Tips from Tokyo for downtown revitalization

A Detroit-based writer who once lived in Tokyo reflects on what makes the city work after a recent visit. She frames the concepts in terms of what Detroit could learn from the vibrant metropolis.

Excerpt:

Different questions are asked in Tokyo. It’s been destroyed more than a few times. Its face has changed with war and earthquakes, its spirit challenged and on the brink of obliteration over and over again. But there’s never been a doubt as to whether it will come back or not. It just oh-so-gracefully always does. But why? How does the city keep attracting wide-eyed young people with massive dreams? How does it cater to families and children with a high quality of living? How did it become a place where you can go from moppet to mother to grandmother without ever wanting to call somewhere else home?

Here are a few answers I found on my latest trip to Japan, where I lived for six years, including two years in Tokyo. I couldn’t help but think of how some of the answers could be applied to questions we are asking in Detroit.

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