"Tokyo did deserve the #1 spot. It’s great in an unexpectedly normal way. None of it is spectacular, but everything works...I could live there." Preach!
I had the same shock when London became my favorite European city. And the same shock that Tokyo has terrible architecture! I spent two weeks there and then was very glad I spent a month in Kyoto afterward. Such a huge difference!
Oh one month in Kyoto! How was that? That must feel very different from the 3-day tourism craze I had to do because there was way more to see than I had expected!
It was wonderful, I love how it's fenced in by woodlands and hills, and every hill is a new shrine or palace you can hike to. A lot of the original architecture is there and protected as beautiful parks. I was expecting it to be horrible and touristy, but really only the central arcade is, and there was so much to explore outside of that. I also loved the river canyon where everyone is floating in boats.
My husband and I also did a four-week road trip through the country in a camper van, and loved all of the little preserved historic villages, as well as the north coast surfer towns. That was much more the Japan I had in my imagination than the southern coast and all the cities with their block buildings.
Nice! Yeah, Kyoto was certainly touristy but didn't feel like it that much (not that I mind touristy places, anyway), probably because it's still a pretty big city (>1M people) and the tourist sites are spread out.
You definitely need to back to Rome! I've also been lucky to visit all the cities in the list, and I have no doubt putting Rome on top. Depending on your preference, gastronomy can be better in Tokyo or Paris, but they have undeniable amazing food. But what puts it on top is the number of sites, museums, churches, streets, plazas… it's just like a city-museum, but with a vibrant culture. If you have the chance to stay for a few weeks, you will not regret it.
PS: And yes, I would agree with Ottawa at the bottom of the list. I would definitely put Berlin above Washington DC, and probably London in second place, Tokyo in third and Paris forth.
Would love to visit Rome again! It certainly is the city with the most interesting history of all 7, so it might make sense to rank it first if one were doing a serious ranking based on actual criteria and not whatever my silly blog post is hahaha
Rejoice! After many years of neighborhood activism, the Japanese government announced plans to re-route the highway above the Nihonbashi so it doesn’t obscure it anymore. It’ll cost an insane amount of money and it will take 15 years to do the work, but they’re doing it. Come back in 2040 and check it out!
Idk in general, but inside of France we're quite happy about it (except the ones who don't like the EU itself). We're fighting to keep the Strasbourg migration not just because of prestige, but also because to us it's a way to make sure the EU doesn't just become a fully centralized and disconnected institution. The idea being that having everyone in Bruxelles is efficient and saves costs, but Bruxelles isn't the EU, and representatives should make the effort of traveling.
The argument doesn't hold entirely because they're only traveling to 1 (one) country and it happens to be ours, but still.
Makes sense! I do think that a supranational organization like this should not be too centralized into one of its constituent countries. In fact it could maybe use more decentralization (it's all in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and France, right?)
"Tokyo did deserve the #1 spot. It’s great in an unexpectedly normal way. None of it is spectacular, but everything works...I could live there." Preach!
A little inspired by your post!
I had the same shock when London became my favorite European city. And the same shock that Tokyo has terrible architecture! I spent two weeks there and then was very glad I spent a month in Kyoto afterward. Such a huge difference!
Oh one month in Kyoto! How was that? That must feel very different from the 3-day tourism craze I had to do because there was way more to see than I had expected!
It was wonderful, I love how it's fenced in by woodlands and hills, and every hill is a new shrine or palace you can hike to. A lot of the original architecture is there and protected as beautiful parks. I was expecting it to be horrible and touristy, but really only the central arcade is, and there was so much to explore outside of that. I also loved the river canyon where everyone is floating in boats.
My husband and I also did a four-week road trip through the country in a camper van, and loved all of the little preserved historic villages, as well as the north coast surfer towns. That was much more the Japan I had in my imagination than the southern coast and all the cities with their block buildings.
Nice! Yeah, Kyoto was certainly touristy but didn't feel like it that much (not that I mind touristy places, anyway), probably because it's still a pretty big city (>1M people) and the tourist sites are spread out.
You definitely need to back to Rome! I've also been lucky to visit all the cities in the list, and I have no doubt putting Rome on top. Depending on your preference, gastronomy can be better in Tokyo or Paris, but they have undeniable amazing food. But what puts it on top is the number of sites, museums, churches, streets, plazas… it's just like a city-museum, but with a vibrant culture. If you have the chance to stay for a few weeks, you will not regret it.
PS: And yes, I would agree with Ottawa at the bottom of the list. I would definitely put Berlin above Washington DC, and probably London in second place, Tokyo in third and Paris forth.
Would love to visit Rome again! It certainly is the city with the most interesting history of all 7, so it might make sense to rank it first if one were doing a serious ranking based on actual criteria and not whatever my silly blog post is hahaha
Unexpected highschool doxing. We went to the same place :) Class of 2008.
Huh really! I also graduated from high school in 2008. Did we actually go to the same school?...
Rejoice! After many years of neighborhood activism, the Japanese government announced plans to re-route the highway above the Nihonbashi so it doesn’t obscure it anymore. It’ll cost an insane amount of money and it will take 15 years to do the work, but they’re doing it. Come back in 2040 and check it out!
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/06/17/japan/nihonbashi-underground-highway/
That's neat! And yet, given the cost, I do wonder if they should have just leaned into the cyberpunk crazy metropolis vibes.
I'm a sucker for rankings, and your post didn't disappoint.
My favorite part about the EU is that thanks to Strasbourg we get to appear twice on the list 😆
I wonder how much prestige the European Parliament is bringing to France (probably not that much)
Idk in general, but inside of France we're quite happy about it (except the ones who don't like the EU itself). We're fighting to keep the Strasbourg migration not just because of prestige, but also because to us it's a way to make sure the EU doesn't just become a fully centralized and disconnected institution. The idea being that having everyone in Bruxelles is efficient and saves costs, but Bruxelles isn't the EU, and representatives should make the effort of traveling.
The argument doesn't hold entirely because they're only traveling to 1 (one) country and it happens to be ours, but still.
Makes sense! I do think that a supranational organization like this should not be too centralized into one of its constituent countries. In fact it could maybe use more decentralization (it's all in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and France, right?)
Wow, you sound like a fun guy
Ottawa is a city for townsfolk.