If you consider the Greater Tokyo Area, the Japanese capital is by far the largest in the world at around 35 million people and counting. The central metropolitan area, at around nine million people, is still up with the largest cities on the planet like Beijing and London. Either way it’s huge, a seemingly endless interlocking landscape of high-rise concrete and Hello Kitty that cries out to be explored. If you’ve watched those documentaries that said Tokyo is the most expensive city on the planet, then relax because things have changed. Low inflation and catch-up by other big cities like London and Moscow means that Tokyo is no longer the wallet-buster it used to be before and after the turn of the millennium, although of course it’s still not cheap. Despite the city’s penchant for business, high-tech wizardry and concrete high-rises, Tokyo remains a capital that is traditional at heart. Asakusa’s temples, the Meiji Shrine at Harajuku and the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda originate from the days when Tokyo was little more than a glorified fishing village on Japan’s coastal underbelly. Despite its reputation as a space-aged sardine can, more than a third of the Greater Tokyo Area is made up of forest, most of which grows in the hilly western reaches of the city. To the south, Tokyo Prefecture extends all the way to the little island of Torishima some 1,740kms from the centre of Tokyo: nobody does urban sprawl like Japan. This is perhaps as much the ‘Tokyo experience’ as visiting the historical sites of the city. Whatever you aim to see here, get ready for an exciting and often bizarre ride through the most extensive and highly developed urban jungle ever created by man. | 
