Capitals of Countries Series: Asian Edition

2. Jakarta, Indonesia

 

Capital: Jakarta

Country: Indonesia

Indonesia is a Southeast Asian country. Indonesia is the world's largest island country constituting seventeen thousand islands. It has 34 provinces, of which five have special statuses. The country's capital, Jakarta, is the second-most populous urban area in the world. Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support one of the world's highest level of bio-diversity. Indonesia is known for its natural beauty of volcanic mountains and oceanic beaches.

About Jakarta:

Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia and located in the Java province. After Tokyo, Jakarta is the second most populated urban habitation. The name Jakarta is derived from the Devanagari word, Jayakruth, with the meaning ‘Complete Victory’. Jakarta is officially a province with special capital region status. Its provincial government consists of five administrative cities and one administrative regency. Jakarta is nicknamed as the "Big Durian", since Durian fruit is native to the region.

Jakarta became the capital in the year 1950. The city was thriving with political and economic support as it was chosen to host the 1962 Asian Games. However, a coup was attempted in 1965 which led to the death of six top rank Generals followed by an anti-communist purge which resulted in the death of 5,00,000 people including immigrants.

The following decade saw a boom in Jakarta’s growth as slum dwellers were moved to better housed and various projects were laid out for infrastructural development. Most of this was achieved through foreign investments. But the Asian Financial crisis of 1977 arrested this growth. Following this, the next decade saw rise in tension ultimately ending in violent riots and destruction of infrastructure. In August 2007, Jakarta held its first-ever election to choose a governor as part of a nationwide decentralisation program with the help of local elections, unlike the previous practice of being elected by the legislative body.  

Jakarta has grown at a fast pace in terms of economy and population. As any major city, Jakarta too is faced with congestion with population upto almost 36 million in 2020. The urban lifestyle has led to heavy traffic and air pollution. But the biggest worry of Jakarta is that the city is sinking in to the ocean with each passing day.

Jakarta sits on top of swamp land. Hence, it often faces flooding and drainage clogging during rainy season. But Jakarta is sinking about 5 to 10 centimeters (2.0 to 3.9 inches) each year, and up to 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) in the northern coastal regions. Most of the area next to the sea is flooded throughout the year.

Government has set a task of building a manmade dyke (a wall to control the level of water) with a pumping system and retention area to lower the inflow of seawater. Giant Sea Wall Jakarta, the name of this project, is expected to be completed in 2025. There are talks about moving the capital from Jakarta to Kalimantan.

Jakarta is a melting pot in terms of ethnicity, religion and language. The city is home to Javenese, Sundanese, Chinese, Malays, and many more natives and migrants alike. Indonesian being the regional ligua franca, English and Chinese are also widely used. As for religion, Jakarta, and Indonesia as a country, is mostly Islamic.

Transport in Jakarta is mostly done through private vehicle or privately owned public buses. They have an Odd-Even policy in place, where in, vehicle with either odd or even number plate could only run on a given day. This is in order to curb traffic congestions and control air pollution.

Jakarta is another modernised city that people often frequent. It has beautiful beaches, big shopping malls and many museums to preserve its cultural heritage. So here is a list of places you can visit in Jakarta on your trip:

• Istana Merdeka

• Thousand Islands

• Ragunan Zoo
• Taman Mini Indonesian Park
• Indonesian National Gallery
• Setu Babakan Batavian Cultural village
• Istiqlal Mosque
• National Monument of Indonesia
• Senayan City Shopping Mall
• Sea World Anchol

Taman Mini Indonesia

Shopping Mall

National Museum

Sea World Anchol

Capitals of Countries Series: Asian Edition

 1. Tokyo, Japan

Capital: Tokyo

Country: Japan

Japan is an East Asian island country. The Japanese archipelago comprise of 6,852 islands with Tokyo as its capital. It is the 11^th most populous country. The Greater Tokyo Metropolis is the world’s most densely populated metropolitan. This region has 37.4 million habitants. Japan is renown for its science and art. It has significant roots in automotive and electronic sectors throughout the world with leading companies like Toyota, Mitsubishi, Sony, Samsung and Nissan to name a few. In the field of art, animation and manga are amongst the leading trends.

 

About Tokyo:

Tokyo Metropolis is the capital of Japan. But this metropolis was once just a fishing village known as Edo. Looking back to history, in 1600, the great commander Tokugawa Ieyasu won the Battle of Sekigahara which secured Edo’s status as the most important place in Japan. In 1657, a great fire ignited burning down 70% of the city as the structures were made of wood and paper. Over 100,000 residents lost their life.

However, this didn’t stop the growth in population and by mid-19^th century, Edo became home to millions. Japan had military Shogunate system for governance for 700 years, which was abolished during this period. A new government was formed and the capital of japan was renamed as Tokyo. During this time, Japan also opened doors to foreign trade.

During WWII, Tokyo was massively bombarded by USA between 1942 till 1945 which lead to loss of life in millions and many more lost their homes. It took almost a decade for Japan to get back on its feet on economical grounds.

Today, Tokyo has advanced technological resources, including robots to help tourists and in the field of customer services. Tokyo has higher concentration of retired individuals, than young working population. Hence, the government is working on reliance on technology to bridge the human resource requirement.

Tokyo heavily relies on subways and trains for transportation. Taxis are available but are rather expensive and cable cars are available for traveling within a locality. People also prefer to walk or opt for a cycle as train travel could be dense with massive over-crowding during peak hours. They even have a ‘Oshiya’ or pusher, who are typically train staff, who push passengers onto the trains.

Japanese Bullet Trains (Shinkansen) are prominently known across the globe for its speed. Traveling at maximum speeds of 240–320 km/h (150–200 mph), these bullet trains connect far away cities to Tokyo for commercial growth.

The city of Tokyo has many Michelin star restaurants that are especially famous for their Sushi and are extremely expensive. Fish has been a prominent part of Japanese cuisine since ancient and when American President Barak Obama visited Tokyo, he too had Sushi. As for fast food culture, the metropolis has around 300 Starbucks stores which overtakes London with 260 stores. They also have a massive range of vending machines that dispense everything from food to umbrella. They also have a vending machine for puppies.

Tokyo is a beach city located on the central pacific coast. Hence, its boundaries are shared with many islands. The city is also prone to massive earthquakes and volcanic activities. The buildings constructed are smaller than most skyscrapers found it other prominent cities as these structures are more cautious to seismic anomalies. They have also invented the Capsule Hotels. This facility includes a bed and internet connection, yet it costs around $30 to $50 per night. Mostly these hotels accept only male tenants for safety reasons.

Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, thus becoming the first Asian city to host the Summer Games. Tokyo was also supposed to host Olympics 2020 between 24 July and 9 August 2020, however, it is postponed to July-August, 2021 amidst Covid-19 pandemic. Tokyo will still continue to be the host due to commercial purposes.

To end this piece, here’s a list of places to visit in Tokyo if you are in town.

·        The Imperial Palace

·        Mount Fuji

·        Chidoriga-fuchi Cherry Blossoms

·        Senso-ji Temple (Asakusa)

·        Meiji Shrine

·        Parasite museum

·        Edo Wonderland (Samurai & Ninja Theme Park)

·        Tokyo Skytree

·        Disneyland Tokyo

·        Ueno Park & Zoo

Photo Gallery:

Cherry Blossoms

Robot at a Bank

US President Barak Obama at a Sushi restaurant

Capsule Hotel                                                                 Oshiya pushing passengers

Bullet Train

Lobster Vending Machine

Parasite Museum

Senso-Ji Temple

P.S. All images are taken from the internet and hence belong to their rightful owners. Thank you!