Tokyo is the capital of Japan as well as the most populous conurbation in Japan, and is the most populous metropolitan area in the world.

A little more than 12 million people live in Tokyo while hundreds of thousands of others commute everyday from surrounding areas to work and do business in Tokyo. Tokyo is the central place of politics, economy, culture and academics in Japan as well as the home of the Japanese emperor and the seat of the national government, as well as a major business and financial centre for all of East Asia.

It is unusual in that it has far fewer skyscrapers than other cities of its size, mostly due to earthquake construction codes; rather, it mostly consists of low-rise apartments of six to ten floors and densely-packed family homes. Tokyo is also home to the world's most complex mass transit system, and is world-famous for its crowded rush hours.

Tokyo literally means "eastern capital" in Japanese, a meaning in opposition to an old capital to the west, Kyoto, which was renamed "Saikyo", meaning "western capital", for a brief period of time.

The name was spelled Tokio in English until the latter half of the 20th century; while now thoroughly obsolete, this usage persists in a few rare cases like the Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance company. The name is still spelled Tokio in some other languages like Dutch, Finnish, German, Spanish, and Esperanto.

Administration

Tokyo has an administrative structure unique among the prefectures of Japan. It is officially designated as a "metropolis" (? to). Although it generally resembles a prefecture, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government also offers partial city government functions to the 23 special wards included in the heart of Tokyo, with a combined population of 8,134,688 and an area of 621.3 km�. In addition to the special wards, Tokyo administers twenty-six suburban cities to the west, and a number of small islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Metropolitan Government's main offices (tocho) are located in the ward of Shinjuku.

According to the Population Census in 2000, Tokyo has a population of 12,064,101 and area of 2186.9 km�. Tokyo is also part of the Greater Tokyo Area, which consists of Tokyo itself and the surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba. The Greater Tokyo area is the largest metropolitan area in the world with a population of 33,418,366.

History

Tokyo was initially constructed in 1457; the city was known as Edo (??). The Tokugawa shogunate was established in 1603 with Edo as its seat of government (de facto capital). (The emperor's residence, and formal capital, remained in Kyoto � that city had been the actual capital of Japan until that time.) In September of 1868, when the shogunate came to an end, Emperor Meiji ordered Edo to be renamed "Tokyo," meaning "Eastern Capital." The new name was meant to emphasize Tokyo's status as the new capital of Japan, both temporally and spiritually.

Tokyo has been generally accepted as the sole capital of Japan since 1869, when the Emperor took up permanent residence there. However, the capital was never legally "transferred" to Tokyo, leading some to question whether Kyoto may still be the capital, or a co-capital. See: Capital of Japan debate

The Great Kanto earthquake struck Tokyo in 1923, killing approximately 70,000 people; a massive reconstruction plan was drawn up, but was too expensive to carry out except in part. Despite this, the city grew until the beginning of World War II. During the war, Tokyo was heavily bombed, much of the city was burned to the ground, and its population in 1945 was only half that of 1940.

Following the war, Tokyo was under military occupation and governed by the allied forces. General Douglas MacArthur established the occupation headquarters in what is now the Dai-Ichi Seimei building overlooking the Imperial Palace. The American presence in Tokyo made it an important command and logistics center during the Korean War. Tokyo still hosts a number of U.S. military bases, including Yokota Air Base.

During the 1950s and mid-1960s, Japan experienced what is widely described as the "economic miracle", which transformed the nation from wartime devastation to the world's second-largest economy by 1966. During this period, Japanese government policy placed priority on the development of infrastructure and manufacturing industries over social welfare. As a result, Japan came to dominate a range of industries including steel, ship-building, automobiles, semiconductors, and consumer electronics. Tokyo's re-emergence from wartime trauma was complete at the 1964 Summer Olympics, which publicized the city on an international stage and brought global attention to the "economic miracle".

Beginning in the 1970s, Japanese cities experienced a massive wave of expansion as laborers began migrating from rural areas, and Tokyo was one of the most dramatic examples. As it grew steadily into the economic bubble of the late 1980s, Tokyo became one of the most dynamic cities on Earth, with a tremendous range of social and economic activities, myriad restaurants and clubs, a major financial district, tremendous industrial strength, a wealth of shops, and world-class entertainment opportunities. The construction boom of the bubble years was one of the greatest in world history (as judged by the level of building expenditures in relation to the size of the economy), leading Tokyo to have an enormously more modern capital stock of buildings than similar metropolises such as London and New York City. Although the recession following the bursting of the "bubble economy" in the early 1990s hurt the city, Tokyo remains the predominant economic center of East Asia, rivaled only by Hong Kong and Singapore.

On March 20, 1995, Tokyo became the focus of international media attention in the wake of the Aum Shinrikyo cult terrorist organisation attack with Sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo subway system (in the tunnels beneath the political district of central Tokyo) in which 12 people were killed and thousands affected (see Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway).

Geography

Literally the new home of Tokyo's business and government centers, Shinjuku's famous neon signs entice wandering salarymen into pachinko parlors, video arcades, and hostess bars.

Tokyo prefecture is divided into mainland and island areas. The mainland is located to the northwest of Tokyo Bay, 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. The islands are made up of Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands, stretching 1,000 km into the Pacific Ocean.

Wards

Tokyo prefecture has 23 special wards in an area of about 621 square kilometers. As of September 1, 2002 the total population of the 23 wards was about 8.28 million, with a population density of 13,333 persons per square kilometer. Each ward is a local municipality with its own elected mayors and assemblies:

Adachi
Arakawa
Bunkyo
Chiyoda
Chuo
Edogawa
Itabashi
Katsushika
Kita
Koto
Meguro
Minato
Nakano
Nerima
Ota
Setagaya
Shibuya
Shinagawa
Shinjuku
Suginami
Sumida
Toshima
Taito

List of cities

In addition to wards, the prefecture has cities like other prefectures.

Akiruno
Akigawa (present Akiruno)
Akishima
Chofu
Fuchu
Fussa
Hachioji
Hamura
Higashikurume
Higashimurayama
Higashiyamato
Hino
Hoya (present Nishi-tokyo)
Inagi
Kiyose
Kodaira
Koganei
Kokubunji
Komae
Kunitachi
Machida
Mitaka
Musashimurayama
Musashino
Nishi-tokyo
Ome
Tachikawa
Tama
Tanashi (present Nishi-tokyo)

Districts, sub-prefectures, towns and villages

Nishitama

Hinohara
Hinode
Itsukaichi (present Akiruno)
Mizuho
Okutama

The following are towns and villages on islands.

Hachijo sub-prefecture

Aogashima
Hachijo

Miyake sub-prefecture

Mikurajima
Miyake

Ogasawara sub-prefecture

Ogasawara

Oshima sub-prefecture

Kozushima
Niijima
Oshima
Toshima

Lakes, Mountains, and Islands

The following lakes are in Tokyo:

Lake Okutama

The following mountains are in Tokyo:

Mt. Kumotori
Mt. Takao
Mt. Mitake
Mt. Mihara

The following islands are in Tokyo:

In Tokyo Bay:
In the Izu Islands:
Oshima (or Izu Oshima)
Toshima
Niijima
Kozushima
Miyakejima
Mikurajima
Hachijojima

In the Ogasawara Islands:

Chichjima
Hahajima
Kita Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Minami Iwo Jima
Minami Torishima (Easternmost point in Japan)
Oki no Torishima (Southernmost point in Japan)
Nishi no Shima

Economy

Tokyo is home to an enormous number of companies in many sectors of the national and world economy.

Demographics

By age (2002):

Juveniles (0-14): 1.43 million (12%)
Working population (15-64): 8.5 million (71.4%)
Aged population (65+): 1.98 million (16.6%)

Foreign resident population: 327,000 (2001)

Net population growth: +68,000 (2000 to 2001)

Culture

Religious landmarks in Tokyo:

Kubizuka
Meiji Shrine
Sensoji
St. Nikolai Cathedral
Yasukuni Shrine

Major universities in Tokyo:

Gakushuin University
Hitotsubashi University
Hosei University
Keio University (Keio Gijuku)
Kokugakuin University
Meiji Gakuin University
Meiji University
Nihon University
Sophia University
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Tokyo Metropolitan University
University of Tokyo
Waseda University

Baseball clubs in Tokyo:

Yakult Swallows
Yomiuri Giants

Football (soccer) clubs in Tokyo:

FC Tokyo
Tokyo Verdy 1969

Sites

Some famous places for sight-seeing include:

Japanese Imperial Palace (Kokyo)
Tokyo Tower
Tokyo National Museum
Edo-Tokyo Museum
Roppongi Hills, one of Tokyo's largest skyscrapers
Budokan and Tokyo Dome arenas
Odaiba, a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay
The Rainbow Bridge and Yurikamome monorail
Kabukiza theater
Akasaka Palace and Jingu Gaien Park
Meiji Shrine
Ueno Park
Sumida Park
Nagata-cho, location of the Diet Building and other government offices
Sensoji temple in Asakusa
Tokyo Disney in nearby Urayasu

Transportation

Airports

Narita International Airport (Formerly New Tokyo International Airport), Narita, Chiba Prefecture
Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport), Ota, Tokyo
Chofu Airport, Chofu, Tokyo

Narita Airport has almost all of the international service coming into Tokyo, while Tokyo International has the lion's share of the intra-Japan flights coming into Tokyo. Chofu handles some flights to the islands south of Tokyo.

Rail and metro
Tokyo has one of the world's most extensive metro systems, which is run by the Tokyo Metro (formerly Teito Rapid Transit Authority, or Eidan) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei), as well as surface lines operated by JR East (formerly the Japan National Railway), a number of suburban commuter-rail lines, and the Arakawa streetcar line.

Major railway stations:

Akihabara Station
Ikebukuro Station
Shibuya Station
Shinagawa Station
Shinjuku Station
Tokyo Station
Ueno Station