Tokyo 東京
—  Metropolis  —
東京都 · Tokyo Metropolis
From top left: Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo Tower, Rainbow Bridge, Shibuya, National Diet Building
Seal Symbol
Anthem: Tokyo Metropolitan Song (東京都歌, Tokyo Toka?)[1]
Location of Tokyo in Japan
Satellite photo of Tokyo's 23 Special wards taken by NASA's Landsat 7
Tokyo Location of Tokyo in Japan
Coordinates: 35°41′22.22″N 139°41′30.12″E / 35.6895056°N 139.6917°E / 35.6895056; 139.6917Coordinates: 35°41′22.22″N 139°41′30.12″E / 35.6895056°N 139.6917°E / 35.6895056; 139.6917
Country	Japan
Region	Kantō
Island	Honshu
Divisions	23 special wards, 26 cities, 1 district, & 4 subprefectures
Government
• Type	Metropolis
• Governor	Shintaro Ishihara
• Capital	Shinjuku
Area(ranked 45th)
• Metropolis	2,187.66 km2 (844.66 sq mi)
• Metro	13,572 km2 (5,240 sq mi)
Population (August 1, 2011)[2][3]
• Metropolis	13,185,502
• Density	6,000/km2 (16,000/sq mi)
• Metro	35,682,460
• Metro density	2,629/km2 (6,810/sq mi)
• 23 Wards	8,967,665
	(2011 per Prefectural Government)
Demonym	Tokyoite
Time zone	Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
ISO 3166-2	JP-13
Flower	Somei-Yoshino cherry blossom
Tree	Ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba)
Bird	Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus)
Website	www.metro.tokyo.jp

Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō^?, "Eastern Capital") [toːkʲoː], English /ˈtoʊki.oʊ/; officially Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to^?),^[4] is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of the world.^[5] It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands.^[6] Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture (東京府, Tōkyō-fu^?) and the city of Tokyo (東京市, Tōkyō-shi^?).

The Tokyo Metropolitan government administers the 23 special wards of Tokyo (each governed as a city), which cover the area that was the city of Tokyo, as well as 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the special wards is over 8 million people, with the total population of the prefecture exceeding 13 million. The prefecture is part of the world's most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 35 million people and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy with a GDP of US$1.479 trillion at purchasing power parity in 2008, ahead of New York City metropolitan area, which ranks second on the list.^[7] The city hosts 47 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest amount of any city.^[8]

Tokyo has been described as one of the three "command centers" for the world economy, along with New York City and London.^[9] The city is considered an alpha+ world city, listed by the GaWC's 2008 inventory^[10] and ranked fourth among global cities by A.T. Kearney's 2012 Global Cities Index.^[11] In 2010 Tokyo was named the second most expensive city for expatriate employees, according to the Mercer and Economist Intelligence Unit cost-of-living surveys,^[12] and in 2009 named the third Most Liveable City and the World’s Most Livable Megalopolis by the magazine Monocle.^[13] The Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world.^[14][15] Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics and is currently a Candidate City for the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[16]

Etymology[link]

Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means "estuary".^[17] Its name was changed to Tokyo (Tōkyō: tō (east) + kyō (capital)) when it became the imperial capital in 1868, in line with the East Asian tradition of including the word capital ('京') in the name of the capital city.^[17] During the early Meiji period, the city was also called "Tōkei", an alternative pronunciation for the same Chinese characters representing "Tokyo". Some surviving official English documents use the spelling "Tokei".^[18] However, this pronunciation is now obsolete.^[19]

History[link]

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo,^[6] in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province.^[20]

Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the late twelfth century. In 1457, Ōta Dōkan built Edo Castle. In 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu made Edo his base and when he became shogun in 1603, the town became the center of his nationwide military government. During the subsequent Edo period, Edo grew into one of the largest cities in the world with a population topping one million by the 18th century.^[21] Tokyo became the de facto capital of Japan^[22] even while the emperor lived in Kyoto, the imperial capital. After about 263 years, the shogunate was overthrown under the banner of restoring imperial rule. In 1869, the 17-year-old Emperor Meiji moved to Edo. Tokyo was already the nation's political and cultural center,^[23] and the emperor's residence made it a de facto imperial capital as well, with the former Edo Castle becoming the Imperial Palace. The city of Tokyo was established, and continued to be the capital until it was abolished as a municipality in 1943 and merged with the "Metropolitan Prefecture" of Tokyo.

Central Tokyo, like Osaka, has been designed since about 1900 to be centered on major railway stations in a high-density fashion, so suburban railways were built relatively cheaply at street level and with their own right-of-way. This differs from many cities in the United States that are low-density and automobile-centric. Though expressways have been built in Tokyo, the basic design has not changed.

Tokyo went on to suffer two major catastrophes in the 20th century, but it recovered from both. One was the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, which left 140,000 dead or missing,^[24] and the other was World War II. The Bombing of Tokyo in 1944 and 1945, with 75,000 to 200,000 killed and half of the city destroyed, was almost as devastating as the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.^[25]

After the war, Tokyo was completely rebuilt, and was showcased to the world during the 1964 Summer Olympics. The 1970s brought new high-rise developments such as Sunshine 60, a new and controversial^[26] airport at Narita in 1978 (some distance outside city limits), and a population increase to about 11 million (in the metropolitan area).

Tokyo's subway and commuter rail network became one of the busiest in the world^[27] as more and more people moved to the area. In the 1980s, real estate prices skyrocketed during a real estate and debt bubble. The bubble burst in the early 1990s, and many companies, banks, and individuals were caught with mortgage backed debts while real estate was shrinking in value. A major recession followed, making the 1990s Japan's "Lost Decade"^[28] from which it is now slowly recovering.

Tokyo still sees new urban developments on large lots of less profitable land. Recent projects include Ebisu Garden Place, Tennozu Isle, Shiodome, Roppongi Hills, Shinagawa (now also a Shinkansen station), and the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. Buildings of significance are demolished for more up-to-date shopping facilities such as Omotesando Hills.

Land reclamation projects in Tokyo have also been going on for centuries. The most prominent is the Odaiba area, now a major shopping and entertainment center. Various plans have been proposed^[29] for transferring national government functions from Tokyo to secondary capitals in other regions of Japan, in order to slow down rapid development in Tokyo and revitalize economically lagging areas of the country. These plans have been controversial^[30] within Japan and have yet to be realized.

The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated much of the northeastern coast of Honshu was felt in Tokyo. However, due to Tokyo's earthquake-resistant infrastructure, damage in Tokyo was very minor compared to areas directly hit by the tsunami,^[31] although activity in the city was largely halted.^[32] The subsequent nuclear crisis caused by the tsunami has also largely unaffected Tokyo, despite occasional spikes in radiation levels.^[33][34]

Geography and administrative divisions[link]

The mainland portion of Tokyo lies northwest of Tokyo Bay and measures about 90 km east to west and 25 km north to south. The average elevation in Tokyo is 40 m (131 ft 3 in).^[35] Chiba Prefecture borders it to the east, Yamanashi to the west, Kanagawa to the south, and Saitama to the north. Mainland Tokyo is further subdivided into the special wards (occupying the eastern half) and the Tama area (多摩地域) stretching westwards.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Also within the administrative boundaries of Tokyo Metropolis are two island chains in the Pacific Ocean directly south: the Izu Islands, and the Ogasawara Islands, which stretch more than 1,000 km away from the mainland. Because of these islands and mountainous regions to the west, Tokyo's overall population density figures far underrepresent the real figures for urban and suburban regions of Tokyo.

Under Japanese law, Tokyo is designated as a to (都), translated as metropolis.^[36] Its administrative structure is similar to that of Japan's other prefectures. Within Tokyo lie dozens of smaller entities, including many cities, the 23 special wards, districts, towns, villages, a quasi-national park, and a national park. The 23 special wards (特別区 -ku), which until 1943 constituted the city of Tokyo, are now separate, self-governing municipalities, each having a mayor, a council, and the status of a city.

In addition to these 23 special wards, Tokyo also includes 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 neon jungles, skyscrapers and crowded subways.

Special wards[link]

A map of Tokyo's 23 Special wards

The special wards (tokubetsu-ku) of Tokyo comprise the area formerly incorporated as Tokyo City. On July 1, 1943, Tokyo City was merged with Tokyo Prefecture (東京府, Tōkyō-fu^?) forming the current "metropolitan prefecture". As a result, unlike other city wards in Japan, these wards are not conterminous with a larger incorporated city. While falling under the jurisdiction of Tokyo Metropolitan Government, each ward is also a borough with its own elected leader and council, like other cities of Japan. The special wards use the word "city" in their official English name (e.g. Chiyoda City).

The wards differ from other cities in having a unique administrative relationship with the prefectural government. Certain municipal functions, such as waterworks, sewerage, and fire-fighting, are handled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. To pay for the added administrative costs, the prefecture collects municipal taxes, which would usually be levied by the city.^[37]

The special wards of Tokyo are:

The "three core wards" of Tokyo are Chiyoda, Chūō and Minato.^[38]

Western Tokyo[link]

A map of cities in western part of Tokyo. They border on the three westernmost special wards in the map above.

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 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 the Tama Area or Western Tokyo.

Cities[link]

Twenty-six cities lie within the western part of Tokyo:

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has designated Hachiōji, Tachikawa, Machida, Ōme and Tama New Town as regional centers of the Tama area,^[39] as part of its plans to disperse urban functions away from central Tokyo.

Nishitama District[link]

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 Takasu (1737 m), Odake (1266 m), and Mitake (929 m). Lake Okutama, on the Tama River near Yamanashi Prefecture, is Tokyo's largest lake. The district is composed of three towns and one village.

Towns

• Hinode
• Mizuho
• Okutama

Village

• Hinohara

Islands[link]

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park

Tokyo has numerous outlying islands, which extend as far as 1850 km from central Tokyo. Because of the islands' distance from the administrative headquarters of the metropolitan government in Shinjuku, local offices administer them.

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 Izu Ōshima, Toshima, Niijima, Shikinejima, Kozushima, Miyakejima, Mikurajima, Hachijojima, and Aogashima. The Izu Islands are grouped into three subprefectures. Izu Ōshima and Hachijojima are towns. The remaining islands are six villages, with Niijima and Shikinejima forming one village.

The Ogasawara Islands include, from north to south, Chichi-jima, Nishinoshima, Haha-jima, Kita Iwo Jima, Iwo Jima, and Minami Iwo Jima. Ogasawara also administers two tiny outlying islands: Minami Torishima, the easternmost point in Japan and at 1,850 km the most distant island from central Tokyo, and Okino Torishima, the southernmost point in Japan. The last island is contested by the People's Republic of China as being only uninhabited rocks. The Iwo chain and the outlying islands have no permanent population, but host Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel. Local populations are only found on Chichi-jima and Haha-jima. The islands form both the subprefecture of Ogasawara and the village of Ogasawara.