What is your favorite East Asia City?

[urban addict 20324]

Post any comments here.

[PghUSA]

For me its Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo in that order, just the unbridled capitalism and energy and the well designed and great looking skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. I aslo like them in that order because of the way that the local citystate government provides incentives and are business friendly. I think those three have lots to teach American cities when it comes to Metro government and supply side revenue models that encourage its citizens and immigrants to reach for the stars. Maybe I'm romanticizing it some but thats the feeling I get from those cities.

[sunshine]

Where do East Asia start?

[Aessotariq]

East Asia (a.k.a. the Far East, Asia-Pacific, or the Orient [archaic]) is principally considered: China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Japan, North/South Korea, Taiwan;

Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, etc. I consider SE Asia part of East Asia when speaking in a broad sense.

All of these countries are members of APEC (except North Korea), and the SE Asian countries are part of ASEAN.

[Christian]

Hong Kong first, but Shanghai and some other city close behind...

[sunshine]

East Asia (a.k.a. the Far East, Asia-Pacific, or the Orient [archaic]) is principally considered: China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Japan, North/South Korea, Taiwan;   

Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, etc.  I consider SE Asia part of East Asia when speaking in a broad sense.

All of these countries are members of APEC (except North Korea), and the SE Asian countries are part of ASEAN.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's what I think, Bangkok and Singapore are SouthEast Asia.

[PghUSA]

These are based on race or demography? I'd have to agree on those distinctions. Ecoomically though I see a more E/W divide in all of Asia. Just my two cents.

[urban addict 20324]

I think the limit of East Asia starts on the short N. Korea/Russia border from the sea to the N. Korea/Russia/China three corner area. Then it continues along the Chinese border from that three corner area to the China/Laos/Burma three corner area. From there on south, the Laos/Burma border comes first then the Burma/Thailand border all the way to the Indian Ocean. Indonesia, I think, is part of East Asia also.

[Aessotariq]

These are based on race or demography?  I'd have to agree on those distinctions.  Ecoomically though I see a more E/W divide in all of Asia.  Just my two cents.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Regions of the world do tend to be defined based on culture, race, language, or socioeconomic conditions that don't always coincide with political maps, like how cultural "North America" only includes the U.S. and Canada and not Mexico or Central America (because they are part of "Latin America"). Or North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Demographic divides tend to translate into economic ones too...

For East Asia, from a geographic perspective what ties all of these together is that they're on the Pacific, or they lie within a body of water that is geographically part of the Pacific. Economically these countries have much in common too...

So that got me thinking about how Asia tends to be divided... When considering the Eurasian land mass as a whole, this is what I tend to think of:

• Europe (European subcontinent)

• Russia, including European Russia (west of the Ural Mountains) and Siberia

• East Asia

• Southeast Asia

• the Middle East

• former Soviet bloc (central Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States)

• Indian subcontinent (south Asia)

Comments welcome...

[wolfdawg54]

Both Shanghai and Tokyo are awesome cities. I kind of like Tokyo as my favorite though because of its density.

[yochillout]

I love Singapore Shanghai and Tokyo, but there is jsut something about Hong Kong that I just adore. Maybe because it is frickin awesome!

[urban addict 20324]

[urban addict 20324]

Hong Kong has a special quality of its own and so does Tokyo.

[Aessotariq]

For me, it's Tokyo all the way... 東京 literally means "Capital of the East", which is very fitting. The culture (the mix of Western and tradition), the only non-western member of the G8, capital of the world's only fully modernized non-Western society, a world financial center, those unbelievable diagonal crosswalks, the surreal pop culture, incredible economic might despite lack of natural resources, the cleanliness of the city, pachinko, vending machines on virtually every corner that sell practically everything, and oh, let us not forget: subway pushers. Shibuya and Shinjuku.

I'm also fond of the way certain languages have transliterated names of places into their native languages.

Singapore (Xinjiapo) (新加坡) is too oppressive and Orwellian for my tastes, although it has a nice skyline.

I love the way Hong Kong (Xiang Gang) (香港) spreads across the harbor. It was also amazing to see how low the planes used to fly when approaching the old airport. From a cultural perspective, I like how many Hong Kong Chinese use a Western given name ("first name") with their family name, and are able to chop the name into syllables that can be pronounced in Cantonese or Mandarin. It's one of few successful laissez-faire societies, with little government regulation and almost zero social safety net.

[urban addict 20324]

HK literally means fragant or good-smelling harbor in Chinese.

[latinposer]

you know.when i came here to this asia part,i thought i was gonna see like chinese or asian names like kjira34 or something like but i see that its the same people from other places.oh well,(i guess i cant judge a book by its cover)

[ironchapman]

I like Tokyo, Love to visit it someday.

Tallest city hall in the world,I believe

[Urban Catalyst]

i see bangkok and singapore...what about manila?

[okinawatyphoon]

I've gotta vote for Naha, Okinawa. I guess its because I live here, but it really is a great, underrated city of 313,000 people. Tokyo is nice also, but its HUGE!

[bryson662001]

I vote for Saigon because it has been through so much but resisted all efforts to tame it. Instead if being beaten by the Communists, it has converted them.

[Ruso]

Seoul. After watching the Soccer World Cup, I definately started to admire this city that rised from being a small, isolated city,and became a metropolis.

[colin]

My favorite is the often-overlooked Kuala Lumpur. It's like Singapore's wilder brother.

English-speaking, very cheap, great food, good shopping, generally safe streets, good transit system, lots of sites to see, and you gotta love the Malays.

Although I love Singapore, Hong Kong has it beat, I think. It's just so lively and interesting. A total 24-hour town whereas Singapore shuts down around 2am on the weekends. It's also much less suppressive feeling there, which is ironic when you look at the West's view of the Chinese vs. Singaporean government (even Shanghai feels less suppressed than Singapore).

[Hendrik]

The list of cities is really nice, ill have to check them all out, then ill tell you wich one is the best

[frag24]

Best beaches in the world ... go to Philippines...... BORACAY! PALAWAN! world class......

[john_denver]

Has anyone here been to North Korea?