The best city in the world

Since 1995, “Travel & Leisure” magazine has done an annual survey of travelers to find the best city in the world for tourists.

And, for the second year in-a-row, Kyoto, Japan has been ranked the world’s best city.

Last May, my family and I went there again, (Click here to see my post and photos from that trip), and we agree – Kyoto is a very lovely city!

(This photo of geisha near Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto is from “allworldtowns.com”)

Personally though, I think that Tokyo is the best city in the world…but maybe that’s because I’ve lived here most of my life and I know my way around Tokyo very well. Either way, I can understand why Kyoto is so popular with tourists!

The Travel & Leisure top-ten cities for 2015 are:

1. Kyoto, Japan

2. Charleston, South Carolina

3. Siem Reap, Cambodia

4. Florence, Italy

5. Rome, Italy

6. Bangkok, Thailand

7. Krakow, Poland

8. Barcelona, Spain

9. Cape Town, South Africa

10. Jerusalem, Israel

(Click here to see a news article about the list).

What do you think about this list?
Have you ever been to Kyoto?

Leave a comment!

Tokyo is the world’s (second) “most livable city”

Monocle magazine makes a list of the world’s most livable cities every year.

Tokyo is ranked number 2 on the list behind Copenhagen, Denmark.

In fact, three Japanese cities, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Fukuoka are on the top ten.

Six of the other seven cities on the top ten most livable cities in the world are European.

The criteria used to judge the most livable cities were:
economics, society, functionality, everyday living, happiness of people, crime rate, health care, public schools, public transportation, access to nature, culture, sunlight/climate, number of electronic vehicle charging spots, ease of starting a new business and tolerance.

Here is Monocle‘s list of the top ten most livable cities in the world:

1. Copenhagen, Denmark
2. Tokyo, Japan
3. Melbourne, Australia
4. Stockholm, Sweden
5. Helsinki, Finland
6. Vienna, Austria
7. Zürich, Switzerland
8. Munich, Germany
9. Kyoto, Japan
10. Fukuoka, Japan

Tokyo is the travelers’ favorite city

The Trip Advisor website had a survey for travelers to rank world cities in nine categories such as friendliest locals, cleanliness, public transportation, etc.

Tokyo ranked first place in five categories and second place in another.

Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple (image from “Trip Advisor”)

Here are the top three cities in each of the nine categories:

Category	First place	Second place	Third place
Friendliest locals	Cancun	Tokyo	Lisbon
Friendliest taxi drivers	Tokyo	Cancun	Singapore
Best taxi services	Tokyo	Singapore	Dubai
Cleanest streets	Tokyo	Singapore	Zurich
Ease of getting around	Zurich	Vienna	Singapore
Best public transport	Tokyo	Zurich	Munich
Best value for money	Lisbon	Budapest	Bangkok
Best for shopping	New York City	Bangkok	Dubai
Safest city	Tokyo	Singapore	Dubrovnik

And here were the ones that were voted as the worst in the same categories (except for “Safest city”…for some reason that category wasn’t listed on the site):

Category	Last place	Second to last	Third to last
Friendliest locals	Moscow	London	Hong Kong
Friendliest taxi drivers	Moscow	Beijing	Brussels
Best taxi services	Moscow	Beijing	Kuala Lumpur
Cleanest streets	Mumbai	Marrakech	Punta Cana
Ease of getting around	Mumbai	Punta Cana	Moscow
Best Public Transport	Hanoi	Sharm el Sheikh	Marrakech
Best value for money	Oslo	Moscow	Zurich
Best for shopping	Moscow	Oslo	Punta Cana

Have you been to any of these cities? Do you agree with the ranking?
Which cities would you rank as best and worst?

Tokyo’s high quality of life

I just found that Monocle magazine ranked the “World’s Most Livable Cities (Quality Of Life)”.

Their criteria was:

• Safety / low crime
• International connectivity
• Climate
• Quality of architecture
• Public transportation
• Tolerance of others
• Environmental issues and access to nature
• Urban design
• Business conditions
• “Pro-active policy developments” and
• Medical care

Tokyo ranked as the third most livable city in the world.

Their entire Top ten “most livable cities” are:

1. Zürich, Switzerland
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Tokyo, Japan
4. Munich, Germany
5. Helsinki, Finland
6. Stockholm, Sweden
7. Vienna, Austria
8. Paris, France
9. Melbourne, Australia
10. Berlin, Germany

Tokyo runs like clockwork and its service culture beats any competition.

–Monocle magazine

Personally, I think Tokyo should be number one! Especially in regards to safety, international connectivity, tolerance, access to nature, business conditions, medical care, and public transportation.
All of those are top-notch in Tokyo!

Tokyo is #1…again!

For the second year in a row, Food & Wine magazine voted Tokyo as the Best Food City in the World.

Japanese chefs are dictating the world’s dining trends with their fierce devotion to seasonality and respect for aesthetics.

[Food & Wine magazine]

I agree! Tokyo has more restaurants than any other city in the world…whatever you want to eat, you can find it here.
And eating out in restaurants in Tokyo is a real pleasure, because no matter which restaurant you choose…the prices are reasonable, the service is excellent (with no tipping in Japan), and the food is prepared perfectly!

The Top Five cities in the world for the best food, according to Food & Wine magazine:

1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Barcelona, Spain
3. Copenhagen, Denmark
4. London, England
5. New York City, America

2008 Olympics

Today is August 8. The opening ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics in 北京 (Beijing, China) will commence today at 8:08PM (China Standard Time).

Maybe you’ve heard why it’s set to begin at such an unusual time. It’s because the number eight is lucky in China (and Japan, too). So the Chinese decided to start the ceremony at ’08年8月8日午後8時8分 (’08/8/8 8:08PM).

(By the way, in China the numbers four and seven are unlucky because they have the same pronunciation as the word for “death” in Chinese. In Japan, the numbers four and nine are unlucky because they sound like “death” and “pain” in Japanese, respectively.)

The Official Website of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing is here.

+++++++++++

The Food & Wine website just voted Tokyo as the number one restaurant city in the world.

Paris, New York, and London were numbers 2, 3, and 4 respectively.

Click here to see their entire top-ten list.

This is after the Michelin Guide gave more stars to restaurants in Tokyo than any other city in their 2008 edition.

Click here to read the Yahoo news report about it. (from Nov 2007)

Tokyo is a shining star in the world of cuisine…

Michelin Guides Director Jean-Luc Naret