1964 T○KY○
IN 1964, after a miraculously fast recovery from World War II, Tokyo was red hot. Time magazine had declared it the “most dynamic city on the face of the Earth”, with a pace of life “double that of New York”. The streets of Ginza were bathed in neon and locals flocked to coffee shops that hosted live jazz or ogled Nissan cars presented in a futuristic cylindrical showroom by elegant female attendants collectively known as “Miss Fairlady”. Students danced frenetically to homegrown Beatles sound-alikes The Spiders, barely aware of the anti-government sentiment that would sweep the city’s elite universities and lead to protests in a few years.
Portable ramen carts plied their trade around the busy streets of Shinjuku every evening, their red lanterns and rich pork broth beckoning hungry office workers. While heavy Western dishes like beef stew were all the rage at fashionable Camellia Corner in the new Hotel Okura, visiting French chefs were enchanted by traditional kaiseki (multi-course) dining, which sparked the nouvelle cuisine boom.
The pace of building for the Olympics was relentless and Tokyoites were resigned to nights of earplugs and block-out curtains. On weekday mornings, commuters were forcefully shoved into train carriages on the new subway system that could barely keep up with the influx of workers from the countryside. Lovable cartoon robot Astro Boy romped on TV and Godzilla rampaged across movie screens in a rubber costume, destroying the evergrowing city skyline to wild applause. Tokyo was speeding towards the future faster than a bullet train. While the city still feels dynamic, it’s on a human scale. For all the shiny technology, it’s a place of personal interaction, thoughtful gestures and leisurely conversations.
Ginza is hot again after the financial collapse of the early 1990s put an end to meganightclubs, expense accounts and Champagne for all. Now the district is populated with cool shops and low-key Michelinstarred restaurants, from the traditional sushi of Sukiyabashi Jiro to fast and tasty yakitori at Bird Land. The rebellious spirit of the ’60s lives on in spaces such as Dover Street Market and “underground” fashion emporium The Park.Ing Ginza (literally in a car park beneath the Sony Building).
Workers still head to Shinjuku’s Golden Gai, where narrow alleys conceal tiny ramen shops such as Nagi, offering comfort in a bowl of silky noodles. And while shoppers stroll by the designer flagships on Omotesando Avenue, a few streets away Tonkatsu Maisen – serving crisp pork cutlets in a converted bathhouse since 1965 – attracts construction workers and world-famous chefs alike. Areas such as Sendagaya and Yoyogi are being revitalised as cool brands follow the young artisans who rediscovered them.
But some parts of Tokyo seem charmingly unchanged. Just minutes from the city centre, you can travel back in time to atmospheric Shibamata, where the narrow streets are lined with family shops selling rice crackers and retro toys, and resident cats lounge lazily atop the displays.
Today, the venerable hotels of the ’60s have been refreshed for a new era, joined by a style of ryokan (inn)/hotel hybrid featuring the best of traditional Japanese design and luxurious modernity, including Aman Tokyo and Hoshinoya in Ōtemachi.
Cafés are no longer smoky hangouts with weak brews; local roasters Streamer and Nozy herald coffee’s “third wave”. And with music acts Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu – plus artists Takashi Murakami and the TeamLab collective – leading pop-culture trends, the world now comes to Tokyo for fashion, anime, manga and subculture.