Tokyo

**Tokyo** (/ˈtoʊkioʊ/, Japanese: [toːkʲoː] ( listen)), officially **Tokyo Metropolis**,[6] is the capital city of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures.[7] The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world.[8] It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands.[9] Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868; at that time Edo was renamed Tokyo. 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*).

Tokyo is often referred to as a city, but is officially known and governed as a "metropolitan prefecture", which differs from and combines elements of a city and a prefecture, a characteristic unique to Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo (each governed as an individual city), which cover the area that was the City of Tokyo before it merged and became the metropolitan prefecture in 1943. The metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the special wards is over 9 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 37.8 million people and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy. In 2011, the city hosted 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world, at that time.[10] Tokyo ranked third (twice) in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit. The city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System.

Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered an alpha+ world city – as listed by the GaWC's 2008 inventory[11] – and in 2014, Tokyo was ranked first in the "Best overall experience" category of *TripAdvisor*'s World City Survey (the city also ranked first in the following categories: "helpfulness of locals", "nightlife", "shopping", "local public transportation" and "cleanliness of streets").[12] In 2015, Tokyo was ranked as the 11th most expensive city for expatriates, according to the Mercer consulting firm,[13] and also the world's 11th most expensive city, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's cost-of-living survey.[14] In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine *Monocle*.[15] The Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world.[16][17] Tokyo was ranked first out of all fifty cities in the 2015 Safe Cities Index.[18] The 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student.[19] Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

## Contents

[hide]

* 1Etymology
* 2History
	+ 2.1Pre-1869 (Edo Period)
	+ 2.21869–1943
	+ 2.31943–present
* 3Geography
	+ 3.1Special wards
	+ 3.2Tama Area (Western Tokyo)
		- 3.2.1Cities
		- 3.2.2Nishi-Tama District
	+ 3.3Islands
	+ 3.4National parks
	+ 3.5Seismicity
		- 3.5.1Common seismicity
		- 3.5.2Infrequent powerful quakes
	+ 3.6Climate
* 4Cityscape
* 5Environment
* 6Demographics
* 7Economy
* 8Transportation
* 9Education
* 10Culture
* 11Sports
* 12In popular culture
* 13International relations
	+ 13.1Sister cities, sister states, and friendship agreements
* 14See also
* 15References
* 16Bibliography
* 17Further reading
	+ 17.1Guides
	+ 17.2Contemporary
* 18External links

## Etymology[edit]

Tokyo was originally known as Edo (江戸), which means "estuary".[20] Its name was changed to Tokyo (東京 *Tōkyō*, 東 *tō* "east", and 京 *kyō* "capital") when it became the imperial capital with the arrival of Emperor Meiji in 1868,[21] in line with the East Asian tradition of including the word capital (京) in the name of the capital city (like Kyoto-京都, Beijing-北京 and Nanking-南京) .[20] During the early Meiji period, the city was also called "Tōkei", an alternative pronunciation for the same Chinese characters representing "Tokyo", making it a kanji homograph. Some surviving official English documents use the spelling "Tokei".[22] However, this pronunciation is now obsolete.[23]

The name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku (ja) (Secret Plan of Commingling), written by Satō Nobuhiro.[*citation needed*] When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi (織田完之),[*vague*] he got the idea from that book.

## History[edit]

Main articles: History of Tokyo and Timeline of Tokyo

### Pre-1869 (Edo Period)[edit]

A painting depicting the Commodore Matthew Perry expedition and his first arrival to Japan in 1853

Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo,[9] in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province.[24] 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. 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.[25] Edo became the *de facto* capital of Japan[26] even while the emperor lived in Kyoto, the imperial capital. During this time, the city enjoyed a prolonged period of peace known as the *Pax Tokugawa*, and in the presence of such peace, Edo adopted a stringent policy of seclusion, which helped to perpetuate the lack of any serious military threat to the city.[27] The absence of war-inflicted devastation allowed Edo to devote the majority of its resources to rebuilding in the wake of the consistent fires, earthquakes, and other devastating natural disasters that plagued the city. However, this prolonged period of seclusion came to an end with the arrival of American Commodore, Matthew C. Perry in 1853. Commodore Perry negotiated the opening of the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate, leading to an increase in the demand for new foreign goods and subsequently a severe rise in inflation.[28] Social unrest mounted in the wake of these higher prices and culminated in widespread rebellions and demonstrations, especially in the form of the "smashing" of rice establishments.[29] Meanwhile, supporters of the Meiji Emperor leveraged the disruption that these widespread rebellious demonstrations were causing to further consolidate power by overthrowing the last Tokugawa shogun, Yoshinobu, in 1867.[30] After 265 years, the *Pax Tokugawa*came to an end.

### 1869–1943[edit]

Main articles: Tokyo City and Tokyo Prefecture

Ginza area in 1933

In 1869, the 17-year-old Emperor Meiji moved to Edo, and in accordance the city was renamed Tokyo (meaning Eastern Capital). The city was divided into Yamanote and Shitamachi. Tokyo was already the nation's political and cultural center,[31]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 officially established on May 1, 1889.

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: the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, which left 140,000 dead or missing; and World War II.[32]

### 1943–present[edit]

Tokyo burning in 1945

In 1943, the city of Tokyo merged with the "Metropolitan Prefecture" of Tokyo. Since then, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government served as both the prefecture government for Tokyo, as well as administering the special wards of Tokyo, for what had previously been Tokyo City. World War II wrought widespread destruction of most of the city due to the persistent Allied air raids on Japan and the use of incendiary bombs. The bombing of Tokyo in 1944 and 1945 is estimated to have killed between 75,000 and 200,000 civilians and left more than half of the city destroyed.[33] The deadliest night of the war came on March 9–10, 1945, as nearly 700,000 incendiary bombs rained on the eastern half of the city, mainly in heavily residential wards. Two-fifths of the city were completely burned, more than 276,000 buildings were demolished, 100,000 civilians were killed, and 110,000 more were injured.[34][35] Between 1940 and 1945, the population of Japan's capital city dwindled from 6,700,000 to less than 2,800,000, with the majority of those who lost their homes living in "ramshackle, makeshift huts".[36]

The Tokyo Tower, built in 1958

2011 Tōhoku earthquakedid slight damage to the antenna of Tokyo Tower.

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[37] 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[38] 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"[39] 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[40] 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[41] 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,[42] although activity in the city was largely halted.[43] The subsequent nuclear crisis caused by the tsunami has also largely left Tokyo unaffected, despite occasional spikes in radiation levels.[44][45]