In Depth

With a population of about 12 million, Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world -- and one of the most intriguing, exciting, and invigorating. As the nation's capital and financial nerve center, Tokyo is where it's happening in Asia. In a nation of overachievers, Tokyo has more than its fair share of intelligentsia, academics, politicians, businesspeople, artists, and writers, and it's the country's showcase for technology, fashion, art, music, and advertising. People rush around here with such purpose and determination, it's hard not to feel that you're in the midst of something important, that you're witnessing history in the making.

As for innovation, Tokyo has long been recognized as a leader. Indeed, Japan, once dismissed as merely an imitator with no imagination of its own, has long been at the forefront of all things technological, from computers and cars to audiovisual equipment and kitchen and office gadgetry. Walking through the stores of Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics center, provokes an uneasiness few visitors can shake, for it's here that the latest goods are sold long before they reach Western markets.

Yet despite outward appearances, all is not rosy in the land of the rising sun. Its unparalleled economic growth, considered invincible in the 1980s and generating both admiration and envy worldwide, came to an abrupt halt in 1992 with the burst of the economic bubble and the onset of the country's worst recession since World War II. On its heels came political scandal, rising unemployment, Kobe's catastrophic 1995 earthquake, the release of nerve gas on a Tokyo subway, a nuclear power accident only 113km (70 miles) from the capital, a schoolyard massacre in Osaka Prefecture, and a declining birth rate coupled with an aging population, all of which conspired to create a sense of anxiety and uncertainty.

Today, the economy is still stagnant, growing at a rate of less than 1% a year compared to the 6% annual growth it enjoyed in the 1980s. In April 2003, the Nikkei (the Japanese version of the American Dow) plunged to a 20-year low. Unemployment hovers around 5.3%. Homelessness is now so common that it no longer draws stares, even in the swank Ginza district. Moreover, crime, once almost unheard of, is a major topic of concern. My former Tokyo landlady fears burglary so much that she no longer opens her door to strangers. The car of my friend's boyfriend was stolen from a parking lot, one of 119 luxury cars reported stolen in Tokyo in 2000. In 2001, 2.34 million thefts were reported to police nationwide, almost triple the number reported a decade earlier.

For the short-term visitor to Tokyo, however, problems that loom in the public psyche are not readily apparent -- unless you go to Ueno or Yoyogi parks, where the growing number of homeless is nothing short of astounding. Crime, though undeniably on the increase, is still negligible when compared to levels in the United States, and Tokyo remains one of the safest cities in the world. Although it's true that I am more careful than I was 15 years ago -- I guard my purse in crowded subways and I avoid parks after dark -- for Americans such precautions seem merely self-evident. But while I'm cautious about theft and purse-snatching, I never worry about personal safety when I'm walking the streets of Tokyo. In fact, it never even crosses my mind. Violent crime -- especially against strangers -- remains virtually unheard of in Japan.

Moreover, while Tokyo remains one of the most expensive cities in the world, it now offers something that would have been unthinkable during the spending-happy 1980s: bargains. Tony French restaurants serve value-conscious fixed-price lunches, secondhand clothing stores sell last year's designer wear, 100-Yen discount shops do a brisk business, and some hotels -- particularly those at the lower end -- haven't raised their rates in years.

But for the first time since the economic bubble burst, I've noticed currents of change in Tokyo. After years of no new attractions, few new hotels, deflated prices, and only a scattered handful of new developments, Tokyo is experiencing something of a development boom, spurred by auctions of massive land tracts once owned by Japan Railways near train stations. Former railway switching yards near Tokyo Bay have blossomed into skyscrapers containing offices, restaurants, shops, and a hotel, known collectively as Shiodome. Land beside Tokyo Station now boasts the new Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi, with rooms costing more than $500 a night. In fact, Tokyo will see a blitz of new, foreign-owned luxury hotels opening in the coming years, including the St. Regis Tokyo in 2004, the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo in 2006, the Peninsula Tokyo in 2006, and a Ritz-Carlton in 2007.

But the biggest land development to hit Tokyo is Roppongi Hills, which stretches over 11.6 hectares (28 acres) and contains more than 120 high-end boutiques, more than 60 restaurants, the new Grand Hyatt Tokyo, offices, luxury apartments, an art museum, an observation deck, and a multiplex cinema. My favorite part of the story: It took developer Mori Minoru 18 years of negotiation with 500 property owners to secure the land for development.

Of course, the influx of new hotels and office buildings is giving some Tokyoites the jitters. A glut of new office space may translate into empty buildings; an onslaught of new hotels may launch a battle for survival.

Yet despite what the future may bring, I'm convinced Tokyo at street level will remain as it's always been -- humming with energy, crowded beyond belief, and filled with acts of human kindness.

The Masterless Samurai

Every Japanese schoolchild knows the story of the 47 ronin (masterless samurai), a story also immortalized in a popular Kabuki play. In 1701, a feudal lord (daimyo) named Kira was ordered by the Tokugawa shogun to instruct another daimyo, Asano, in the etiquette of court ritual in preparation for a visit from an Imperial entourage from Kyoto. The two quarreled, and the quick-tempered Asano, angered at the insults hurled by the older daimyo, drew his sword. Since the drawing of a sword in Edo Castle was strictly forbidden, Asano was ordered to commit ritual suicide, his family was disinherited and turned out of their home, his estate and castle were confiscated by the shogun, and his retainers (samurai) became masterless. Kira, on the other hand, was found innocent and went unpunished.

In those days, masterless samurai were men without a future. Their loyalty in question, they were unlikely to find daimyo willing to retain them, so many turned to a life of crime, hiring themselves out as mercenaries or becoming highway robbers. The 47 ronin, however, decided to avenge their master's death by killing Kira. Knowing that Kira was on the lookout for revenge, they bided their time until one snowy December night in 1702, when they attacked Kira's mansion, cut off his head, and paraded it through the streets of Edo on the way to their master's grave at Sengakuji Temple. Although the public was sympathetic toward the ronin for the steadfast loyalty they had shown their dead master, the shogun ordered all of them to commit ritual suicide through disembowelment.

In Tokyo today, all that remains of Kira's mansion, located near the Kokugikan sumo stadium at 3-13-9 Ryogoku, is a white-and-black wall crowned by a weeping willow and a small inner courtyard. The 47 ronin and their master, on the other hand, are memorialized by tombs at Sengakuji Temple, 2-11-1 Takanawa (tel. 03/3441-5560; subway: Sengakuji, exit A2, a 2-min. walk), and by a small museum (daily 9am-4pm; closed Mar 31 and Sept 30) containing clothing, armor, and personal items belonging to the ronin (a 15-min. video about the ronin and their era is shown in Japanese; if there are no other visitors, however, you can request to see it in English). Admission to the temple and tombs is free; admission to the museum is ¥500 ($4.75) for adults, ¥400 ($3.80) for students, and ¥250 ($2.40) for children. Every December 14, in a reenactment of the parade, 47 men dressed as ronin deliver a replica of Kira's head to Sengakuji Temple.