TOKYO

Fast-paced, high-tech and eye catching, Tokyo is a place like no other where 12 million people live, rather tightly, in a metropolis constantly being reinvented. Nothing seems to stand still for too long as the country's traditional past and electronic, gadget-driven future fuse in perfect harmony. Devastated by the Kanto earthquake of 1923 and flattened by bombing during World War II, Tokyo has emerged from the ruins with a powerful personality all of its own. Flashing Neon lights and overland monorails collide with traditional food shops giving off the smells and smoke of local cuisine.

Often described as a city of villages, Tokyo is connected by a network of transport types as its inhabitants hustle and bustle about the shopping areas of Shibuya and Shinjuku, the Blade Runneresque Roppongi to the ultra-trendy Ginza. And despite the mammoth changes that have forced the reshaping of the city, Japanese traditions still persist - particularly in the artisan quarters that remain from the days when Tokyo was geographically split among trades.

Originally called Edo, Tokyo became the administrative heart of Japan from the 1600s when it grew remarkably fast to be the world's most populous city with a million souls packed within its walls by the 17th Century. It did not become Japan's official capital however until the 1860s at the end of the Edo dynasty of shogunates when it replaced Kyoto. With the opening up of the country to the west in the late 19th Century, the city has expanded and evolved - but Tokyo would never have achieved its individual look if it were not for the necessary years of fast post-war development and acceptance of western influences.

With many museums, glitzy nightlife, fine food and extensive shopping, a favourite hobby of Japanese, there is much to see, do and learn in Japan's main metropolis.

TOYOTA

Located in the centre of Japan's main Honshu Island, Toyota City is, as you would imagine, a place dominated by one of the world's leading car manufacturers. In the early part of the last century under its former name of Koromo, the town was undergoing steady decline as demand fell for its main commodity, raw silk. However since 1934, when automobile producers were invited to build their factories there, the area has prospered with the population rocketing to today's 350,000, 25 times higher than the figure in 1930. In 1959 Koromo officially became Toyota City.

Surrounded by acres of rice paddy fields and vegetable, peach and pear farms in the Aichi prefecture near Nagoya, Toyota City is far more than simply a home for car workers. There is a nature park nearby, which from 25 March-25 September 2005 will be the scene of EXPO 2005 - the world's first fair of the 21st Century. And helped by the company's international outlook, its residents are among the most broadminded of Japanese, having taken advantage of opportunities to travel far and wide.

While it may be regarded as a city of the future, there is plenty of history in the neighbourhood. Toyota is the homeland of the Matsudaira clan, from which Ieyasu Tokugawa came from to lay the foundations of the Edo shogunate (1603-1867). Tokugawa emerged victorious nearby at the Battle of Nagakute (1584) in one of the greatest military engagements in Japanese history.

YOKOHAMA

Japan's second largest city with a population of 3.4m, Yokohama has evolved in the past century from a tiny port of a few houses to become a major business and commercial centre. Although just half an hour from downtown Tokyo, the city has built its own unique look and atmosphere far removed from that of the Japanese capital.

Foreigners have very much been associated with Yokohama since the end of the Edo shogunate (1603-1867) and in 1859 the fishing village became one of the first to open its doors to outside trade. Since then it has grown at a devastating rate to its presence size, which, along with Tokyo, represents the largest urban sprawl in the world. With its western-style houses, giant towers, futuristic fairground and one of the planet's largest Chinatowns it is a city like few others.

If its peculiar face were not enough to tempt visitors, Yokohama boasts plenty of museums and, thanks to its foreign influence, has a choice of food to entice most people's thoughts. While there's little history to speak off in the city itself, Kamakura, Japan's capital in the 12th Century, lies relatively unspoilt 15 kilometres away.