Tokyo 4th best- we rock!
In today’s International Herald Tribune, Tokyo is said to be the 4th most livable city in the world and the most livable large one- the top three being Munich, Copenhagen and Zurich and all pretty damn small, if not as claustrophobically tiny as Dublin. I don’t know if the high ranking of Tokyo surprises any of you, whether you have or haven’t been here, but I am an unabashed Tokyo lover and so more unbelieving that anywhere in or near Switzsnoreland could come even close.
Reading between the lines of the article,
the criteria seems to have been chosen specifically to find the anti-London, so am guessing the journalist is a disillusioned yank who has been ripped off for a hot dog in St James Park one too many times. But quite frankly, the anti-London was exactly what I was looking for when I came here. It’s an acquired taste though- does a complete lack of town planning make you feel energetic and stimulated or annoyed and exhausted? Does the fact that no one talks to strangers free you or restrict you? I can (and will!) go on.
So, I guess it all depends on whether it’s your cup of tea. In the summer, mine’s a cup of kuromamecha (black bean tea) or mugicha (dont know, but I like it), so Tokyo suits me down to the ground. More on whether Japan and Tokyo could suit you too coming up…
Disbelief that Peterborough wasn’t included? Want to demand I work out how to put links in so you don’t have to search for the original IHT article? Push the comments button and let me have it!
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:44 pm
The IHT article on great cities contained several surprises besides downplaying London due to the very egocentric standards like “can get a good drink at 1AM”. Let’s just say the survey seems flawed when Munich finishes #1 and New York City and Los Angeles don’t make the list of “great cities!”
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I agree, totally biased. Do you agree with me on the sources of that prejudice. Still think it’s right about Tokyo, though, although I might also be biased….
August 5th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
not related to this but seeing as you mentioned demanding links and things, but it’d be good to enable comments on your pages (not blog posts). what with you asking for feedback on some of them
PS: if this turns out to be because my browser didn’t display them or am i just a blind fool I shall wave the card of ‘I’m French’ which excuses me of such silly comments. sorry.
August 5th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Good point, Laurent. Am complete technological ignoramus, though. Anyone know how to do that on Wordpress??
August 5th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
I even pressed the box that says “allow comments”, but no go. Will ask the all-seeing all-knowing site editor if he can work it out.
August 6th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Afaik (is shortened computer speech allowed round these parts?) pages should have comments allowed if blog posts do, though if you’re not the top admin then it might be as simple as an option which needs to be enabled to make it work. Looking at hte back end of my WP blog, it seems to be the case. An upgrade to the latest version of WP might solve the issue (there was a new one released a few days ago i think).
Also while I’m at it, your RSS feeds links have an extra enclosure they dont need. They all start with feed: (ie. feed:http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/feed/) but don’t need to, they can just start with http://. In Internet Explorer i can’t open them without removing it. Not sure why that is as those links are normally something generated by WP automatically, but just thought i’d point it out
August 6th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
As the archetypical “strict teacher”, it’s a bit of a shock to be told “you don’t have enough authority”!
Will pass this and the other problem “up stairs”. Thanks for the tips.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Done and done. Thanks Josef!