Tokyo
- Japanese: 東京 (toukyou)
Tokyo is the de facto Imperial and political capital of Japan, as well as being one of the chief commercial, financial, and arts centers in the world. As a metropolitan prefecture headed not by a mayor but by a governor, Tôkyô-to (東京都, Tokyo Metropolis) is not officially considered a "city," but the 23 special wards (tokubetsu ku) and 39 additional municipalities which comprise the metropolitan prefecture constitute one of the largest and most populous metropolitan areas in the world, and are home to a very significant portion of the Japanese national population. The Izu Islands which stretch south from Tokyo proper, along with the distant Ogasawara Islands, are also administered as part of Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture; both consist of small, sparsely populated islands, many of which are uninhabited nature preserves or are restricted to military use.
History
Edo dropped from a population height of around 1.3 million in the early 19th century to just over 500,000 in 1869, returning to peak levels only around 1889.[1]
By the 1970s, fully one-quarter of Japan's population lived in or around Tokyo.[2] Today, that proportion is even higher.
References
- Takashi Fujitani, Splendid Monarchy, University of California Press (1996).
