Portal:Tokyo

The Tokyo Portal

View of Shinjuku skyscrapers and Mount Fuji as seen from the Bunkyo Civic Center in Tokyo

Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis 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 as of 2024.

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 its western area; 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 (lit. 'Eastern Capital'). 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. As of 2025, Tokyo is home to 26 of the world's 500 largest companies, as listed in the annual Fortune Global 500. (Full article...)

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Shinjuku, one of Tokyo's special wards

The 23 special wards (特別区, tokubetsu-ku) of Tokyo are a unique form of municipality under Japan's 1947 Local Autonomy Law. They are city-level wards: primary subdivisions of a prefecture with municipal autonomy. Together, they cover 627 km² (242 sq mi) and, as of 2024, house roughly 9.8 million residents, yielding a density of about 15,742 people/km² (40,770 people/mi²). Similar ward systems are legally possible in other prefectures, but none have been established.

Tokyo's 23 special wards unite with 39 ordinary municipalities (cities, towns and villages) to their west to form Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture. Without the ordinary municipalities the special wards account for what was the core Tokyo City, before this was abolished in 1943 under the Tōjō Cabinet. It was four years later, during the Occupation of Japan, that autonomy was restored to Tokyo City by means of the special wards, each being given a directly elected mayor and assembly like all other cities, towns and villages in Japan. (Full article...)

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The new Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building was completed in 1991 in Shinjuku

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (東京都庁舎, Tōkyō-to Chōsha), also referred to as the Tochō (都庁) for short, is the seat of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which governs the special wards, cities, towns, and villages that constitute the Tokyo Metropolis.

WikiProjects

You are invited to participate in the Tokyo task force, a task force dedicated to developing and improving articles about the Tokyo metropolis, including the Special wards of Tokyo, West Tokyo, and the islands.

General images

The following are images from various Tokyo-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Tokyo Imperial University's law building before 1902 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 2A scene of the 2020 Summer Olympics' opening ceremony, where 1,824 drones formed the Games' logo. (from History of Tokyo)
Image 3Asakusa (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 4Otoya Yamaguchi preparing to stab Inejiro Asanuma a second time (from History of Tokyo)
Image 5Tokyo's 23 special wards, one part of the Tokyo Metropolis prefecture (from History of Tokyo)
Image 6A view of the IMTFE in session (from History of Tokyo)
Image 7A leaflet dropped by the U.S. over Tokyo during the bombings, urging civilians to leave the city (from History of Tokyo)
Image 8Tokugawa Ieyasu, who made Edo the capital of Japan (from History of Tokyo)
Image 9Marunouchi (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 10A painting of the new Tokyo Imperial Palace (from History of Tokyo)
Image 11A scene from the Tokugawa Seiseiroku, showing an aspect of the sankin-kōtai system: the festive attendance day of daimyo at Edo Castle (from History of Tokyo)
Image 12Hokusai's painting of the 47 ronin storming Kira Yoshinaka's mansion (from History of Tokyo)
Image 13Soil liquefaction in Kōtō after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake (from History of Tokyo)
Image 14This 1858 map shows the yamanote western district (at top) and the shitamachi eastern district (at bottom). Nihonbashi is at center (from History of Tokyo)
Image 15The Kabukicho district of Shinjuku in 1982, before police cracked down on its illegal activities (from History of Tokyo)
Image 16The Ginza Line, Asia's oldest subway line, first opened in 1927 (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 17Emperor Meiji, moving from Kyoto to Tokyo after the fall of Edo in 1868 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 18A Tokyo taxi driver indicating a fare of 50 Sen by holding up five fingers, in 1932 (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 19Toei bus (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 20Shibuya (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 21Nihonbashi Bridge, in a c. 1838–1842 painting by Hiroshige (from History of Tokyo)
Image 221960 protests against the United States-Japan Security Treaty (from History of Tokyo)
Image 23A German map of Tokyo from 1896 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 24A social hierarchy chart based on old academic theories. Such hierarchical diagrams were removed from Japanese textbooks after various studies in the 1990s revealed that peasants, craftsmen, and merchants were in fact equal and merely social categories. Successive shoguns held the highest or near-highest court ranks, higher than most court nobles. (from History of Tokyo)
Image 25The Metropolitan Police Department burning at Marunouchi, near Hibiya Park during the 1923 earthquake (from History of Tokyo)
Image 26A Torii Kiyomasu painting of kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro I playing Soga Tokimune. This was likely one of the most popular ukiyo-e actor prints (from History of Tokyo)
Image 27Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower viewed from Odaiba (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 28Toyota Crown Comfort Nihon Kotsu Taxi (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 29Japanese children in ruins, Tokyo, 1945 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 30Taira no Masakado, who challenged the Emperor by becoming the effective ruler of Kanto (from History of Tokyo)
Image 31Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara in 2003 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 32Picture of the Upper Class, a c. 1794–1795 painting by Utamaro. The woman on the left is lower in class than the woman on the right, who wears more colorful clothes (from History of Tokyo)
Image 33Shinjuku (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 34The Shintomi-za theater, as painted by Utagawa Hiroshige III in 1881 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 35Tokyo Haneda Airport (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 36The Tokyo Skytree in 2014 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 37An 1809 etched print of the Senso-ji temple, before it was firebombed during World War II and rebuilt (from History of Tokyo)
Image 38The Nikkei 225 stock market index from 1970 to 2024 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 39Tokyo-Wan Ferry Shirahama-maru (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 40A kawaraban (news broadsheet) depicting the damage of the 1855 earthquake (from History of Tokyo)
Image 41Map of operators in Greater Tokyo Area (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 42A section of the Tamagawa Josui in an 1856 painting by Hiroshige (from History of Tokyo)
Image 43This marker in Nihonbashi is the place from which distances along highways are reckoned. (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 44The five-story pagoda of Kan'ei-ji, which was constructed during the reign of Tokugawa Hidetada and required the building of the Kimon (Devil's Gate) (from History of Tokyo)
Image 45The 1964 Summer Olympics closing ceremony (from History of Tokyo)
Image 46Funeral procession for Hirohito (by then renamed Showa) on 24 February 1989 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 47Ōta Dokan, who built the start to Edo Castle (from History of Tokyo)
Image 48An 1814 handscroll depicting the Great Fire of Meireki (from History of Tokyo)
Image 49Police officers and Japan Defense Force troops responding to the scene of the 1995 subway sarin attack (from History of Tokyo)
Image 50An 1869 picture scroll of the 1772 Great Meiwa Fire (from History of Tokyo)
Image 51Ginza (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 52JR Yamanote Line (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 53A jar from the Yayoi period (300 BC to 300 AD) found in Kugahara, Ōta (from History of Tokyo)
Image 54Yukio Mishima giving a speech during his 1970 coup attempt at the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force building (from History of Tokyo)
Image 55Rokumeikan, a club mixing Japanese and European styles (from History of Tokyo)
Image 56Folding screen view of Edo in the 17th century, showing Edo Castle on the upper right corner (from History of Tokyo)
Image 57Tokyo streets at night (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 58Commodore Matthew C. Perry's fleet during his second visit to Tokyo in 1854 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 59Tokyo from the air after the firebombing of the city, 1945 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 60Tokyo Skytree, Sumida (from Special wards of Tokyo)

Did you know (auto-generated) -

... that Satoko Kishimoto is the first elected female mayor of Suginami, Tokyo?
... that the first modern Chinese play was based on an American novel and staged in Tokyo?
... that Japanese pianist Nagaoka Nobuko, a child prodigy called an "absolute genius", was killed in the final American firebombing of Tokyo?
... that a haniwa horse in Tokyo National Museum is of particular significance due to its horse trappings?
... that pianist Fujita Haruko, one of the first 19 female students enrolled at the University of Tokyo, was taught by Leo Sirota, who was once called the "god of piano"?
... that cocoa is grown in Tokyo, almost 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) south of the city centre?

Related Portals

Topics

Administrative divisions of Tokyo

Western Tokyo				Special wards
Okutama Hinohara Ōme Hinode Akiruno Hachiōji Hamura Mizuho Fussa Akishima	Hino Tama Machida Musashimurayama Tachikawa Kunitachi Fuchū Inagi Higashiyamato Kodaira	Kokubunji Koganei Chōfu Higashimurayama Kiyose Higashikurume Nishitōkyō Musashino Mitaka Komae		Nerima Suginami Setagaya Nakano Itabashi Toshima Shinjuku Shibuya Meguro Shinagawa	Ōta Kita Bunkyō Chiyoda Minato Chūō Adachi Arakawa Taitō Kōtō	Sumida Katsushika Edogawa