The linked article focuses on the physical features of Tokyo. For me, even more attractive is the economic dynamism that they enable.
I moved to Tokyo in 1983 and have lived there and in nearby Yokohama ever since. Until 2005, I worked as a freelancer—mostly translation, but also advertising copywriting and other related occupations. I did my work at home, but I was often out and about in Tokyo to visit clients, attend narration recording sessions, visit libraries and bookstores, buy computer supplies in Akihabara, etc. Over the years, I interacted with hundreds of other people working freelance in the city: graphic designers, fashion designers, recording engineers, narrators, musicians, editors, photographers, videographers, other translators and writers, and various kinds of agents who made their living bringing together other freelancers to work on large projects. Our meetings would be held in coffeeshops, in taxis, on benches in train stations and parks, and in offices on upper floors of the zakkyo buildings mentioned in the article.
In those days, before the Internet changed everything, that kind of freelance work and lifestyle seemed to be possible only in a city like Tokyo. I don’t think any other city in Japan, except maybe Osaka, had a large and diverse enough population to create a similarly productive dynamism. I, at least, was certain that I would not have been able to get as much high-paying, interesting work if I had not lived within commuting distance of central Tokyo.
Since 2005, while still employed in Tokyo, I have been working in academia and have lost touch with that freelance economy. The Internet has probably made it even more dynamic in some ways, but I suspect that it depends much less on the physical urban landscape.
Like Hemingway in post-WW1 Paris or Hunter S Thompson et al in 1960s Haight Ashbury, one part of it is the city/neighbourhoods, one part culture, and the biggest thing is the people who create the culture and local businesses that make the neighbourhoods interesting.
If you hang out with interesting people (or in modern times share their information networks) then you'll find these cultural hot spots.
It's worth it for major cities to invest in fostering this sort of thing but often it happens naturally as a side effect of circumstance (post war Paris was cheap and booming with fun bars/cafes and plenty of artists, SF/Berkley was in the center of the free-love movement, Tokyo was in the Japanese capitalist tech+cultural boom/etc).
That being said, almost every major city has interesting people, you just have to find them. Some cities have much more than others. Some aren't even cities but unique towns/small communities. And some cities are riddled with poor planning or active policies that are anti-fun/creative/risk taking and scare away interesting people.
To add: I recently read a book about the the history of cocktails about how a few big European cities experienced a second cultural boom (after WW1) when the US started Prohibition in the 1930s. Most of the best bartenders moved to Paris/London/etc to open bars and ply their trade, which spread cocktail culture widely and created some legendary bars in Europe.
A good example of how local political decisions can scare away talent and culture (with good intentions of course).
Seems similar to Jane Jacob’s vision for Greenwich Village(at least, haha). Anyone knows if parts of NYC (besides academia —-grant-drenched NYU, Columbia,&c) had that organic dynamism, at certain points in time, maybe?
I moved to Tokyo in 1983 and have lived there and in nearby Yokohama ever since. Until 2005, I worked as a freelancer—mostly translation, but also advertising copywriting and other related occupations. I did my work at home, but I was often out and about in Tokyo to visit clients, attend narration recording sessions, visit libraries and bookstores, buy computer supplies in Akihabara, etc. Over the years, I interacted with hundreds of other people working freelance in the city: graphic designers, fashion designers, recording engineers, narrators, musicians, editors, photographers, videographers, other translators and writers, and various kinds of agents who made their living bringing together other freelancers to work on large projects. Our meetings would be held in coffeeshops, in taxis, on benches in train stations and parks, and in offices on upper floors of the zakkyo buildings mentioned in the article.
In those days, before the Internet changed everything, that kind of freelance work and lifestyle seemed to be possible only in a city like Tokyo. I don’t think any other city in Japan, except maybe Osaka, had a large and diverse enough population to create a similarly productive dynamism. I, at least, was certain that I would not have been able to get as much high-paying, interesting work if I had not lived within commuting distance of central Tokyo.
Since 2005, while still employed in Tokyo, I have been working in academia and have lost touch with that freelance economy. The Internet has probably made it even more dynamic in some ways, but I suspect that it depends much less on the physical urban landscape.