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Comment by renewiltord | Hacker News Reader

It is actually quite a lovely place without the cars. Occasionally, you'll see a tiny one packed into a corner on a street. Very futuristic city and very natural to walk around and to take the trains and buses in. An example of the kind of city that mankind can build. Of course they have (what are to me) novel failure modes. During election season they have these vans that go around with loudspeakers loudly proclaiming this or that. Really awful stuff. You wouldn't believe how loud that stuff is. Goes right through the windows.

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I don't think there's really anything futuristic about Tokyo, not even 15 years ago.

15 years ago in Tokyo I was ordering via QR codes and tapping to pay with my phone. Seems pretty futuristic in retrospect.

I lived in Tokyo 15 years ago, there was no ordering by qr codes.

I don't know if it was futuristic, but Hong Kong and Tokyo in the 90s definitely fueled a lot of techno-optimism in other countries. Seeing all the cool new devices (VCDs, CDs, game systems, early mobile phones and email, recording devices, bullet trains, anime, etc.) come out and be adopted made it feel like really cool things were to come and bring exciting societal changes. A lot of people have strong nostalgia with that imagined future, but after the 2010 decade of smart phones and startups I think things look less exciting.

Imo it’s the best city in the worlds hands down. I’ve been to a few but Tokyo is as good as it gets.

It had everything, insanely good transport, safe, some of the best food in the world, beautiful weather most of the year except for rainy season, incredible art, great mix of old and new, some beautiful parks, great for riding bikes, little traffic, clean air.

The only thing I’d say let’s it down and it does let it down a bit is the lack of greenery. I think it’s a known issue though.

It’s honestly the best city I’ve ever visited and I’ve been to a few.

New York is a close second for the history but it’s so dirty that it’s beyond charming.

Agree that Tokyo has a very high quality of life, provided that your living and work situation is also good.

tokyo has no terrasse to have a coffee when it's sunny, and biking in tokyo looks a bit suicidal as i don't remember seeing a single biking lane in the streets (2018).

From a european standpoint it makes it really hard to live.

You should try it again, should you get the chance. I drink coffee on a terrace almost daily at my local place in shibuya. You can also nomikai outside at a ton of places. The version of outdoor seating is not the same as Europe but if your marker is enjoy your meal outside, you most definitely can.

As for cycling, I can’t speak to it as much, but it seems like the cycling culture is much more casual. Tons of parents cycling their preschool children, people biking on sidewalks, etc.

That said, my best mate is an avid cyclist and worked bike shops most his life. He exclusively cycles here and always points out the sheer number of hobby (expensive? custom?) bikes casually posted outside shops.

I ride in Tokyo and surrounding areas often. There are bike lanes scattered around, though some places have far more than others. In general though, there is a lot of patience on the part of drivers here in the city (at least relative to Australia) that makes riding a bike on roads without a bike lane generally a fairly safe option.

Also, there are plenty of terraces to have a nice coffee on. The difficult thing in Tokyo is you need to search in advance for what you want. It's so crammed full of options, that you might never realize all the interesting things you're walking past. It's a very three-dimensional city, there's stuff hidden everywhere.

It is definitely in my top 5. The amount of green space isn't too bad at least compared to lot of European towns and cities, and you can easily access more of the green stuff in the Tokyo surrounding areas via public transport. No on street parking is a huge plus and I say that as a car owner in city.

I would say a few downsides are poor insulation from noise and weather in many buildings and expectation that children don't make much noise (it is really sad to see signs in small parks that say "no ball games"). I also echo bsaul's comment about the lack of terrace space for restaurants and cafes, those are great public socializing spaces.

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