Tokyo - History, Geography and administrative divisions, Economy, Demographics, Transportation, Education, Culture, Tourism, Tokyo in popular media
| Capital | n/a |
| Region | Kantō |
| Island | Honshū |
| Governor | Shintaro Ishihara |
| Area | 2,187.08 km² (45th) |
| - % water | 1.0% |
| Population (June 1, 2006) | |
| - Population |
12,678,395 (8,520,000 in special wards) (1st) |
| - Density | 5796 /km² |
| Districts | 1 |
| Municipalities | 62 |
| ISO 3166-2 | JP-13 |
| Website |
www.metro.tokyo.jp/ ENGLISH/ |
| Prefectural Symbols | |
| - Flower | Somei-Yoshino cherry blossom |
| - Tree | Ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba) |
| - Bird | Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) |
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Adopted in June 1989, Tokyo's official symbol has three arcs forming the letter T for Tokyo in the shape of a vivid green ginkgo leaf. |
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Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō, historically Tōkei, literally "Eastern capital") listen (help·info) is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, the home of the Japanese Imperial Family, and the de facto capital of Japan.
Tokyo as an administrative region, known as Tōkyō-to 東京都 or "Tokyo Metropolis", is one of 47 prefectures of Japan and is not administered as a single city. It consists of twenty-three central "special wards" (which were administered as Tokyo City until 1943, although no such city exists de jure) and many suburban cities.
About 35 million people live in the Greater Tokyo Area which encompasses Tōkyō-to and surrounding prefectures, making it the world's most populous metropolitan area. 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.
History
Tokyo's rise to importance can be largely attributed to two men: Tokugawa Ieyasu and Emperor Meiji. 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.
Tokyo, like Osaka, has been designed since about the turn of the century (1900) to be rail-centric, that is centered around major train stations in a high density fashion, so suburban railways were built relatively cheaply at street level.
Tokyo went on to suffer two major catastrophes and has recovered remarkably from both.
After the war, Tokyo was completely rebuilt, and showcased to the world during the city's 1964 Summer Olympics.
Tokyo's subway and commuter rail network became the busiest in the world as more and more people moved to the area.
Tokyo still sees new urban developments on large lots of less profitable land.
Tokyo was hit by powerful earthquakes in 1703, 1782, 1812, 1855 and 1923.
There have been various plans proposed 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.
Geography and administrative divisions
Tokyo Metropolis consists of three major parts: the twenty-three special wards (constituting the former Tokyo City);
The mainland portion of Tokyo lies northwest of Tokyo Bay and measures about 90 km east to west and 25 km north to south.
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;
Under Japanese law, Tokyo is designated as a to (都, often translated "metropolis").
The twenty-three special wards
The special wards (tokubetsu-ku) of Tokyo comprise the area formerly known as Tokyo City, usually simply known as "Tokyo". In July 1, 1943, Tokyo City was merged to Tokyo Prefecture (until June, 1943) (東京府, tokyo-fu), lost municipality status and was divided into wards.
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.
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.
Western Tokyo
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.
Cities
Twenty-six cities lie within the western part of Tokyo Prefecture:
| Akiruno Akishima Chōfu Fuchu Fussa Hachioji Hamura Higashikurume Higashimurayama Higashiyamato Hino Inagi Kiyose | Kodaira Koganei Kokubunji Komae Kunitachi Machida Mitaka Musashimurayama Musashino Nishi-tokyo Ome Tachikawa Tama |
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.
Hinode Mizuho Okutama HinoharaIslands
Tokyo's outlying islands extend as far as 1850 km from central Tokyo. The islands in order from closest to Tokyo are:
| Izu Oshima Toshima Niijima Shikinejima Kozushima | Miyakejima Mikurajima Hachijojima Aogashima |
Ogasawara Islands
Ogasawara—Ogasawara includes, from north to south, Chichi-jima, Nishinoshima, Haha-jima, Kita Iwo Jima, Iwo Jima, and Minami Iwo Jima.National Parks
There are four national parks in Tokyo Prefecture:
Chichibu Tamakai National Park, in Nishitama and spilling over into Yamanashi and Saitama Prefectures Meiji no Mori Takao Quasi-National Park, around Mount Takao to the south of Hachioji.Economy
Tokyo has the largest metropolitan economy in the world: its nominal GDP of around US$1.315 trillion is greater than Canada's economy, which is the 8th largest in the world.
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.
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.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange is the second largest in the world currently by market capitalization of listed shares, at more than $4 trillion.
Tokyo had 8,460 ha (20,900 acres) of agricultural land as of 2003, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, placing it last among the nation's prefectures.
With 36% of its area covered by forest, Tokyo has extensive growths cryptomeria and Japanese cypress, especially in the mountainous western communities of Akiruno, Ome, Okutama, Hachioji, Hinode, and Hinohara.
Tokyo Bay was once a major source of fish.
Demographics
As 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.
Population of Tokyo Prefecture| By area1 |
Tokyo Prefecture |
12.36 million |
|---|---|---|
| By age2 |
Juveniles (age 0-14) |
1.433 million (12%) |
| By hours3 |
Day |
14.667 million |
| By nationality |
Foreign residents |
353,8264 |
|
1 as of October 1, 2003. |
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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).
Transportation
Tokyo is Japan's largest domestic and international hub for rail, ground, and air transportation.
Within Tokyo, Tokyo International Airport ("Haneda") offers mainly domestic flights.
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.
Expressways link the capital to other points in the Greater Tokyo area, the Kantō region, and the islands of Kyūshū and Shikoku.
Education
Being the nation's center of education, Tokyo has many universities, junior colleges, and vocational schools.
Universities
Tokyo also has a few universities well-known for classes instructed in English. 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, Asia University, Tokyo University of Science, Toyo University and Seijo University. For an extensive list of universities in Tokyo, see List of universities in Tokyo. Public high schools in Tokyo are run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education and are called "Metropolitan High Schools".
Culture
Tokyo is known for its many museums.
Tokyo is the national center of performing arts as well.
Tokyo is home to many different festivals that occur throughout the city.
Tourism
Tokyo has many tourist sightseeing, cultural and sport attractions.
Tokyo in popular media
As 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).
Some Hollywood directors have turned to Tokyo as a filming location.
Sister relationships
Tokyo has sister relationships with several places worldwide:
| Beijing, China Berlin, Germany Cairo, Egypt Algiers, Algeria Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom Jakarta, Indonesia London, England, United Kingdom Mumbai, India | Moscow, Russia New Orleans, United States Sister state with New South Wales, Australia New York City, United States Paris, France Rome, Italy São Paulo, Brazil Seoul, South Korea |
In addition, many of the wards and cities within Tokyo maintain sister-city relationships with other foreign cities.
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The Wako department store in Ginza |
Skyline of Ginza |
Skyline of Shibaura and Odaiba |
Skyline of Shinjuku |
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Rainbow bridge |
Kabukiza Theater |
National Diet Building, center of Japanese politics |
Shinjuku Station, the world's busiest station |
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Tokyo Station, one of the main terminal stations in Japan |
Tokyo Station from above |
Meiji Shrine |
Shibuya Crossing |
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