Despite the recent nuclear disaster, tsunami, and earthquakes, there is a lot to admire about Tokyo. There are a number of incredibly ecological things about the city. First, public transportation system. Second, parks and green spaces. Third, widespread use of bicycles. Fourth, the housing. Fifth, the eating habits of the Japanese.
The first thing that strikes many visitors to Japan is the excellent bus and subway systems. You can easily catch a subway by walking in almost any direction. There are numerous stops, both under ground and above ground. Moreover, even once you leave the city proper and go into the countryside you still find many train stations ready to take you to the downtown core. While the public transportation system is not cheap, it is also not that expensive. You do not pay much more than you would in Canada, and trains are everywhere. The time tables are adhered to quite well, so you can time your trip exactly. You miss one train and the other one is there several minutes later.
Despite there being a dearth of space, you can find beautiful parks in almost any section of Tokyo, or any smaller Japanese town. The parks are well maintained and have nice flowering trees, and also often large lakes. You can find many avian species, fish, and animals of all kinds using the facilities. Children, the elderly, and couples of all ages also enjoy sitting in the parks.
Despite being a huge metropolis you have many people using bicycles from all walks of life. If you go to any part of Tokyo and especially the downtown core you find piles upon piles of bicycles. In short it is a widely used form of transportation. Correspondingly it is well regarded by all city dwellers. There is absolutely no stigma attached to using a bicycle. You can ride on both the sidewalk and the street with very little fear of being hurt by motorists or scolded by pedestrians. In fact, when you trying to bicycle by a person, it is often they who apologize for blocking your path.
Most people live in one room apartments, and even wealth families have small houses by comparison with North America. However, this is a very beneficial situation as it requires far less heating and energy to live in one of these apartments. In addition, since there is much less space for belongings there is less opportunity to amass large quantities of objects. The small apartments and density of housing also works to make the public transportation routes that much more efficient.
