The run-up to the 1964 Olympics was a time of dramatic change for Tokyo. New infrastructure projects gave the city a huge postwar facelift: highways, sports venues and hotels were constructed, new shinkansen “bullet trains” slashed the travel time to Osaka from just under seven hours to four, and a $55m monorail linked the flashy new Haneda International Airport to downtown Tokyo. Author Robert Whiting wrote that the games “put the cap on what is regarded as the most explosive urban transformation in history”.
It wasn’t just the physical landscape of the city that was undergoing a wholesale reinvention. The 1960s gave rise to extraordinary creativity in the capital’s arts scene, from the films of Susumu Hani, one of the prominent Japanese New Wave film directors, to a new style of dance, butoh, invented by choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata.
Today, as the Japanese capital gets ready to host the 2020 Olympics, Guardian Cities is preparing for a weeklong special focus on Tokyo. We will report live from the heart of the city, with a series of features, films and photography to get under the skin of what at 37 million people is by far the biggest metropolis on Earth.
Above all, we want to hear from Tokyoites: how is your city changing?
For example, how is the city balancing the old and the new – its centuries-old traditions with modernising forces? Tokyo is renowned for its culture of long working hours, and in 2017 labour inspectors ruled that the death of a 31-year-old journalist, Miwa Sado, had been caused by karoshi (death from overwork). Are there signs of a shift in that culture? Is life changing for women? Is the new wave of tourists or immigrants transforming the city? And what are the latest Tokyo musts – from food to fashion to art or music?
There are several ways you can share your observations, opinions and suggestions with us:
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We hope to hear from you. Guardian Tokyo Week, iku-zo!
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