Tokyo presents itself as the biggest metro area in the world, with over 35 million residents. But as nearly any metropolitan area, it has a core. And that core says some things about how the city is, even more if you compare it to cities you know.

Tokyo’s core is marked by the bay, which is becoming more difficult to see as it is being filled for new urban uses, by the mouths of several rivers, the presence of the Imperial Palace and a motorway system that is much more apparent and ramified than in European or even American cities.