Pop Japan

Tokyo, a city of 30 million, is a place where traditions and modern inventions live together. From the Tokyo Tower one can see only skyscrapers, palaces made of concrete and glass, multi-level highway junctions and monorail expresses. But under the neon lights there are still rickshaw runners pulling their carts and geishas walking in their wooden shoes. The ornamented pagodas, the Japanese gardens, the calm Shintoist sanctuaries tell us about the age of shoguns and ninjas. The digital cameras and the swords of the samurais can be found at the same store. In the restaurants one can have sushi, sukiyaki and tempura sitting on a tatami, using chopsticks. We can take a look at the masterpieces of ikebana and origami and the pictures painted on rice paper. The travelers can take a trip to the ancient city of Kyoto, to the giant Buddha of Kamakura, to the warm springs and to the Sacred Mountain, Fujiyama, where the cherry trees are blossoming at the foot of the hills.