory for the opposition Democratic
Party of Japan and defeat for the business-
friendly Liberal Democratic party, which
had ruled for more than a half-century.
Under the helm of the new prime minis-
ter, Hatoyama Yukio, the DPJ has pledged
to cut government waste; provide support
for farmers, fishermen, and small and
medium-size businesses; and boost dispos-
able household income in an attempt to
bolster Japan's middle class.
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SHRINES & TEMPLES: RELIGION IN JAPAN
The main religions in Japan are Shintoism
and Buddhism, and many Japanese con-
sider themselves believers in both. Most
Japanese, for example, will marry in a
Shinto ceremony, but when they die,
they'll have a Buddhist funeral.
A native religion of Japan,
Shintoism
is
the worship of ancestors and national
