Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō?, literally 'Eastern capital') is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, the home of the Japanese Imperial Family, and the de facto[1] capital of Japan.
Prior to 1943, Tokyo was the name of both one of the 47 prefectures of Japan, Tokyo-fu, and the populous city of Tokyo in the eastern half of the prefecture. In 1943 the city and prefecture were merged into a unique prefectural level government entity, known as Tōkyō-to 東京都 or 'Tokyo Metropolis'. This administrative region includes the twenty-three 'special wards' of the former city, many suburban cities in the western half of the prefecture, and two chains of islands extending south into the Pacific Ocean. About 12 million people, 10 percent of Japan's population, live within Tōkyō-to's prefectural boundaries.
About 35 million people live in the Greater Tokyo Area[2] which encompasses Tōkyō-to and surrounding prefectures, making it the world's most populous metropolitan area. Because of its huge population and wealth, many world records are or were held here, including the most expensive real estate ever ($1.5 million/sq meter in 1990), the most expensive city for over a decade running, the most passengers served by its train system, and has the largest GDP of any metropolitan area in the world.
Tokyo is considered one of the world's major global cities and a megacity. The word 'Tokyo' may refer to Tōkyō-to as a whole, or only to the main urban mass under its jurisdiction (thus excluding west Tama and Izu / Ogasawara Islands), or even the whole of Greater Tokyo Area, depending on context. This article refers to Tōkyō-to unless otherwise stated.
Geography and administrative divisionsTokyo Metropolis consists of three major parts: the twenty-three special wards (constituting the former Tokyo City); Tama area; and the islands.
The mainland portion of Tokyo lies northwest of Tokyo Bay and measures about 90 km east to west and 25 km north to south. It borders Chiba Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the west, Kanagawa Prefecture to the south, and Saitama Prefecture to the north. Mainland Tokyo is further subdivided into the special wards (occupying the eastern half) and the Tama area (多摩地方) stretching westwards.
Also within the administrative bounaries of Tokyo Metropolis are two island chains in the Pacific Ocean directly south: the Izu Islands, which are almost parallel to the Izu Peninsula; and the Ogasawara Islands, which stretch more than 1,000 km away from mainland Japan.
Under Japanese law, Tokyo is designated as a to (都, often translated 'metropolis'). Its administrative structure is similar to that of Japan's other prefectures. Within Tokyo lie dozens of smaller entities, most of them conventionally referred to as cities. It includes twenty-three special wards (特別区 -ku) which until 1943 comprised the city of Tokyo but are now separate, self-governing municipalities, each with a mayor and a council, and having the status of a city. In addition to these 23 municipalities, Tokyo also encompasses 26 more cities (市 -shi), five towns (町 -chō or machi), and eight villages (村 -son or -mura), each of which has a local government. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is headed by a publicly-elected governor and metropolitan assembly. Its headquarters are in the ward of Shinjuku. They govern all of Tokyo, including lakes, rivers, dams, farms, remote islands, and national parks in addition to its famous neon jungle, skyscrapers and crowded subways.
The twenty-three special wardsThe special wards (tokubetsu-ku) of Tokyo comprise the area formerly known as Tokyo City, usually simply known as 'Tokyo'. On July 1, 1943, Tokyo City was merged with Tokyo Prefecture (東京府, tokyo-fu) forming the current 'metropolitan prefecture'. As a result of this merger, unlike other city wards in Japan, these wards are not part of any city.
Each ward is a local municipality with its own elected mayor and assembly, differing from an ordinary city in that certain governmental functions are handled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and, for most, also differing in having no particular center and little cultural or similar distinctiveness from the immediate surroundings.
As of September 1, 2003, the official total population of the special wards combined was about 8.34 million, with a population density of 13,416 persons per square kilometer.
The term 'central Tokyo' today may refer to the special wards, the areas largely within the Yamanote Line loop (Shinjuku, Toshima, Bunkyo, Taito, Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, and Shibuya), or to the three 'central wards' of Chiyoda, Chūō and Minato. While the generally-accepted center of Tokyo is the Imperial Palace, as a rail-centric city, there are a number of major urban centers where business, shopping, and entertainment are concentrated around major train stations. These include:
To the west of the special wards, Tokyo Metropolis consists of cities, towns and villages that enjoy the same legal status as those elsewhere in Japan.
While serving a role as 'bed towns' for those working in central Tokyo, some of these also have a local commercial and industrial base. Collectively, these are often known as Tama Area or Western Tokyo.
Twenty-six cities lie within the western part of Tokyo Prefecture:
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has designated Hachioji, Tachikawa, Machida, Ome and Tama New Town as regional centres of the Tama area, as part of their plans to disperse urban functions away from central Tokyo.
The far west is occupied by the district (gun) of Nishitama. Much of this area is mountainous and unsuitable for urbanization. The highest mountain in Tokyo, Mount Kumotori, is 2,017 m high; other mountains in Tokyo include Mount Takasu (1737 m), Mount Odake (1266 m), and Mount Mitake (929 m). Lake Okutama, on the Tama River near Yamanashi Prefecture, is Tokyo's largest lake.
Tokyo's outlying islands extend as far as 1850 km from central Tokyo. Because of the islands' distance from the city, they are locally run by branches of the metropolitan government. Most of the islands are classified as villages.
The Izu Islands are a group of volcanic islands and form part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. The islands in order from closest to Tokyo are:
There are four national parks in Tokyo Prefecture:
Tokyo has the largest metropolitan economy in the world, despite falling in ranks in recent years due to economic stagnation and currency fluctuations: its nominal GDP is around US$1.315 trillion (List of countries by GDP (Nominal)). In April 1995, due to excessively strong yen (79/dollar), greater Tokyo's GDP was valued at $1.9 trillion, then ranking fourth compared to nations in the world (after Germany, the US and Japan itself) and larger than the 1995 nominal GDP of South Korea, China, and Taiwan combined, 28% of the entire nominal GDP of USA ($6.7 trillion then), and over 6% of world GDP at the time (By comparison, greater New York City, the next largest, makes only about 1.5% of world GDP, still immense for any one metro area). It is a major international finance center, is site of the headquarters of several of the world's largest investment banks and insurance companies, and serves as a hub for Japan's transportation, publishing, and broadcasting industries.
During the centralized growth of Japan's economy following World War II, many large firms moved their headquarters from cities such as Osaka (the historical commercial capital) to Tokyo, in an attempt to take advantage of better access to the government. This trend has begun to slow due to ongoing population growth in Tokyo and the high cost of living there.
Tokyo was rated by the Economist Intelligence Unit as the most expensive (highest cost-of-living) city in the world for 14 years in a row ending in 2006.[3] Note that this is for living a Western corporate executive lifestyle. Many Japanese get by fine on a budget in Tokyo, underpinning the high national savings rate.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange is the second largest in the world by market capitalization of listed shares, at more than $4 trillion. Only the New York Stock Exchange is larger. However, its prominence has fallen significantly since early 1990's asset bubble peak, when it accounted for more than 60 percent of the entire world's stock market values.
Tokyo had 8,460 ha (20,900 acres) of agricultural land as of 2003[3], according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, placing it last among the nation's prefectures. The farmland is concentrated in Western Tokyo. Perishables such as vegetables, fruits, and flowers can be conveniently shipped to the markets in the eastern part of the prefecture. Japanese leaf spinach and spinach are the most important vegetables; as of 2000, Tokyo supplied 32.5% of the Japanese leaf spinach sold at its central produce market.
With 36% of its area covered by forest, Tokyo has extensive growths of cryptomeria and Japanese cypress, especially in the mountainous western communities of Akiruno, Ōme, Okutama, Hachioji, Hinode, and Hinohara. Decreases in the price of lumber, increases in the cost of production, and advancing old age among the forestry population have resulted in a decline in Tokyo's output. In addition, pollen, especially from cryptomeria, is a major allergen for the nearby population centers.
Tokyo Bay was once a major source of fish. Presently, most of Tokyo's fish production comes from the outer islands, such as Izu Ōshima and Hachijōjima. Skipjack tuna, nori, and aji are among the ocean products.
DemographicsAs one of the major cities of the world, Tokyo has over eight million people living within its 23 wards, and during the daytime, the population swells by over 2.5 million as workers and students commute from adjacent areas. This effect is even more pronounced in the three central wards of Chiyoda, Chūō, and Minato, whose collective population is less than 300,000 at night, but over two million during the day.
The five most common foreign nationalities found in Tokyo are Chinese (120,331), Korean (103,191), Philippine (31,505), American (18,043) and British (7,585).
Historic PopulationFrom its modest beginnings as a fishing village, it was chosen in 1603 to be the new Tokugawa headquarters, it grew from nearly nothing to over 1 million people and Japan's pre-eminent city by the mid 1700's, becoming one of the largest cities in the world at the time. Railways that began in the 1885 (Yamanote Line) facilitated rapid growth as traffic congestion problems were eased with every new line built. The city continued to grow quickly and in 1920, it had a census upon joining the League of Nations, 3,699,428 people. This is in itself amazing considering the numerous fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions that have leveled the city countless times since its founding. Despite being hit by a major earthquake in 1923, by 1932 its population had swelled to 7 million, second in the world to only New York City. By 1945, due to the war the city's population was half of prewar levels.
During and after World War II, the city was destroyed and rebuilt once again, and the 23 wards increased in population until around 1960's, when people began moving to suburbs en masse, as dense and modern suburban rail networks facilitated commuting into Tokyo. Many of the newcomers were from other parts of Japan, and many companies relocated from the Kansai area. From the 1960's to around the year 2000, the 23 wards had been slowly losing population to suburbs, with Tokyo's 23 wards recording fewer than 8 million residents from a high of over 8.6 million. More recently, as land prices had fallen drastically from their peak in 1991, a significant number of people have relocated to the 23 wards and the population is again rising, to 8.4 million (at what date?). Suburbs in Kanagawa and southern Saitama perfectures have experienced the most rapid growth in recent years (especially those bordering Tokyo 23 wards), while populations in other areas have stabilized or are falling slightly.
Years of major damage and deaths:
Other major disasters in Tokyo:
Nakamura-za and Ichimura-za, the most renowned Kabuki theaters of the time, were reduced to ashes 33 times between 1657 and 1841. The Nihonbashi district, the central part of Edo where merchants lived, was also afflicted with regular large blazes, being ravaged 10 times in the 200 years following the Meireki Fire. [4]
TransportationTokyo is Japan's largest domestic and international hub for rail, ground, and air transportation. Public transportation within Tokyo is dominated by an extensive network of clean and efficient, if often very crowded trains and subways run by a variety of operators, with buses, monorails and trams playing a secondary feeder role. Railway stations are not only transport, but the center of Tokyo and Japanese urban life, as everything is judged in relation to it, taking on the significance of highways in the United States and elsewhere.
Within Tokyo, Tokyo International Airport ('Haneda') offers mainly domestic flights. Outside Tokyo, Narita International Airport, in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, is the major gateway for international travelers.
Rail is the primary mode of transportation in Tokyo, which has the most extensive urban railway network in the world and an equally extensive network of surface lines. JR East operates Tokyo's largest railway network, including the Yamanote Line loop that circles the center of downtown Tokyo. Tokyo Metro and Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation operate the subway network. The metropolitan government and private carriers operate bus routes. Local, regional, and national services are available, with major terminals at the giant railroad stations, including Tokyo and Shinjuku.
Expressways link the capital to other points in the Greater Tokyo area, the Kantō region, and the islands of Kyūshū and Shikoku.
Taxis operate in the special wards and the cities and towns. Long-distance ferries serve the islands of Tokyo and carry passengers and cargo to domestic and foreign ports.
EducationBeing the nation's center of education, Tokyo has many universities, junior colleges, and vocational schools. Many of Japan's most prestigious universities are in Tokyo. The most prestigious is the University of Tokyo. Other schools include Keio University, Hitotsubashi University, and Waseda University.
UniversitiesTokyo also has a few universities well-known for classes conducted in English. They include International Christian University, Sophia University, and Temple University Japan. Tokyo has an array of Japanese universities. National universities include Tokyo Medical and Dental University, University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo Institute of Technology and University of Tokyo. There is only one public university, the Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Private Universities include, Keio University.This University is the top private university in Japan, which has a proud history as Japan's very first private institution of higher learning. For an extensive list of universities in Tokyo, see List of universities in Tokyo.
Primary and secondary schoolsPublicly run kindergartens, elementary schools (years 1 through 6), and junior high schools (7 through 9) are operated by local wards or municipal offices. Public high schools in Tokyo are run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education and are called 'Metropolitan High Schools'. Tokyo also has a great number of privately run schools from kindergarten through high school. For a list of high schools in Japanese, see [4].
CultureTokyo is known for its many museums. Located in Ueno Park are the Tokyo National Museum, the country's largest museum and specializing in traditional Japanese art; the National Museum of Western Art; and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, which contains collections of Japanese modern art as well as over 10,000 Japanese and foreign films. Ueno Park also contains the National Museum of Science and the municipal zoo. Other museums include the Nezu Art Museum in Aoyama; the Edo-Tokyo Museum in the Sumida Ward across the Sumida River from the center of Tokyo; and the National Diet Library, National Archives, and the National Museum of Modern Art which are located near the Imperial Palace.
Tokyo is the national center of performing arts as well. There are many theatres in the city in which traditional forms of Japanese drama (like noh and kabuki) as well as modern dramas. Symphony orchestras and other musical organizations perform Western and traditional music.
Tokyo is home to many different festivals that occur throughout the city. Major festivals draw people from all over the city including the Sanno Festival at Hie Shrine, and the Sanja Festival at Asakusa Shrine. Many Japanese cities hold festivals called matsuri. The Kanda Matsuri in Tokyo is held every two years in May. The festival features a parade with elaborately decorated floats and thousands of people. Annually on the last Saturday of July, an enormous fireworks display is held over the Sumida River and it attracts over 1 million viewers. Once cherry blossoms bloom in spring, many residents gather in parks such as Ueno Park, Inokashira Park, and the Shinjuku Gyen National Gardens for picnics under the beautiful cherry trees.
SportsThe sports teams listed below are based in Tokyo.
Football (soccer)
Baseball
Ice Hockey
Basketball
Volleyball
Rugby
Tokyo has many tourist sightseeing, cultural and sport attractions. These include famous temples, shrines, annual festivals and events, parks, scenic views, popular shopping and nightlife districts. Cultural highlights of Tokyo include museums, concert halls, and theaters.
Tokyo in popular mediaAs the largest city in Japan and the location of the country's largest broadcasters and studios, Tokyo is frequently the setting for many Japanese movies, television shows, animated series (anime), and comic books (manga). The best-known outside Japan may be the kaiju (monster movie) genre, in which landmarks of Tokyo are routinely destroyed by giant monsters such as Godzilla. Many comics and animated series are set in Tokyo, such as Sailor Moon, Ranma , Azumanga Daioh, Beyblade, Yu-Gi-Oh! and even the western animation Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, have become popular across the world as well. Some futuristic manga and anime such as Akira often depict Tokyo as a sprawling metropolis in a post-apocalyptic setting; some often go so far as to have numbers designating different Tokyos.
Some Hollywood directors have turned to Tokyo as a filming location. Well-known examples from the postwar era include Tokyo Joe, My Geisha, and the James Bond film You Only Live Twice; well-known contemporary examples include Kill Bill, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Lost in Translation. Tokyo was used a setting where the monkeys invade in the video game Ape Escape Million Monkeys.
Sister relationshipsTokyo has sister relationships with several places worldwide[5]:
In addition, Tokyo has a 'partnership' agreement with the city of London [6] and many of the wards and cities within Tokyo maintain sister-city relationships with other foreign cities.
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