World's Longest Suspension Bridge to Tokyo's Other Name

Issue 21

1. The world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge opened in April 2021 near Arouca in northern Portugal. The bridge hangs 175 meters above the fast-flowing River Paiva and is not for the faint hearted. It is held up by steel cables and two massive towers on each side, but it wobbles a little with every step.

2. Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group (the maker of Peugeot and Citröen cars) have merged to create the world’s fourth largest automaker by volume – Stellantis. It is a Franco-Italian-American multinational automotive manufacturer with headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

3. Many centuries ago, baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the first dip in nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

   

4. Tokyo’s other name is Edo, named after the Edo Period or the Tokugawa Shogunate (徳川将軍), which ruled Japan before the Meiji Restoration for nearly 250 years. Edo, was not only the capital city of the Tokugawa Shogunate, but also a primary center of trade with the west. Before Tokyo/Edo, Kyoto, one of the oldest cities in Japan and was the capital for more than a millennium after its inception in 794 A.D. It was only after the Meiji Restoration (明治維新), around 1868, that the Royal Family moved out of Kyoto into their new imperial home in Tokyo.