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Walking Tokyo
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Walking Tokyo

A photographer’s journey through the rich texture of Japan’s vibrant megacity.

ByDavid Guttenfelder
Photographs byDavid Guttenfelder
25 min read

For National Geographic Magazine’s Cities Issue, I walked across Tokyo, the world’s most populous city.

The distance, from boundary to boundary, is about 60 miles. But photographers, like me, never walk in a straight line. Searching for pictures, we zigzag and we back-track. We wander in circles. We get lost.

So, by the end of my assignment in Tokyo, I’d walked hundreds of miles and made tens of thousands of pictures and videos.

Walking everywhere proved to be a bit harder, but was the best way to explore this complex city and to serendipitously stumble upon moments I’d have never imagined or planned. Unlike me, Tokyoites don’t usually commute at street level. They travel underground on perfectly timed trains, seldom crossing the city on foot.

people on subway platform and train

My main camera was my smartphone. It’s light, discrete, and always in my hand. Everyone around me was holding a phone as well, so mine was less intimidating, allowing me access to more intimate moments and spontaneous experiences. With my phone, I feel nimble, creative, and reactive. I’m mobile.

With this digital experience, I want to recreate some of the feeling of discovery as we “walk” through Tokyo together: wandering through the cooking smoke of restaurants tucked under railroad bridges; stepping past rows off frozen tuna in fish market auction halls; and stopping to be serenaded by a singing robot.

Tokyo, the largest city in the world, is home to more than 37 million people.
photo board if form of geisha with interior of drugstore seen through face cutout
person in green wig on subway
statue dressed in red with bouquet of flowers by its site.
paper strips blowing in the wind

OLD & NEW In Tokyo, it’s fascinating to find those special spots where tradition and modern culture intersect. A photo board of a geisha in traditional costume sits in a neighborhood in Shibuya. Omikuji paper fortunes hang in an ancient shrine tucked into the modern financial district. A Buddhist statue of Jizo Bosastsu, protector of children, surrounded by offerings sits in the residential area of Katsushika.

skyscraper
man in pink outfit with polkadot necktie and green cell phone
man and woman resting on park bench

THE DISTANT & THE PERSONAL Tokyo is big, busy and can often feel anonymous and impersonal. But then, shining through, are surprising and vibrant touches of color and intimate displays of affection.

Tokyo is superlative—one of the safest, cleanest, most dynamic and innovative metropolises, a center of enormous appetites and unmatched global influence.
two pink plastic figurines on flowerbed
people on red go-karts dressed in colorful costumes
female legs in white stocking and pink plastic shoes shaped like paws

PLAYFULNESS At home, and exported to the world, much of Tokyo’s playful image and creative culture comes from anime, gaming, and cosplay.

koi fish in pond
a hand holding a man by his traditional loincloth
sandals next to man's bare feet.
three apricots on railing above pond surrounded with trees

THE SACRED Across the capital city are sublime reminders of the past, beautifully preserved cultural traditions, and hidden serene spaces.

street scene
action figures on bookshelf
two hugging children with cube rubic

VITALITY While Tokyo has one the of world’s oldest populations, it is also a city of vibrancy. From a cartoon boy superhero under a train bridge to a child wearing a traditional yukata carrying a Rubik’s cube, Tokyo is a city of youth.

Centuries of shared history and culture also play a role in creating, and sustaining, such fertile space.
a trash chute
workers in yellow vest cleaning steps
rubber boots drying on the rack

UPKEEP This huge, rapidly changing city requires constant commerce and maintenance. Everywhere you turn in Tokyo you find the practical, beautiful artifacts of upkeep and signs of innovative problem solving and proud, hard work. An aging ice chute hangs at the world’s biggest fish market. City workers kneel and hand clean a pedestrian bridge. Rubber boots are collected on a drying rack for laborers.

tall apartment building under blue skies
lush plants in the tiled lobby
small figures of people between columns in huge room
plants growing in plastic bottles

ABOVE & BELOW Tokyo may have the largest population in the world but their shared space is relatively limited. Increasingly, Tokyo solves this problem by building and living higher up and expanding and thriving underground.