Gregory Starr: Forget the glitz and find the real Tokyo in its shopping streets

Wed, 12/07/2011 - 11:55 — Anonymous The heart and soul of Tokyo is
certainly not the domain of the almost ludicrous Sky Tree. Nor is it found in
pretentious Ginza, rowdy Roppongi, or Shibuya's alleyways. The most salient
feature for those who choose to live well in this city is the neighborhood
shotengai/, /the "commercial streets" -- there are more than 300 in the
city -- that cluster around just about every local station. A shotengai is
not just a street of intimate one- and two-story shops selling all the
necessities of life; it's a portal through the aloof crust of the city into
the warmth of social acceptance and interaction, where the mammoth sprawl can
be dealt with on a more human scale.read more