I mean, the streets look ugly and boring. Tokyo is the only city where I've been that only really looks good when it's night and it's covered in neon billboards

I mean, the streets look ugly and boring. Tokyo is the only city where I've been that only really looks good when it's night and it's covered in neon billboards. Other than billboards (and a few interesting shopfronts), streets in Tokyo are mostly a bit boring from the outside. OK, "ugly" is an exaggeration. If buildings were people, Tokyo would be like a bunch of programmers in the kind of SV office with no dress code, it's relaxed and casual but most of it is nothing you'd want to take a photograph of. It's the urban equivalent of 'bucolic'. Yes, there's a few nice buildings, but it's mostly just a functional rabble. You can't imagine a dictator making their capital look like most of Tokyo - there's no order or wow factor, it's just a bunch of buildings doing their job. Note - I quite like Tokyo (though I didn't spend that long there). I think they clearly did choose to make it more livable (which makes it exciting in other ways) than beautiful, and I think it's a good choice.