BIG CITIES
JANUARY 13, 2022
A Brief History Of Tokyo Development
Tokyo is the capital of Japan and the largest city and the most populous metropolitan area in the Greater Tokyo Area, the Kanto region. In 2018, the Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, around 37.468 million residents.
Located at the head of Tokyo Bay, the prefecture forms part of the Kanto region on the Central Pacific coast of Japan’s main island of Honshu.
It was originally named Edo, a fishing village, it became an important political center when Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate and moved to the village in 1603.
When shogunate ended during the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the imperial capital in Kyoto was moved to Edo in 1869 and renamed it to Tokyo, meaning “eastern capital”.
The city was divided into Yamanote and Shitamachi. The former Edo Castle becoming the Imperial Palace and the city of Tokyo was officially established on May 1, 1889.
During the early period it was sometime called “Tokei”, a second pronunciation for the same characters representing “Tokyo” as a kanji homograph.
In the 20th century Tokyo suffered two major destructions, the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake causing 140.000 dead or missing and World War II air raids bombing by the US Army Air Forces during the Pacific campaigns.
Tokyo is categorized as an Alpha+ city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network and is now the largest urban economy in the world by gross domestic product. Tokyo is Japan’s leading center of business and finance along with Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba.
In 2020, Tokyo ranked fourth on the Global Financial Centres Index after New York City, London and Shanghai. The city has the world’s tallest tower, Tokyo Skytree and the world’s largest underground floodwater facility MAOUDC.
There are three most important districts in Tokyo : Chiyoda – the site of imperial palace, Shinjuku – the city’s administrative center and Shibuya – a commercial, cultural and business hub.
Tokyo, as well as Japan in general, also famous for anime, electronics, manga and video games. Akihabara is the epicenter of these technologies. The area is known as a jungle of electric lights and colors at night, providing spectacular views for visitors.
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