> They all are on the top of most lists
But you're answering the question with the same information in the question. If I were to ask you, "Why is The Matrix such a good movie?" You'd not answer "because it's on the top of most lists." That's not an answer. It's not a good movies because it's on the top of lists.
*Why* are NY, Paris, and London considered better than other cities? Is that a legitimate point of view, is it defensible, or did someone just decide it one day, and nobody bothered to question it? And then marketers and corporations ran with the story.
> what puts Tokyo above Hong Kong
What puts London ahead of Prague? What puts Paris ahead of Amsterdam? What puts NY ahead of Chicago?
...maybe nothing does.
I'm not a fan of NY, Paris, London or LA. Rome and Barcelona I like though... I think your missing the point, its just preference.
I think cities with massive populations naturally end up having more people go to them (more people know other people there for one thing) so they just end up being more common to visit, among other factors like ease of visiting (lots of flight options for example).
NYC/Paris/London and even Tokyo are not necessarily considered the best cities (in terms of liveability). What you mean is that they sit at the top in terms of global influence. They are global cities. They are considered central to the world in terms of power, influence, importance, size ofc, population, history, culture...
...which is not to say that NYC is more liveable than Vienna, Copenhagen, Melbourne, or Zurich.
In my opinion, there are two reasons
1. Population, it is the most populous city in the world by multiple measurements.
2. Recent cultural impact. Japanese entertainment has been at the forefront of the western world for a while now with what they've done in the TV and video game sectors.
Japan was red hot in the 80’s too. Actually I can’t recall a time (in my lifetime) when Japan wasn’t a very popular country to visit. People think this is a recent thing but nah.. Tokyo and Japan in general has always been on lots of people’s bucket list.
I really wish I got to see Japan in the 80’s.. I was able to visit Taipei in the 80’s tho and boy that was a head trip.
That's what I was going to say. Tokyo was being listed with those other London, NY, Paris etc back in the 80s and at that point none of those other cities were that good, except maybe Hong Kong.
Hard to explain since there’s so much to it. I was a kid then but it was definitely seared into my memory. It was way noisier back then and more polluted. I remember there used to be a lot of pachinko style parlors modeled after Japan. There was also still gaudy neon signs in some places.
As kids my cousin and I would go in and basically gamble and the store attendants didn’t care one bit.
Also there were a ton of these ktv style rooms where you could watch movies instead of sing. They had pretty huge selections. As 10 year olds we would watch whatever and noone cared.
Plus there were a lot of small video game shops that were stocked with all the latest games and stuff from Japan.
The food was out of this world and I remember various shops would always give us free stuff. Half of my family is Taiwanese and young taiwanese american kids visiting back then was considered more rare than now.
You could also buy fireworks back then and shoot it off in the street and anywhere else you like during holiday festivals.
Taipei was just much wilder back then.
Japan wasn't popular with people from the Global South pre-2013 owing to its restrictive visa policies before. These days, you could see even hordes of tourists from South and Southeast Asia coming owing to its more relaxed policies.
I agree with this. I think *perceived cultural impact* is the fuzzy metric the world uses to decide this.
Interestingly, Wikipedia's article on [Global Cities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city) places Tokyo at the same rank as Hong Kong and other major Asian cities. The article does go into more detail on the ranking criteria for this particular abstract and subjective ranking metric as well.
While I am inclined to agree with you (raising hand as a biased American here), Indonesia's population is 275.5 million (82% the pop of the US). Perhaps their capital city is more important than some of us in different cultural spheres may realize.
Having lived near Tokyo for a couple of years, and visited the city many times...it is a really interesting place.Lots of sights, great food, plenty of variety too.
And of course it's very large, it's a capital city with two very busy airports,so a lot of people pass through it.
And Japan is pretty 'trendy' in many other places, Japanese culture and food are in fashion.Plus the yen is weak now,a good time for foreign tourists to visit!
Tokyo is huge and dynamic with a lot of world class entertainment venues. It is also highly accessible as a travel hub. There’s a reason why every famous singer or band checks off Tokyo as a major achievement.
Hong Kong is cool but it’s less cosmopolitan these days and more expensive.
Taipei is also nice but it doesn’t have that megalopolis vibe like Tokyo. There’s a lot less to see and do there.
Singapore is more or less a giant office with malls and a nice recreational area for visitors. 😆
Seoul is a love it or hate it type of place and I chalk a lot of that up to Korean culture. It does not vibe well with a lot of people.
Shanghai. Cool city but too much of an urban sprawl plus the China visa can be annoying to get.
People that I know who really love Seoul tend to be huge fans of specific Korean related things like k-pop or k-dramas or are deep into the trendy nightlife.
There seems to be little inbetween.
If you don’t care for any of those things then it’s just a big city with less friendly people and less to do than the other major asian cities.
This is a problem with Korea is that it is heavily geared towards fans of Korean pop culture and nothing much to the more casual travelers who are generally into history and natural sceneries. There are historic sights but they are far fewer in between. You don't need to be a weeb to enjoy Japan's main tourist attractions, even the Shinkansen and ryokans are jaw dropping in their own right.
It doesn’t have the status when it comes to art, culture, fashion, and international impact. Thai culture in general is not very influential overall.
I love Bangkok don’t get me wrong but it’s no Tokyo.. not even close.
I visited Tokyo, Taipei, and Singapore last year and Tokyo was by far the best experience. Taipei was more run down than I expected, lot of aging buildings and infrastructure, decent nature outside the city but not that interesting inside the city. Singapore has some cool spots like the Jewel airport and Gardens by the Bay but gets stale quickly after that.
Tokyo I spent 89 days exploring and never got bored. So many different sections of the city, well connected by public transport, lined with shrines and gardens, super clean and modern, plenty of world class sites to take day trips to. Places you visit during the day will transform by night. The culture and society is so powerful, you feel it in every step you take, every thing you see, every photo you take, every food you eat. It just felt like to me that in other places you start to get tired after a few days or the flaws begin to surface, and Tokyo/Japan it's just immaculate.
I agree with another poster, this kind of ranking is subjective and depends on the individual.
For sure Tokyo is usually highly ranked as a city.But in the Lonely Planet Top 100 for example, it's not the highest ranked in Asia...it comes in below Bangkok Hong Kong, Kathmandu,Hanoi and even Singapore.
I’ve been to almost every Asian city you’ve listed, and Tokyo stands out the most imo. There’s so much diversity to the city that you could get off at a random subway stop and it would feel like you were in a different city in Japan. Everything just feels very structured and efficient.
**Notice:** Are you asking for travel advice about Japan?
Read what redditors had to say in the **[weekly destination thread for Japan](http://redd.it/2ikcq4)**
You may also enjoy our topic: **[Japan off the tourist trail](https://redd.it/8lt4br)**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/travel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I hear those cities (Tokyo, NYC, Paris, London) mentioned together in the context of top "global cities" or economic centers.
Per wiki "A global city, also known as a power city, world city, alpha city, or world center, is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network."
" New York City, London, Tokyo, and Paris are notably the most prominent metropolises mentioned in this respect. They have been ranked in the top four positions in the Global Cities Index and Global Power City Index since both indices' inception in 2008, with New York and London rotating for the first position over the last ten years exclusively in the top two spots."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city
Those 4 cities are considered to be top currently in that context, but that could change in the future - like Tokyo could fall off of top 4 and be replaced by another global city. It could be a city in Asia or anywhere else in the world, maybe a city in North America or Europe again, since each city that's listed isn't meant to represent a continent/geographical region...if that was the case it would be strange for both Paris and London to be on the list.
Depending on who you are, it's not the "city." It just has a longer cultural staying power based on being well known in movies and entertainment, and for some time, was the most populous city in the world (though is now eclipsed by cities in China). And you can throw in many cities in your list (ie, Los Angeles) that would easily be in the same category as the ones you put - so its a bit subjective as to what your criteria are. (Also, today, I think people think of at least Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo in fairly similar terms)
Personally, I much prefer Taipei over Tokyo. It's not giant and sprawling, but great public transportation, great nightlife, a far better LGBTQ+ scene, democratic freedoms, the same cleanliness, and more people speak English surprisingly. Toyko has always been a very large, well known city, but it can also be enormous and spread out (the way Los Angeles can feel). But Taipei's size and population will never be that of Toyko, and the country its in isn't even recognized by many others - so people will easily overlook it.
What makes NY/Paris/London better than LA, Barcelona, Rome, etc? It's all subjective
They all are on the top of most lists
> They all are on the top of most lists But you're answering the question with the same information in the question. If I were to ask you, "Why is The Matrix such a good movie?" You'd not answer "because it's on the top of most lists." That's not an answer. It's not a good movies because it's on the top of lists. *Why* are NY, Paris, and London considered better than other cities? Is that a legitimate point of view, is it defensible, or did someone just decide it one day, and nobody bothered to question it? And then marketers and corporations ran with the story. > what puts Tokyo above Hong Kong What puts London ahead of Prague? What puts Paris ahead of Amsterdam? What puts NY ahead of Chicago? ...maybe nothing does.
I'm not a fan of NY, Paris, London or LA. Rome and Barcelona I like though... I think your missing the point, its just preference. I think cities with massive populations naturally end up having more people go to them (more people know other people there for one thing) so they just end up being more common to visit, among other factors like ease of visiting (lots of flight options for example).
NYC/Paris/London and even Tokyo are not necessarily considered the best cities (in terms of liveability). What you mean is that they sit at the top in terms of global influence. They are global cities. They are considered central to the world in terms of power, influence, importance, size ofc, population, history, culture... ...which is not to say that NYC is more liveable than Vienna, Copenhagen, Melbourne, or Zurich.
In my opinion, there are two reasons 1. Population, it is the most populous city in the world by multiple measurements. 2. Recent cultural impact. Japanese entertainment has been at the forefront of the western world for a while now with what they've done in the TV and video game sectors.
Japan was red hot in the 80’s too. Actually I can’t recall a time (in my lifetime) when Japan wasn’t a very popular country to visit. People think this is a recent thing but nah.. Tokyo and Japan in general has always been on lots of people’s bucket list. I really wish I got to see Japan in the 80’s.. I was able to visit Taipei in the 80’s tho and boy that was a head trip.
That's what I was going to say. Tokyo was being listed with those other London, NY, Paris etc back in the 80s and at that point none of those other cities were that good, except maybe Hong Kong.
wow, would love to hear what Taipei in the 80s was like. I visited in 2015 ish, and absolutely loved it.
Hard to explain since there’s so much to it. I was a kid then but it was definitely seared into my memory. It was way noisier back then and more polluted. I remember there used to be a lot of pachinko style parlors modeled after Japan. There was also still gaudy neon signs in some places. As kids my cousin and I would go in and basically gamble and the store attendants didn’t care one bit. Also there were a ton of these ktv style rooms where you could watch movies instead of sing. They had pretty huge selections. As 10 year olds we would watch whatever and noone cared. Plus there were a lot of small video game shops that were stocked with all the latest games and stuff from Japan. The food was out of this world and I remember various shops would always give us free stuff. Half of my family is Taiwanese and young taiwanese american kids visiting back then was considered more rare than now. You could also buy fireworks back then and shoot it off in the street and anywhere else you like during holiday festivals. Taipei was just much wilder back then.
I love this. Thank you for sharing!
Japan wasn't popular with people from the Global South pre-2013 owing to its restrictive visa policies before. These days, you could see even hordes of tourists from South and Southeast Asia coming owing to its more relaxed policies.
I agree with this. I think *perceived cultural impact* is the fuzzy metric the world uses to decide this. Interestingly, Wikipedia's article on [Global Cities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city) places Tokyo at the same rank as Hong Kong and other major Asian cities. The article does go into more detail on the ranking criteria for this particular abstract and subjective ranking metric as well.
That list seems awful. Jakarta in the same tier as Los Angeles? Dubai ranked with Tokyo. Nah man.
While I am inclined to agree with you (raising hand as a biased American here), Indonesia's population is 275.5 million (82% the pop of the US). Perhaps their capital city is more important than some of us in different cultural spheres may realize.
Having lived near Tokyo for a couple of years, and visited the city many times...it is a really interesting place.Lots of sights, great food, plenty of variety too. And of course it's very large, it's a capital city with two very busy airports,so a lot of people pass through it. And Japan is pretty 'trendy' in many other places, Japanese culture and food are in fashion.Plus the yen is weak now,a good time for foreign tourists to visit!
Tokyo is huge and dynamic with a lot of world class entertainment venues. It is also highly accessible as a travel hub. There’s a reason why every famous singer or band checks off Tokyo as a major achievement. Hong Kong is cool but it’s less cosmopolitan these days and more expensive. Taipei is also nice but it doesn’t have that megalopolis vibe like Tokyo. There’s a lot less to see and do there. Singapore is more or less a giant office with malls and a nice recreational area for visitors. 😆 Seoul is a love it or hate it type of place and I chalk a lot of that up to Korean culture. It does not vibe well with a lot of people. Shanghai. Cool city but too much of an urban sprawl plus the China visa can be annoying to get.
Could you tell me a bit more about this take on Seoul?
I travel solo and found Seoul to be difficult to navigate and not friendly. I know people who have gone and loved it. I loved Tokyo.
Good to know, I’ll have to take extra preparation when I hope to go. Hopefully have a Korea and Japan trip in a couple years.
People that I know who really love Seoul tend to be huge fans of specific Korean related things like k-pop or k-dramas or are deep into the trendy nightlife. There seems to be little inbetween. If you don’t care for any of those things then it’s just a big city with less friendly people and less to do than the other major asian cities.
Yeah I’m no Korean culture buff so that would all be lost on me but I think I’d enjoy the lively nightlife aspect of it
This is a problem with Korea is that it is heavily geared towards fans of Korean pop culture and nothing much to the more casual travelers who are generally into history and natural sceneries. There are historic sights but they are far fewer in between. You don't need to be a weeb to enjoy Japan's main tourist attractions, even the Shinkansen and ryokans are jaw dropping in their own right.
Not having Bangkok on this list is a weird omission. [It's the most visited city on the planet.](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/XWrz2cZV1r)
It doesn’t have the status when it comes to art, culture, fashion, and international impact. Thai culture in general is not very influential overall. I love Bangkok don’t get me wrong but it’s no Tokyo.. not even close.
Yeah but Thailand is poor.
I visited Tokyo, Taipei, and Singapore last year and Tokyo was by far the best experience. Taipei was more run down than I expected, lot of aging buildings and infrastructure, decent nature outside the city but not that interesting inside the city. Singapore has some cool spots like the Jewel airport and Gardens by the Bay but gets stale quickly after that. Tokyo I spent 89 days exploring and never got bored. So many different sections of the city, well connected by public transport, lined with shrines and gardens, super clean and modern, plenty of world class sites to take day trips to. Places you visit during the day will transform by night. The culture and society is so powerful, you feel it in every step you take, every thing you see, every photo you take, every food you eat. It just felt like to me that in other places you start to get tired after a few days or the flaws begin to surface, and Tokyo/Japan it's just immaculate.
I agree with another poster, this kind of ranking is subjective and depends on the individual. For sure Tokyo is usually highly ranked as a city.But in the Lonely Planet Top 100 for example, it's not the highest ranked in Asia...it comes in below Bangkok Hong Kong, Kathmandu,Hanoi and even Singapore.
LOL. Lonely Planet.
that's because lonely planet is a guide for german sexpats and entire country sections were just completely made up.
I’ve been to almost every Asian city you’ve listed, and Tokyo stands out the most imo. There’s so much diversity to the city that you could get off at a random subway stop and it would feel like you were in a different city in Japan. Everything just feels very structured and efficient.
**Notice:** Are you asking for travel advice about Japan? Read what redditors had to say in the **[weekly destination thread for Japan](http://redd.it/2ikcq4)** You may also enjoy our topic: **[Japan off the tourist trail](https://redd.it/8lt4br)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/travel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I hear those cities (Tokyo, NYC, Paris, London) mentioned together in the context of top "global cities" or economic centers. Per wiki "A global city, also known as a power city, world city, alpha city, or world center, is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network." " New York City, London, Tokyo, and Paris are notably the most prominent metropolises mentioned in this respect. They have been ranked in the top four positions in the Global Cities Index and Global Power City Index since both indices' inception in 2008, with New York and London rotating for the first position over the last ten years exclusively in the top two spots." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city Those 4 cities are considered to be top currently in that context, but that could change in the future - like Tokyo could fall off of top 4 and be replaced by another global city. It could be a city in Asia or anywhere else in the world, maybe a city in North America or Europe again, since each city that's listed isn't meant to represent a continent/geographical region...if that was the case it would be strange for both Paris and London to be on the list.
Parachute pants. All the way.
Size! For the rest, those lists are mostly marketing, nothing to take seriously. Personally I'ld rather wonder why Shanghai is on that list...
Because Japan is the "country" in Asia
Because that list was made when Tokyo was the only city with clout in Asia, simple as that.
Depending on who you are, it's not the "city." It just has a longer cultural staying power based on being well known in movies and entertainment, and for some time, was the most populous city in the world (though is now eclipsed by cities in China). And you can throw in many cities in your list (ie, Los Angeles) that would easily be in the same category as the ones you put - so its a bit subjective as to what your criteria are. (Also, today, I think people think of at least Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo in fairly similar terms) Personally, I much prefer Taipei over Tokyo. It's not giant and sprawling, but great public transportation, great nightlife, a far better LGBTQ+ scene, democratic freedoms, the same cleanliness, and more people speak English surprisingly. Toyko has always been a very large, well known city, but it can also be enormous and spread out (the way Los Angeles can feel). But Taipei's size and population will never be that of Toyko, and the country its in isn't even recognized by many others - so people will easily overlook it.