Tokyo, officially the group=lower-alpha is the capital and most populous city of Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is one of the most populous urban areas in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring prefectures, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 41 million residents .
Lying at the head of Tokyo Bay, Tokyo is part of the Kantō region, on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. It is Japan's economic center and the seat of the Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers Tokyo's central 23 special wards, which formerly made up Tokyo City; various commuter towns and suburbs in Western Tokyo; and two outlying island chains, the Tokyo Islands. Although most of the world recognizes Tokyo as a city, since 1943 its governing structure has been more akin to that of a prefecture, with an accompanying Governor and Assembly taking precedence over the smaller municipal governments that make up the metropolis. Special wards in Tokyo include Chiyoda, the site of the National Diet Building and the Tokyo Imperial Palace; Shinjuku, the city's administrative center; and Shibuya, a hub of commerce and business.
Tokyo, originally known as Edo, rose to political prominence in 1603 when it became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, and by the mid-18th century, Edo had evolved from a small fishing village into one of the largest cities in the world, with a population surpassing one million. After the Meiji Restoration (1868), the imperial capital in Kyoto was moved to Edo, and the city was renamed Tokyo (). Tokyo was greatly damaged by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and by allied bombing raids during World War II. Beginning in the late 1940s, Tokyo underwent rapid reconstruction and expansion, which fueled the Japanese economic miracle, in which Japan's economy became the second-largest in the world at the time, behind that of the United States.
Tokyo was the first city in Asia to host the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, in 1964, and also hosted in 2021. It hosted three G7 summits, in 1979, 1986, and 1993. Tokyo is an international hub of research and development and an academic center, with several major universities, including the University of Tokyo, the top-ranking university in Japan.
Tokyo's nominal gross domestic output was 120.2 trillion yen (US$887.9 billion) in FY2022 and accounted for 21.2% of Japan's economic output, which converts to 8.43 million yen or US$62,291 per capita.
Etymology
Tokyo was originally known as , a [[kanji]] compound of [[wikt:江|江]] (''e'', "cove, inlet") and [[wikt:戸|戸]] (''to'', "entrance, gate, door").[Room, Adrian. ''Placenames of the World''. McFarland & Company (1996), [https://books.google.com/books?id=PzIer-wYbnQC&pg=PA360 p. 360] . .] The name, which can be translated as "[[estuary]]", is a reference to the original settlement's location at the meeting of the [[Sumida River]] and [[Tokyo Bay]]. During the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the name of the city was changed to extra=from ''tō'' "east", and ''kyō'' "capital", when it became the new imperial capital,[US Department of State. (1906). [https://archive.org/details/digestofinternat07mooriala/page/751 ''A digest of international law as in diplomatic discussions, treaties and other international agreements'' (John Bassett Moore, ed.), Volume 5, p. 759] ; excerpt, "The Mikado, on assuming the exercise of power at Yedo, changed the name of the city to Tokio".] in line with the [[East Asian|Sinosphere]] tradition of including the word capital () in the name of the capital city (for example, [[Kyoto]] (), Keijō (), [[Beijing]] (), [[Nanjing]] (), and Xijing ()).
History
Pre-Tokugawa period
The site of Tokyo has been inhabited since ancient times, and there have been multiple Paleolithic period (around 40,000–16,000 BC) sites found in present-day Tokyo.
During the subsequent Jomon period, the Holocene glacial retreat caused sea levels in
Tokyo Bay to rise by 120 cm, with the coastline running along the edge of what is now the Imperial Palace.
Middens such as the Omori Shell Mounds still mark where the coastline ran in those days.
The
Yayoi period, during which agriculture spread across the country, is named after the Yayoi 2-chōme Site in Bunkyo, where the first example of
Yayoi pottery was excavated in 1884 by Shozo Arisaka.
In 534, a large-scale conflict was recorded in the region, as a result of which Kasahara no Omi, the victor, was appointed Kuni no Miyatsuko (provincial governor) by Emperor Ankan.[城倉正祥. (2011). 武蔵国造争乱: 研究の現状と課題 (Doctoral dissertation, Waseda University).] Senso-ji in Asakusa was founded in 645. Under the Ritsuryō system established during the Asuka period, most of present-day Tokyo was part of Musashi Province. Following the fall of the Baekje after the Battle of Baekgang in the 660s, thousands of refugees were resettled in Musashi.
1590–1868 (Tokugawa period)
Following the siege of Odawara,
Tokugawa Ieyasu was granted the Kantō region and moved there from his ancestral land of
Mikawa Province. When he became
Shogun, the
de facto ruler of the country, in 1603, the whole country came to be ruled by Edo. While the Tokugawa shogunate ruled the country in practice, the Imperial House of Japan based in
Kyoto was still the
de jure ruler, and the title of shōgun was granted by the Emperor as a formality.
During the
Edo period, the city enjoyed a prolonged period of peace known as the
Pax Tokugawa, and in the presence of such peace, the shogunate adopted a stringent policy of seclusion, which helped to perpetuate the lack of any serious military threat to the city.
The absence of war-inflicted devastation allowed Edo to devote the majority of its resources to rebuilding in the wake of consistent fires, earthquakes and other devastating natural disasters, and Edo grew into one of the largest cities in the world with a population reaching one million by the 18th century.
However, this prolonged period of seclusion ended with the arrival of American Commodore Matthew C. Perry in 1853. Commodore Perry forced 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.
1868–1941
After being handed over to the Meiji government, Edo was renamed
Tokyo (Eastern Capital) on 3 September 1868, and the capital was subsequently moved officially from
Kyoto to Tokyo by
Emperor Meiji.
The former Edo Castle became the new Imperial Palace, and Government ministries such as the Ministry of Finance were relocated to Tokyo by 1871.
The 1870s also saw the establishment of other major institutions and facilities such as
Ueno Park (1873), the University of Tokyo (1877) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (1878), as well as the rise of public transportion such as the , connecting
Shinbashi (
Shiodome) and
Yokohama (Sakuragicho).
The rapid modernization of the country was driven from Tokyo, with its business districts such as
Marunouchi filled with modern brick buildings and the railway network serving as a means to help the large influx of labour force needed to keep the development of the economy.
The
Tokyo City was officially established on May 1, 1889. The
National Diet, the national legislature of the country, was established in Tokyo in 1889, and it has ever since been operating in the city.
On 1 September 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck the city, and the earthquake and subsequent fire killed an estimated 105,000 citizens. The loss amounted to 37 percent of the country's economic output.
On the other hand, the destruction provided an opportunity to reconsider the planning of the city, which had changed its shape hastily after the Meiji Restoration. The high survival rate of concrete buildings promoted the transition from timber and brick architecture to modern, earthquake-proof construction.
The Tokyo Metro Ginza Line portion between and , the first underground railway line built outside Europe and the American continents, was completed on December 30, 1927.
Although Tokyo recovered robustly from the earthquake and new cultural and liberal political movements, such as Taishō Democracy, spread, the 1930s saw an economic downturn caused by the
Great Depression and major political turmoil. Two attempted military
coups d'état happened in Tokyo, the May 15 incident in 1932 and the February 26 incident in 1936. This turmoil eventually allowed the military wings of the government to take control of the country, leading to Japan joining the Second World War as an
Axis powers. Due to the country's political isolation on the international stage caused by its military aggression in China and the increasingly unstable geopolitical situations in Europe, Тоkуо had to give up hosting the 1940 Summer Olympics in 1938.
[Organizing Committee of the XIIth Olympiad. (1940). Report of the Organizing Committee on its Work for the XIIth Olympic Games of 1940 in Tokyo until its Relinquishment, pp. 174–175 (PDF 198–199 of 207) ; retrieved 2012-2-21.] Rationing started in June 1940 as the nation braced itself for another world war, while the 26th Centenary of the Enthronement of
Emperor Jimmu celebrations took place on a grand scale to boost morale and increase the sense of national identity in the same year. On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked the American bases at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, entering the Second World War against the Allied Powers. The wartime regime greatly affected life in the city.
1942–1945
In 1943,
Tokyo City merged with Tokyo Prefecture to form the
Tokyo Metropolis (東京都,
Tōkyō-to), a reorganization aimed to create a more centralized and efficient administrative structure to better manage resources, urban planning, and civil defence during wartime.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government thus became responsible for both prefectural and city functions while administering cities, towns, and villages in the suburban and rural areas.
Although Japan enjoyed significant success in the initial stages of the war and rapid expansion of its sphere of influence, the
Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942 marked the first direct foreign attack on Tokyo. Although the physical damage was minimal, the raid demonstrated the vulnerability of the Japanese mainland to air attacks and boosted American morale.
Large-scale Allied air bombing of cities in the Japanese home islands, including Tokyo, began in late 1944 when the US seized control of the
Mariana Islands. From these islands, newly developed long-range B-29 bombers could conduct return journeys. 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.
The deadliest night of the war came on March 9–10, 1945, the night of the American "Operation Meetinghouse" raid.
Nearly 700,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on the east end of the city (Shitamachi, 下町), an area with a high concentration of factories and working-class houses. Two-fifths of the city was completely burned, more than 276,000 buildings were destroyed, 100,000 civilians were killed, and 110,000 more were injured.
Numerous Edo and Meiji-era buildings of historical significance were destroyed, including the main building of the Imperial Palace, Sensō-ji, Zōjō-ji,
Sengaku-ji and
Kabuki-za. Between 1940 and 1945, the population of Tokyo dwindled from 6,700,000 to less than 2,800,000, as soldiers were sent to the front and children were evacuated.
1945–1972
After the war, Tokyo became the base from which the Allied Occupation Forces, under Douglas MacArthur, an American general, administered Japan for six years. The original rebuilding plan of Tokyo was based on a plan modelled after the Metropolitan Green Belt of London, devised in the 1930s but canceled due to the war.
[ Rebuilding of the city after the war (in Japanese) Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 2019] However, due to the monetary contraction policy known as the
Dodge Line, named after
Joseph Dodge, the neoliberal economic advisor to MacArthur, the plan had to be reduced to a minimal one focusing on transport and other infrastructure. In 1947, the 35 pre-war special wards were reorganized into the current 23 wards. Tokyo did not experience fast economic growth until around 1950, when heavy industry output returned to pre-war levels.
[ 市街地建築物法における絶対高さ制限の成立と変遷に関する考察 (in Japanese). 土地総合研究所. 2008.] Starting with the Kasumigaseki Building (147 metres) in 1968, skyscrapers began to dominate Tokyo's skyline. During this period of rapid rebuilding, Tokyo celebrated its 500th anniversary in 1956
1973–present
Although the 1973 oil crisis put an end to the rapid post-war recovery and development of Japan's economy, its position as the world's second-largest economy at the time had seemed secure by that point, remaining so until 2010 when it was surpassed by China.[Iglesias, Fernando, and Isoya Shinji. "The First Global Management Plan for the Urban Landscape Restructure in Tokyo." Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture International Edition 1 (2001): 176–182.]
The American-led Plaza Accord in 1985, which aimed to depreciate the US dollar, had a devastating effect on Japan's manufacturing sector, particularly affecting small to mid-size companies based in Tokyo.[Mihut, Marius Ioan. "Plaza Accord and the "explosion" of the Japanese FDI." Procedia Economics and Finance 15 (2014): 721–729.] This led the government to adopt a domestic-demand-focused economic policy, ultimately causing an asset price bubble. Land redevelopment projects were planned across the city, and real estate prices skyrocketed. By 1990, the estimated value of the Imperial Palace surpassed that of the entire California.[Worrall, Julian. " 14 Fascinating Facts About Japanese Stocks -- From 1989 ". Nasdaq. May 23, 2017.]
After the bubble burst in the early 1990s, Japan experienced a prolonged economic downturn called the "Lost Decades", characterized by extremely low or negative economic growth, deflation, and stagnant asset prices.
On September 7, 2013, the IOC selected Tokyo to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. Thus, Tokyo became the first Asian city to host the Olympic Games twice.
Administration
Local government
Under Japanese law, the prefecture of Tokyo is designated as a 都, translated as metropolis.
In addition to these 23 special wards, Tokyo also includes 26 more cities ( -shi), five towns ( -chō or machi), and eight villages ( -son or -mura), each of which has a local government. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers the whole metropolis, including the 23 special wards and the cities and towns that constitute the prefecture. It is headed by a publicly elected governor and metropolitan assembly. Its headquarters is in Shinjuku Ward.
The governor of Tokyo is elected every four years. The incumbent governor, Yuriko Koike, was elected in 2016, following the resignation of her predecessor, Yoichi Masuzoe. She was re-elected in 2020 and 2024. The legislature of the Metropolis is called the Metropolitan Assembly, and it has one house with 127 seats. The assembly is responsible for enacting and amending prefectural ordinances, approving the budget (8.5 trillion yen in fiscal 2024),
Municipalities
Since the completion of the Great Mergers of Heisei in 2001, Tokyo consists of 62 municipalities: 23 special wards, 26 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages. All municipalities in Japan have a directly elected mayor and a directly elected assembly, each elected on independent four-year cycles. The 23 Special Wards cover the area that had been Tokyo City until 1943, 30 other municipalities are located in the Tama area, and the remaining 9 are on Tokyo's outlying islands.
-
The tokubetsu-ku of Tokyo comprise the area formerly incorporated as Tokyo City. Each special ward has used the word "city" in its official English name in recent times (e.g., Chiyoda City), but its status is more akin to boroughs in London or New York. Certain municipal functions, such as waterworks, sewerage, and fire-fighting, are handled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government rather than each ward. To pay for the added administrative costs, the Metropolitan Government collects municipal taxes, which would usually be levied by each ward.
[
]
The Structure of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (Tokyo government webpage) The "three central wards" of Tokyo – Chiyoda, Chūō, and Minato – are the business core of the city, with a daytime population more than seven times higher than their nighttime population.
[ The Population of Tokyo – Tokyo Metropolitan Government (Retrieved on July 4, 2009)] Chiyoda Ward is occupied by many major Japanese companies and is also the seat of the national government, and the Emperor of Japan, yet is one of the least populated wards.
-
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 them also have a local commercial and industrial base, such as Tachikawa. Collectively, these are often known as the Tama area or Western Tokyo. The far west of the Tama area is occupied by the district ( gun) of Nishi-Tama. Much of this area is mountainous and unsuitable for urbanization. The highest mountain in Tokyo, Mount Kumotori, is high; other mountains in Tokyo include Takanosu (), Odake (), and Mitake (). Lake Okutama, on the Tama River near Yamanashi Prefecture, is Tokyo's largest lake and serves as the primary reservoir for Tokyo's water supply. The district is composed of three towns (Hinode, Mizuho and Okutama) and one village (Hinohara). The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has designated Hachiōji, Tachikawa, Machida, Ōme, and Tama New Town as regional centers of the Tama area.
Tokyo has numerous outlying islands, which extend as far as from central Tokyo. Because of the islands' distance from the administrative headquarters of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in Shinjuku, local sub-prefectural branch 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 Island,
Nii-jima,
Shikine-jima, Kōzu-shima,
Miyake-jima,
Mikurajima, Hachijō-jima, 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
Bonin Islands include, from north to south,
Chichi-jima, Nishinoshima,
Haha-jima, Kita Iwo Jima,
Iwo Jima, and Minami Iwo Jima. Ogasawara also administers two small outlying islands:
Minami Torishima, the easternmost point in Japan and at the most distant island from central Tokyo, and
Okinotorishima, the southernmost point in Japan.
Japan's claim on an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) surrounding Okinotorishima is contested by
China and
South Korea as they regard Okinotorishima as uninhabitable rocks which have no EEZ.
The Iwo chain and the outlying islands have no permanent population, but hosts Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel. Local populations are only found in Chichi-Jima and Haha-Jima. The islands form both Ogasawara Subprefecture and the village of Ogasawara, Tokyo.
|
|
|
| Adachi | rowspan="49" | 13121 |
| Arakawa | Arakawa Ward | 13118 |
| Bunkyō | Bunkyō Ward | 13105 |
| Chiyoda | Chiyoda Ward | 13101 |
| Chūō | Chūō Ward
(Central Ward) | 13102 |
| Edogawa | Edogawa Ward
(Edo River Ward) | 13123 |
| Itabashi | Itabashi Ward | 13119 |
| Katsushika | Katsushika Ward
(after Katsushika District) | 13122 |
| Kita | Kita Ward
(North Ward) | 13117 |
| Kōtō | Kōtō Ward | 13108 |
| Meguro | Meguro Ward | 13110 |
| Minato | Minato Ward
(Harbor/Port District) | 13103 |
| Nakano | Nakano Ward | 13114 |
| Nerima | Nerima Ward | 13120 |
| Ōta | Ōta Ward | 13111 |
| Setagaya | Setagaya Ward | 13112 |
| Shibuya | Shibuya Ward | 13113 |
| Shinagawa | Shinagawa Ward | 13109 |
| Shinjuku | Shinjuku Ward | 13104 |
| Suginami | Suginami Ward | 13115 |
| Sumida | Sumida Ward | 13107 |
| Taitō | Taitō Ward | 13106 |
| Toshima | Toshima Ward
(after Toshima District) | 13116 |
| Akiruno | Akiruno City | 13228 |
| Akishima | Akishima City | 13207 |
| Chōfu | Chōfu City | 13208 |
| Fuchū | Fuchū City
(Musashi Province city) | 13206 |
| Fussa | Fussa City | 13218 |
| Hachiōji | Hachiōji City | 13201 |
| Hamura | Hamura City | 13227 |
| Higashikurume | Higashi-Kurume City
East Kurume City
(as opposed to Kurume City, Western Japan) | 13222 |
| Higashimurayama | Higashi-Murayama City
East Murayama City
(after Murayama Region) | 13213 |
| Higashiyamato | Higashi-Yamato City
(here: Tokyo's Yamato City)[Literally, 東/Higashi- means East; but when Yamato Town was renamed to Higashi-Yamato City in 1970, 東 was meant to represent the 東/Tō- in Tokyo, see Higashi-Yamato City: 市の名称 「東大和」の名称について (Japanese: On the city name "Higashi-Yamato"), retrieved July 6, 2021.]
(as opposed to Kanagawa's Yamato City) | 13220 |
| Hino | Hino City | 13212 |
| Inagi | Inagi City | 13225 |
| Kiyose | Kiyose City | 13221 |
| Kodaira | Kodaira City | 13211 |
| Koganei | Koganei City | 13210 |
| Kokubunji | Kokubunji City
(Musashi Province city) | 13214 |
| Komae | Komae City | 13219 |
| Kunitachi | Kunitachi City | 13215 |
| Machida | Machida City | 13209 |
| Mitaka | Mitaka City | 13204 |
| Musashimurayama | Musashi-Murayama City
(as opposed to Murayama City, Dewa Province) | 13223 |
| Musashino | Musashino City
(after Musashino Region) | 13203 |
| Nishitokyo | Nishi-Tokyo City
(Western Tokyo City) | 13229 |
| Ōme | Ōme City | 13205 |
| Tachikawa | Tachikawa City | 13202 |
| Tama | Tama City
(after Tama district/Western Tokyo/Tama River) | 13224 |
| Hinode | Nishi-Tama
(Western ) | 13305 |
| Hinohara | Hinohara Village | 13307 |
| Mizuho | Mizuho Town | 13303 |
| Okutama | Okutama Town
(Rear/Outer Tama Town) | 13308 |
| Hachijō | Hachijō | 13401 |
| Aogashima | Aogashima Village
(on Aogashima) | 13402 |
| Miyake | Miyake | 13381 |
| Mikurajima | Mikurajima Village
(Mikura-jima Village) | 13382 |
| Ōshima | Ōshima | 13361 |
| To-shima | To-shima Village
(on homonymous island) | 13362 |
| Niijima | Niijima Village
(on Niijima) | 13363 |
| Kōzushima | Kōzushima Village
(on homonymous island) | 13364 |
| Ogasawara | Ogasawara | 13421 |
|
Environmental policies
Tokyo has enacted a measure to cut greenhouse gases. Governor Shintaro Ishihara created Japan's first emissions cap system, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emission by a total of 25% by 2020 from the 2000 level.
Tokyo is an example of an urban heat island, and the phenomenon is especially serious in its special wards.
[Barry, Roger Graham & Richard J. Chorley. Atmosphere, Weather and Climate. Routledge (2003), p. 344 . .][Toshiaki Ichinose, Kazuhiro Shimodozono, and Keisuke Hanaki. Impact of anthropogenic heat on urban climate in Tokyo. Atmospheric Environment 33 (1999): 3897–3909.] According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government,
the annual mean temperature has increased by about over the past 100 years. Tokyo has been cited as a "convincing example of the relationship between urban growth and climate".
In 2006, Tokyo enacted the "10-Year Project for Green Tokyo" to be realized by 2016. It set a goal of increasing roadside trees in Tokyo to 1 million (from 480,000), and adding of green space, of which would be a new park named "Umi no Mori" to replace a landfill.
In 2023, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government launched the Tokyo Green Biz Project, an initiative seeking to increase and preserve the city's greenery over the next 100 years, create an online map designed to increase collaboration between residents and the local government, and create and promote green infrastructure.
In 2018 the Kasai Marine Park became the first wetland in Tokyo to be registered under the Ramsar Convention.
National government
Tokyo is the seat of all three branches of government: the legislature (
National Diet), the executive (Cabinet led by the Prime Minister), and the judiciary (Supreme Court of Japan), as well as the Emperor of Japan, the head of state. Most government ministries are concentrated in the
Kasumigaseki district in Chiyoda, and the name Kasumigaseki is often used as a
Metonymy for the Japanese national civil service.
Tokyo has 25 constituencies for the House of Representatives, 18 of which were won by the ruling Liberal Democrats and 7 by the main opposition Constitutional Democrats in the 2021 general election.
Apart from these seats, through the Tokyo proportional representation block, Tokyo sends 17 more politicians to the House of Representatives, 6 of whom were members of the ruling LDP in the 2021 election. The Tokyo at-large district, which covers the entire metropolis, sends 12 members to the House of Councillors.
Tokyo is the founding member of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 and is a member of the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations. Tokyo was also a founding member of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.
Geography
The mainland portion of Tokyo lies northwest of
Tokyo Bay and measures about east to west and north to south. The average elevation in Tokyo is .
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 () stretching westwards. Tokyo has a
latitude of 35.65 (near the 36th parallel north), which makes it more southern than
Rome (41.90), New York City (40.71) and
Beijing (39.91).
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 away from the mainland. Because of these islands and the mountainous regions to the west, Tokyo's overall population density figures far under-represent the real figures for the urban and suburban regions of Tokyo.
Climate
The former city of Tokyo and the majority of Tokyo prefecture lie in the humid subtropical climate zone (Köppen climate classification:
Cfa),
[Peel, M.C., Finlayson, B.L., and McMahon, T.A.: Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification , Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 11, 1633–1644, 2007.] with hot, humid summers and cool winters with occasional cold spells. The region, like much of Japan, experiences a one-month
seasonal lag. The warmest month is August, which averages . The coolest month is January, averaging . The record low temperature was on January 13, 1876. The record high was on July 20, 2004.
Annual rainfall averages nearly , with a wetter summer and a drier winter. The growing season in Tokyo lasts for about 322 days from around mid-February to early January.
Offshore territories
The climates of Tokyo's offshore territories vary significantly from those of the city. The climate of
Chichijima in Ogasawara village is on the boundary between the tropical savanna climate (Köppen classification:
Aw) and the tropical rainforest climate (Köppen classification:
Af). It is approximately south of the Greater Tokyo Area, resulting in much different climatic conditions. Tokyo's easternmost territory, the island of
Minamitorishima in Ogasawara village, is in the tropical savanna climate zone (Köppen classification:
Aw). Tokyo's Izu and Ogasawara islands are affected by an average of 5.4 typhoons a year, compared to 3.1 in mainland Kantō.
Historical temperature graph
Natural disasters
Earthquakes
Tokyo is near the boundary of three plates, making it an extremely active region for smaller quakes and
Slow earthquake which frequently affect the urban area with swaying as if in a boat, although epicenters within mainland Tokyo (excluding Tokyo's –long island jurisdiction) are quite rare. It is not uncommon in the metro area to have hundreds of these minor quakes (magnitudes 4–6) that can be felt in a single year, something residents merely brush off but can be a source of anxiety not only for foreign visitors but for Japanese from elsewhere as well. They rarely cause much damage (sometimes a few injuries) as they are either too small or far away, as quakes tend to dance around the region. Particularly active are offshore regions and to a lesser extent
Chiba Prefecture and Ibaraki.
Tokyo has been hit by powerful megathrust earthquakes in 1703, 1782, 1812, 1855, 1923, and much more indirectly (with some liquefaction in landfill zones) in 2011;
Volcanic eruptions
Mount Fuji is about southwest of Tokyo. There is a low risk of eruption. The last recorded was the Hōei eruption which started on December 16, 1707, and ended about January 1, 1708 (16 days).
During the Hōei eruption, the ash amount was 4 cm in southern Tokyo (bay area) and 2 cm to 0.5 cm in central Tokyo.
[
Ashfall distribution map for examining disaster prevention measures (Mt. Fuji Hoei eruption)] Kanagawa had 16 cm to 8 cm ash and Saitama 0.5 to 0 cm.
If the wind blows north-east it could send
volcanic ash to Tokyo metropolis.
According to the government, less than a millimeter of the volcanic ash from a Mount Fuji eruption could cause power grid problems such as blackouts and stop trains in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
A mixture of ash with rain could stick to cellphone antennas and power lines and cause temporary power outages.
The affected areas would need to be evacuated.
Floods
Tokyo is located on the Kantō Plain with five river systems and dozens of rivers that expand during each season.
Important rivers are
Edo River, Nakagawa, Arakawa,
Kanda River,
Meguro River and
Tama River.
In 1947,
Typhoon Kathleen struck Tokyo, destroying 31,000 homes and killing 1,100 people.
In 1958, Typhoon Ida dropped of rain in a single week, causing streets to flood.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the government invested 6–7% of the national budget on disaster and risk reduction.
A huge system of dams, levees, and tunnels was constructed.
The purpose is to manage heavy rain,
typhoon rain, and river floods.
is the world's largest underground floodwater diversion facility.]]Tokyo has currently the world's largest underground floodwater diversion facility called the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel (MAOUDC).
It took 13 years to build and was completed in 2006. The MAOUDC is a long system of tunnels, underground, with tall cylindrical tanks, each tank being large enough to fit a space shuttle or the Statue of Liberty.
During floods, excess water is collected from rivers and drained to the
Edo River.
Low-lying areas of Kōtō, Edogawa, Sumida,
Katsushika, Taitō and Arakawa near the Arakawa River are most at risk of flooding.
Architecture
Tokyo's buildings are too diverse to be characterized by any specific architectural style, but it can be generally said that a majority of extant structures were built in the past hundred years.
[Hidenobu Jinnai. Tokyo: A Spatial Anthropology. University of California Press (1995), pp. 1–3 . .] Twice in recent history has the metropolis been left in ruins: first in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and later after extensive firebombing in World War II.
Early modern (1407–1868)
The oldest known extant building in Tokyo is Shofukuji in Higashi-Murayama. The current building was constructed in 1407, during the
Muromachi period (1336–1573).
Although greatly reduced in number by later fires, earthquakes, and air raids, a considerable number of Edo-era buildings survive to this day. The Tokyo Imperial Palace, which was occupied by the Tokugawa Shogunate as
Edo Castle during the
Edo period (1603–1868), has many gates and towers dating from that era, although the main palace buildings and the
Tenshu have been lost.
Numerous temple and shrine buildings in Tokyo date from this era: the Ueno Toshogu still maintains the original 1651 building built by the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu.
Modern (1869–1945)
The
Meiji era saw a rapid modernization in architectural styles as well; until the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 exposed their weakness to seismic shocks, grand brick buildings were constantly built across the city.
Tokyo Station (1914), the Ministry of Justice building (1895), the International Library of Children's Literature (1906), and Mistubishi building one (1894, rebuilt in 2010) are some of the few brick survivors from this period. It was regarded as fashionable by some members of the
Kazoku to build their Tokyo residences in grand and modern styles, and some of these buildings still exist, although most are in private hands and open to the public on limited occasions. Aristocratic residences today open to the public include the
Komaba Park in
Komaba, the Baron Iwasaki residence in Ikenohata, and the Baron Furukawa residence in Nishigahara.
The Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 ushered in an era of concrete architecture.
The 1930s saw the rise of styles that combined characteristics of both traditional Japanese and modern designs. Chuta Ito was a leading figure in this movement, and his extant works in Tokyo include Tsukiji Hongan-ji (1934). The Imperial Crown Style, which often features Japanese-style roofs on top of elevated concrete structures, was adopted for the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno and the Kudan Hall in Kudanminami.
Contemporary (1946–present)
Since the 30-metre height restriction was lifted in the 1960s, Tokyo's most dense areas have been dominated by skyscrapers. As of May 2024, at least 184 buildings are exceeding 150 metres (492 feet) in Tokyo. Apart from these,
Tokyo Tower (333m) and
Tokyo Skytree (634m) feature high-elevation observation decks; the latter is the tallest tower in both Japan and the world, and the third tallest structure in the world.
With a scheduled completion date in 2027, Torch Tower (385m) will overtake
Azabudai Hills (325.2m) as the tallest building in Tokyo.
Kenzo Tange designed notable contemporary buildings in Tokyo, including Yoyogi National Gymnasium (1964), St. Mary's Cathedral (1967), and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (1991). Kisho Kurokawa was also active in the city, and his works there include the National Art Center (2005) and the Nakagin Capsule Tower (1972). Other notable contemporary buildings in Tokyo include the Tokyo Dome, Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, Roppongi Hills, Tokyo International Forum, and Asahi Beer Hall.
Demographics
As of October 2012, the official intercensal estimate showed 13.506 million people in Tokyo, with 9.214 million living within Tokyo's 23 wards.
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 as of the 2005 National Census was 326,000 at night, but 2.4 million during the day.
According to April 2024 official estimates, Setagaya (942,003), Nerima (752,608), and Ota (748,081) were the most populous wards and municipalities in Tokyo. The least inhabited of all Tokyo municipalities are remote island villages such as Aogashima (150), Mikurajima (289), and Toshima (306).
Age structure and average age
In 2021, Tokyo's average and median ages were both 45.5 years old. This is below the national median age of 49.0, placing Tokyo among the youngest regions in Japan. 16.8% of the population was below 15, while 34.6% was above 65.
In the same year, the youngest municipalities in Tokyo were
Mikura-jima (average age 40.72), Chuo (41.92), and Chiyoda (42.07), while the oldest included Okutama (59.11) and Miyake (53.82).
[" Tokyo's demographics according to the resident register ". (in Japanese) 1 January 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2024.]
Immigration
In 1889, the
Home Ministry recorded 1,375,937 people in
Tokyo City and a total of 1,694,292 people in Tokyo-fu.
[ (National Diet Library Digital Archive) (digital page number 32)] In the same year, a total of 779 foreign nationals were recorded as residing in Tokyo. The most common nationality was English (209 residents), followed by American (182) and Chinese nationals (137).
[ (National Diet Library Digital Archive) (digital page number 46)]
As of January 2024, Tokyo had 647,416 foreign nationals registered as residents, with China, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Nepal, Taiwan, and the United States each having more than 20,000 nationals living there as citizens.[" Tokyo Statistical Yearbook 2022 " (Excel 97). Bureau of General Affairs, Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Retrieved May 25, 2024.] There is no official survey of race or place of birth as of June 2024.
Dialects
Japanese is the primary language spoken throughout the metropolis, though regional and socio-economic differences can be heard. Traditionally, dialects in Tokyo are classified into two groups: the Yamanote dialect and the Shitamachi dialect. The former has traditionally been spoken in the upper- and upper-middle-class residential area of Yamanote, which includes Bancho, Kojimachi,
Koishikawa,
Kudankita,
Yotsuya,
Azabu, and Akasaka. During the
Edo period, these neighborhoods were occupied by
Daimyo and other powerful
samurai families, and the dialect evolved largely based on their way of speech. Standard Japanese pronunciation is largely based on this accent and spread across the country with the introduction of
radio. The Shitamachi dialect, in contrast, has been associated with the
Chōnin district of Shitamachi and retains many characteristics of the accents spoken there in the Edo era.
[Yoshifumi Tobita. The formation of the Tokyo dialect . 1993. PhD Thesis. Tohoku University.] However, socio-economic changes in the post-war period and the large influx of people moving from other areas have largely blurred these distinctions in recent years. It has been reported that young generations are not as aware of the differences in dialects as their parents' and grandparents' generations were.
The Hachijō dialect, spoken primarily in Hachijōjima and Aogashima, descended from 6th-8th century Eastern Old Japanese and has fewer than 1,000 speakers.[Masayoshi Shibatani, 1990. The Languages of Japan, p. 207.][Thomas Pellard. The comparative study of the Japonic languages. Approaches to endangered languages in Japan and Northeast Asia: Description, documentation and revitalization, National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, Aug 2018, Tachikawa, Japan. ffhal-01856152] Bonin English is a creole spoken in the Bonin Islands, derived from English and Japanese,
Economy
Tokyo's gross regional product was 120.2 trillion yen or US$887.9 billion in FY2022 and accounted for 21.2% of the country's total economic output, which converts to 8.43 million yen or US$62,291 per capita.
By sector, Wholesale and Retail was the largest contributor, accounting for 21.5% of the total output. This was followed by Real Estate (13.5%), Professional, Scientific and Technical (12.2%), Information and Communications (11.7%), Finance and Insurance (7.6%), Manufacturing (7.0%), and Healthcare (6.7%). Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, and Mining combined accounted for less than 0.1% of the economic output.
As these numbers suggest, Tokyo's economy is heavily dependent on the tertiary sector. As the Greater Tokyo Area, it has the second-largest metropolitan economy in the world, after Greater New York, with a gross metropolitan product estimated at US$2 trillion. The area's economy is slightly smaller than Canada's economy while being slightly larger than Mexico's, according to IMF estimates from the same year.
Tokyo's business districts are concentrated in four central wards: Chiyoda (Marunouchi, Otemachi, Kasumigaseki), Chuo (Nihonbashi, Kyobashi, Yaesu), Minato (Shinbashi, Shiodome, Toranomon), and Shinjuku (Nishi-Shinjuku). The 23 Special Wards of Tokyo had 73.5 million m2 of office space as of January 2022.[ National Office Space Survey October 7, 2022. Japan Real Estate Research Institute. Retrieved May 25, 2024.]
In 2025, 26 of the Fortune Global 500 companies were headquartered in Tokyo.
Finance
Tokyo is a major international finance center, housing the headquarters of several of the world's largest
and insurance companies, and serves as a hub for Japan's transportation, publishing,
electronics, 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.
Tokyo emerged as a leading international
Financial centre (IFC) in the 1960s and has been described as one of the three "command centers" for the
world economy, along with New York City and
London.
In the 2020 Global Financial Centers Index, Tokyo was ranked as having the fourth most competitive financial center in the world, and second most competitive in Asia (after Shanghai).
Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo-Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mizuho Financial Group, all among the top 20 banks in the world by total assets in 2023, are headquartered in Tokyo.
The Japanese financial market opened up slowly in 1984 and accelerated its internationalization with the "Japanese Big Bang" in 1998.
Media and communications
Tokyo's position as the country's cultural, political, and economic hub has made its media industry the largest in Japan. A majority of national media companies are headquartered in Tokyo, as well as the Asian or Japanese branches of international media companies. The
NHK, the oldest and only nationwide public broadcaster in the country, is headquartered in
Shibuya. Other national broadcasters,
such as TBS, Nippon Television,
Fuji Television, and
TV Asahi, are also based in Tokyo. Of the five major national newspapers,
,
Mainichi Shimbun, and
Yomiuri Shimbun are headquartered in Tokyo, while the other two,
The Asahi and
Sankei Shimbun, maintain head offices both in Tokyo and
Osaka. Major publishers based in Tokyo include
Shueisha,
Kodansha, Kadokawa,
Shogakukan, Bungeishunju,
Shinchosha, and
Iwanami Shoten, with a high concentration in Chiyoda and
Shinjuku.
Dentsu, Hakuhodo, and Asatsu-DK, all based in Tokyo, are the country's largest advertising agencies. All three major telecommunications companies in Japan, namely NTT (whose market capitalization was once the largest among all publicly traded companies in the world),
Tourism
In 2019, tourism accounted for slightly more than one percent of Tokyo's total economic output, with 15.18 million foreign visitors spending 1.26 trillion yen, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
According to a 2022 government survey, the most visited areas in Tokyo were:[ 令和4年 国・地域別外国人旅行者行動特性調査 結果概要 Tokyo Metropolitan Government. 2022.]
-
Shibuya: Shibuya Crossing, Yoyogi Park, Hachiko statue
-
Shinjuku: Kabukichō, Shinjuku Gyo-en
-
Ginza: Shopping district, Kabuki-za
-
Marunouchi/Nihonbashi: Imperial Palace, Shopping district (Mitsukoshi, Takashimaya)
-
Asakusa: Sensō-ji, Tokyo Skytree
-
Akihabara: electronics and anime culture
-
Ueno: Tokyo National Museum, National Museum of Nature and Science, Ueno Zoo, Ueno Park
-
Harajuku/Omotesandō: Meiji Shrine, Takeshita dori
-
Roppongi: Roppongi Hills, Azabudai Hills, National Art Center Tokyo, Suntory Museum of Art, Mori Art Museum
-
Ikebukuro: Shopping district
Luxury hotels in Tokyo include the Imperial Hotel (opened in 1890), Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo (opened in 1992), Hotel Okura Tokyo (opened in 1962), Meguro Gajoen, Conrad Tokyo, the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo and Aman Tokyo.
Agriculture, fishery, and forestry
The
Toyosu Market in Tokyo is the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world since it opened on October 11, 2018.
It is also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind. It is located in the
Toyosu area of Kōtō ward. The Toyosu Market holds strong to the traditions of its predecessor, the Tsukiji Fish Market and
Nihonbashi fish market, and serves some 50,000 buyers and sellers every day. Retailers, wholesalers, auctioneers, and public citizens alike frequent the market, creating a unique microcosm of organized chaos that continues to fuel the city and its food supply after over four centuries.
Tokyo had of agricultural land as of 2003,
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.
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, Hachiōji, Hinode, and Hinohara. Decreases in the price of timber, 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. Most of Tokyo's fish production comes from the outer islands, such as Izu Ōshima and Hachijō-Jima. Skipjack tuna, nori, and Carangidae are among the ocean products.
Transportation
Tokyo, which is the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, is Japan's largest domestic and international hub for rail and ground transportation. Public transportation within Tokyo is dominated by an extensive network of "clean and efficient"
trains and subways run by a variety of operators, with buses, monorails and trams playing a secondary feeder role. There are up to 62 electric train lines and more than 900 train stations in Tokyo.
is the "world's busiest pedestrian crossing", with around 3,000 people crossing at a time.
Rail
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 central Tokyo. It operates rail lines throughout the entire metropolitan area of Tokyo and the rest of northeastern Honshu. JR East is also responsible for the
Shinkansen high-speed rail lines that link Tokyo and the Northeastern cities of Japan (Joetsu Shinkansen, Tohoku/Hokkaido Shinkansen, Yamagata Shinkansen,
Akita Shinkansen, Hokuriku Shinkansen).
The Tokaido Shinkansen, which links Tokyo and
Osaka via
Nagoya and
Kyoto, as well as western cities beyond, is operated by JR Central. The Chuo Shinkansen, the first-ever long-distance high-speed floating maglev line currently under construction, will also be operated by JR Central. Both JR companies were created from the privatization of Japan National Railways in 1987. JR Freight does not own any part of the railway network but operates freight trains on the JR network.
Two different entities operate Tokyo's underground railway network: the privatized
Tokyo Metro, which operates Tokyo Metro lines, and the governmental Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, which operates Toei lines. Tokyo Metro is entirely owned by the Japanese Government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government since it was privatized in 2004 (it was previously a public entity called the
Imperial Capital Rapid Transit Authority from 1941 to 2004), but it is scheduled to go public in 2024.
Other major railway operators in Tokyo include Odakyu, Tokyu,
Keio Corporation,
Seibu Railway,
Tobu Railway, and Keisei. Although each operator directly owns its railway lines, services that travel across different lines owned by different operators are common.
Tokyo once had an extensive tram network, with a total distance of 213 km ( Tokyo Toden). However, similar to other major cities worldwide, the age of motorization since the 1950s has made it considered unfit to share busy roads with cars. Today, only one line, the Arakawa line, remains.
Roads
Tokyo has the lowest car ownership rate among all prefectures in Japan, with 0.416 cars per household compared to the national average of 1.025 per household. This is despite Tokyo being one of the most affluent areas in the country, with a nominal GDP per capita of around US$62,000.
[ The Average Household owns 1.025 cars . (in Japanese). Automobile Inspection and Registration Information Association. August 17, 2023.] A 2021 survey found that 81% of respondents without a car were satisfied with public transport and saw no need to own one.
Each road in Tokyo falls into one of the following categories depending on the type of ownership: private roads, municipal roads, metropolitan roads, and expressways. As of April 1, 2022, the total length of roads in Tokyo is approximately 24,741 km (including 2,370 km of metropolitan roads), with a total area of approximately 190.31 km2 (including 46.30 km2 of metropolitan roads).
Aviation
The mainland portion of Tokyo is served by two international airports:
Haneda Airport in Ōta and Narita International Airport in neighboring
Chiba Prefecture. Haneda has served as the primary airport for Tokyo since 1931. However, the Jet Age saw an exponential increase in flights, prompting the government to build a second airport. Narita was chosen as the site for this second airport in 1966, but local farmers and left-wing activists who sympathized with them protested vehemently for more than a decade (the Sanrizuka Struggle), delaying the new airport's opening until 1978. Almost all international flights were transferred to Narita Airport upon its completion, and Haneda became primarily a domestic airport.
The situation changed when it was decided to expand Haneda Airport and build new runways in 2001. The new runway, Runway D, was constructed partly as a pier-like structure rather than a landfilled structure to avoid obstructing the flow of water in the bay.
Hachijō-jima (Hachijojima Airport), Kōzu-shima (Kōzushima Airport), Miyakejima (Miyakejima Airport), Nii-jima (Niijima Airport), and Izu Ōshima (Oshima Airport), located on the Izu Islands, which are governed by the Tokyo Metropolis have services to Haneda and the Chōfu Airport located in Chōfu.
Water transport
Water transport is the primary means of importing and exporting goods as well as connecting the
Tokyo Islands to the mainland. According to Lloyd's List, the Port of Tokyo handled 4,430,000 TEU of containers in 2022, making it the 46th largest port in the world.
The Greater Tokyo Area is served by other major ports such as the Port of Yokohama and the Port of Chiba as well.
Takeshiba Pier (竹芝埠頭) in Minato is used by Tōkai Kisen, which serves islands such as Izu Ōshima,
Miyake-jima, Hachijojima, Kozushima,
and Ogasawara Kaiun, which serves the
Bonin Islands.
Many of these islands are accessible only by ocean routes and helicopters, as they are too small or undulating for a landing ground, making these ships the primary means of inter-island transport. There are ferry routes that connect landmarks within the mainland portion of Tokyo as well; the Tokyo Cruise Ship and the Tokyo Mizube Line operate several routes between tourist attractions such as
Asakusa, Hamarikyu,
Odaiba, and Shinagawa Aquarium.
The Symphony Cruise operates two large restaurant ships that can also be hired as party venues.
Education
Tokyo is the educational, academic, and cultural hub of Japan. From primary to tertiary levels, numerous educational institutions operate in the city to cater to a diverse range of pupils and students.
Tertiary education
Tokyo is the heartland of tertiary education in the country, home to 143 authorized universities in 2020.
This number includes the nation's most prestigious and selective universities, such as, the University of Tokyo (
QS National:1st), Tokyo Institute of Technology (4th), Hitotsubashi University (15th), Waseda University (9th), and
Keio University (10th).
Additionally, Tokyo University of the Arts is widely regarded as the most prestigious painting, sculpture, crafts, and music school in the country.
The United Nations University, which is the academic arm of the
United Nations, is headquartered in
Shibuya, Tokyo. In 2024,
QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the second-best city for university students, after
London.
The ranking noted that Tokyo is ideal for "those who favour total immersion in local culture rather than living in a "student bubble, stating that despite having high-ranking universities and large global companies offering internships as well as rich culture, Tokyo still has a very low international student population ratio.
Primary and secondary education
At the secondary level, 429 senior high schools are located in Tokyo, six of which are national, 186 are public, and 237 are private.
Some senior high schools, often prestigious national or private ones, run jointly with their affiliated junior high schools, providing six-year educational programs (
Chūkō Ikkan Kyōiku). The
Kaisei Academy,
Komaba Junior & Senior High School, University of Tsukuba,
Azabu High School, and Oin Junior and Senior High School,
the largest sources of successful applicants to the nation's top university, the University of Tokyo,
are some examples of such. At the primary level, there are 1332 elementary schools in Tokyo. Six of them are national, 1261 are public, and 53 are private.
Early-modern-established academies such as Gakushuin and Keio provide all-through educational programs from primary schools to universities, originally to cater to the needs of traditionally affluent and powerful families.
Learned societies
Almost all major Japanese learned societies are based in Tokyo. The
Japan Academy, the country's academy of sciences, was established in 1879 to bring together leading scholars in various disciplines.
The Japan Art Academy was established in 1919 with a similar purpose.
These two national academies are headquartered in
Ueno Park. The newest national academy, the Science Council of Japan, was established in 1949 to promote scientific research and the application of research findings to civilian life. It is located in
Roppongi
Culture
Museums, art galleries, libraries, and zoos
Tokyo is home to a wide array of museums, art galleries, and libraries, catering to various interests.
Ueno Park has the Tokyo National Museum, the country's largest museum specializing in traditional Japanese art,
the National Museum of Western Art, whose building designed by
Le Corbusier is a world heritage site,
and the National Museum of Nature and Science.
Ueno Zoo is also located within the park, near the
Shinobazu Pond. It is famous for being one of the three zoos in Japan to have
, with a population of 4 as of May 2024.
Other notable museums include the
Artizon Museum in Chūō, the
Miraikan in Odaiba, and the
Edo-Tokyo Museum in Sumida, which provides insights into the history and culture of Tokyo. The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum preserves various buildings that have existed throughout the history of Tokyo. The
Nezu Museum in Aoyama has a collection of pre-modern Japanese and East Asian art. Located near the Imperial Palace, the National Diet Library, the National Archives, and the National Museum of Modern Art are also notable cultural institutions. Additionally, the Mori Art Museum in
Roppongi and the Sumida Hokusai Museum in Sumida ward are notable for their contemporary and ukiyo-e art collections, respectively. The Sompo Museum of Art in Shinjuku is best known for owning one of Van Gogh's
Sunflowers. The Tokyo Metropolitan Garden Art Museum in Minato features the former Tokyo House of Yasuhiko, Prince Asaka, which was built in an opulent
Art Deco style in 1933. The Railway Museum, which used to be located in Kanda, has relocated to a larger site in Omiya, Saitama and stores 42 train carriages and locomotives of historical importance.
The Tobacco and Salt Museum in Sumida has one of the world's most extensive collections of different types of tobacco and salt. Major aquariums in Tokyo include: Shinagawa Aquarium, Tokyo Sea Life Park, Sunshine Aquarium and
Sumida Aquarium.
Leisure and entertainment
Tokyo offers a diverse array of leisure and entertainment options. The city is home to numerous theatres. The National Noh Theatre and
Kabuki-za are dedicated to traditional Japanese plays. The New National Theatre Tokyo in Shibuya serves as a central venue for opera, ballet, contemporary dance, and drama.
Other major play and concert venues include: the National Theatre of Japan, the Imperial Theatre, the
Meiji-za, the
NHK Hall, the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Tokyo Opera City and the Tokyo International Forum. Two sports venues, the
Nippon Budokan and the
Tokyo Dome, are usually used to host concerts by popular pop artists.
The nightlife district of Tokyo is centered around areas in the west of the city, such as Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Roppongi, with a high concentration of bars, clubs, host and hostess clubs, and live music venues.
Modern attractions in Tokyo include the Tokyo Skytree in Sumida, the tallest structure in Japan, which provides panoramic views of the city from its observation decks. Odaiba, a man-made island in Tokyo Bay, features shopping, dining, and entertainment attractions such as the teamLab Planets digital art museum and Joypolis indoor amusement park.
Food
In November 2007,
Michelin guide released their first guide for fine dining in Tokyo, awarding 191 stars in total, or about twice as many as Tokyo's nearest competitor, Paris. As of 2017, 227 restaurants in Tokyo have been awarded (92 in Paris). Twelve establishments were awarded the maximum of three stars (Paris has 10), 54 received two stars, and 161 earned one star.
Recreation
, a
UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site]]Natural settings for outdoor activities include Okutama and
Mount Takao, which are known for their hiking trails and scenic views. Kasai Seaside Park provides coastal leisure activities.
Ueno Park houses several museums and a zoo, and is famous for its cherry blossoms.
Inokashira Park in Kichijoji features a pond, a zoo, and in its vicinity the
Ghibli Museum.
Yoyogi Park, located near Shibuya, is popular for picnics and outdoor events.
Shinjuku Gyo-en, Koishikawa Korakuen Garden, Rikugien Garden, Hamarikyu Gardens,
Kiyosumi Garden, Kyu Shiba Rikyu Garden, Chinzanso Garden,
Happo-en Garden,
Mukojima-Hyakkaen Garden and Meiji Jingu Inner Garden are popular traditional Japanese gardens in Tokyo, some of which originally belonged to members of the
kazoku nobility. Botanical gardens in Tokyo include the University of Tokyo's Koishikawa Botanical Garden, the Yumenoshima Tropical Greenhouse Dome, and the Institute for Nature Study Nature Reserve.
National parks
As of March 31, 2008, 36% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks (second only to
Shiga Prefecture), namely the Chichibu Tama Kai, Fuji-Hakone-Izu, and Ogasawara National Park (the last a UNESCO World Heritage Site); Meiji no Mori Takao Quasi-National Park; and Akikawa Kyūryō, Hamura Kusabana Kyūryō, Sayama, Takao Jinba, Takiyama, and Tama Kyūryō Prefectural Natural Parks.
In popular culture
Tokyo has long been a popular setting in both Japanese and Western creative works. In literature, the city has featured since the
Edo period, while the modern city appears in the works of authors such as Natsume Sōseki and Mori Ōgai, who depicted life in Tokyo during the industrialization period in famous novels such as
Sanshirō (1908) and
The Wild Geese (1911). They spent their undergraduate days at Tokyo University, and many protagonists of such novels are students who moved to Tokyo for higher education, contrasting Tokyo with their hometowns.
In later years, writers who have used Tokyo as the setting for their major works include: Yasunari Kawabata, who depicted the 'decadent allure' of Tokyo in the 1930s in his series
The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa (1930);
Kenzaburō Ōe, who centred his early works around
Anpo protests in the city in the 1960s;
and
Haruki Murakami, who has set many of his works in
Shinjuku and
Shibuya, as symbols of youth culture as well as urban loneliness. Western authors have also set their literary works in Tokyo, such as
Ian Fleming's
James Bond series novel
You Only Live Twice and David Mitchell's
number9dream.
The city has also appeared frequently in film and television. Japanese directors like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu have used Tokyo as the backdrop for narratives that examine postwar change and the complexities of modern society. In the kaiju (monster movie) genre, landmarks of Tokyo are usually destroyed by giant monsters such as Godzilla and Gamera.
Sports
Tokyo, with a diverse array of sports, is home to two professional baseball teams, the
Yomiuri Giants, who play at the
Tokyo Dome, and Tokyo Yakult Swallows at Meiji-Jingu Stadium. The Japan Sumo Association is also headquartered in Tokyo at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan sumo arena where three official
sumo tournaments are held annually (in January, May, and September). Soccer clubs in Tokyo include
FC Tokyo and
Tokyo Verdy, both of which play at Ajinomoto Stadium in Chōfu, and Machida Zelvia at Machida GION Stadium in Machida.
Rugby union is also played in Tokyo, with multiple Japan Rugby League One clubs based in the city including: Black Rams Tokyo (Setagaya),
Tokyo Sungoliath (Fuchū) and Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo (Fuchū).
Basketball teams include the Hitachi SunRockers, Toyota Alvark Tokyo, and Tokyo Excellence.
Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, thus becoming the first Asian city to host the Summer Games. The National Stadium, also known as the Olympic Stadium, was host to several international sporting events. In 2016, it was to be replaced by the New National Stadium. With several world-class sports venues, Tokyo often hosts national and international sporting events such as basketball tournaments, women's volleyball tournaments, tennis tournaments, swim meets, marathons, rugby union and sevens rugby games, soccer exhibition games, judo, and karate. Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, in Sendagaya, Shibuya, is a large sports complex that includes swimming pools, training rooms, and a large indoor arena. According to Around the Rings, the gymnasium has played host to the October 2011 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, despite the International Gymnastics Federation's initial doubt in Tokyo's ability to host the championships after the triple disaster hit Japan.
Sister cities and states
, Tokyo has twinning or friendship agreements with the following twelve cities and states:
-
New York City, United States (since February 1960)
-
Beijing, China (since March 1979)
-
Paris, France (since July 1982)
-
New South Wales, Australia (since May 1984)
-
Seoul, South Korea (since September 1988)
-
Jakarta, Indonesia (since October 1989)
-
São Paulo State, Brazil (since June 1990)
-
Cairo, Egypt (since October 1990)
-
Moscow, Russia (since July 1991)
-
Berlin, Germany (since May 1994)
-
Rome, Italy (since July 1996)
-
London, England (since October 2015)
Friendship and cooperation agreements
-
Tomsk Oblast, Russia (since May 2015)
-
Brussels, Belgium (since October 2016)
-
Los Angeles County, United States (since August 2021)
See also
-
List of cities proper by population
-
List of cities with the most skyscrapers
-
List of tallest structures in Tokyo
-
List of development projects in Tokyo
-
List of largest cities
-
List of metropolitan areas in Asia
-
List of most expensive cities for expatriate employees
-
List of urban agglomerations in Asia
-
List of urban areas by population
-
Megacity
-
Tokyo dialect
-
Yamanote and Shitamachi
Notes
Bibliography
-
Fiévé, Nicolas and Paul Waley (2003). Japanese Capitals in Historical Perspective: Place, Power and Memory in Kyoto, Edo and Tokyo. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ;
-
McClain, James, John M Merriman and Kaoru Ugawa (1994). Edo and Paris: Urban Life and the State in the Early Modern Era. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ;
-
Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth (2005). Japan encyclopedia . Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ;
Further reading
Guides
-
Bender, Andrew, and Timothy N. Hornyak. Tokyo (City Travel Guide) (2010)
-
Mansfield, Stephen. Dk Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide: Tokyo (2013)
-
Waley, Paul. Tokyo Now and Then: An Explorer's Guide. (1984). 592 pp
-
Yanagihara, Wendy. Lonely Planet Tokyo Encounter
Contemporary
-
Allinson, Gary D. Suburban Tokyo: A Comparative Study in Politics and Social Change. (1979). 258 pp.
-
Bestor, Theodore. Neighborhood Tokyo (1989). online edition
-
Bestor, Theodore. Tsukiji: The Fish Market at the Centre of the World. (2004) online edition
-
Fowler, Edward. San'ya Blues: Labouring Life in Contemporary Tokyo. (1996) .
-
Friedman, Mildred, ed. Tokyo, Form and Spirit. (1986). 256 pp.
-
Jinnai, Hidenobu. Tokyo: A Spatial Anthropology. (1995). 236 pp.
-
Jones, Sumie et al. eds. A Tokyo Anthology: Literature from Japan's Modern Metropolis, 1850–1920 (2017); primary sources excerpt
-
Perez, Louis G. Tokyo: Geography, History, and Culture (ABC-CLIO, 2019).
-
Reynolds, Jonathan M. "Japan's Imperial Diet Building: Debate over Construction of a National Identity". Art Journal. 55#3 (1996) pp. 38+.
-
Sassen, Saskia. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. (1991). 397 pp.
-
Sorensen, A. Land Readjustment and Metropolitan Growth: An Examination of Suburban Land Development and Urban Sprawl in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area (2000)
-
Taira, J. [re]TOKYO. (2018). San Francisco: ORO Editions.
-
Waley, Paul. "Tokyo-as-world-city: Reassessing the Role of Capital and the State in Urban Restructuring". Urban Studies 2007 44(8): 1465–1490. Fulltext: Ebsco
External links
Ashfall distribution map for examining disaster prevention measures (Mt. Fuji Hoei eruption) Kanagawa had 16 cm to 8 cm ash and Saitama 0.5 to 0 cm. If the wind blows north-east it could send volcanic ash to Tokyo metropolis. According to the government, less than a millimeter of the volcanic ash from a Mount Fuji eruption could cause power grid problems such as blackouts and stop trains in the Tokyo metropolitan area. A mixture of ash with rain could stick to cellphone antennas and power lines and cause temporary power outages. The affected areas would need to be evacuated.
