World's Greatest City: 50 reasons why Tokyo is No. 1

Mon, 03/05/2012 - 08:55 — Anonymous By Steve Trautlein, Matt Alt, Hiroko
Yoda, Melinda Joe, Andrew Szymanski and W. David Marx. 1. The world's most
sophisticated railways With 13 subway lines and more than 100 surface routes
run by Japan Railways and other private companies, Tokyo's railway system
seems like it was designed to win world records. It's rare to find a location
in the metropolitan area that can't be reached with a train ride and a
short walk. Now, if only the government could devise a way to keep
middle-aged salarymen from groping women onboard. Tokyo Sky Tree. (Tim
Hornyak/CNNGo)2. Sky-high one-upmanship When officials in Tokyo learned that
the new Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower in China would be 610 meters tall --
the same height that was planned for Tokyo Sky Tree, then under construction
-- they did what any rational person would do: They added 24 meters to the
top of Sky Tree to preserve its claim as the world's tallest tower. Now
complete and scheduled to open in May, the Guinness-certified structure
features shops, restaurants and an observation deck that lets you see almost
all the way to Guangzhou. 3. Tongue-gasmic food porn You could spend hours
drooling over the elaborate pastries and picture-perfect sushi rolls at
Istean's recently refurbished, super-stylish depachika. Square watermelons
and ¥50,000 matsutake mushrooms are displayed with gallery-like
reverence. Other highlights: Eat-in counters run by some of Tokyo's
snazziest restaurants and free samples of food and booze on weekends.read
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