Tokyo

I

Introduction

Tokyo, largest city and capital of Japan, and one of the most heavily populated cities in the world. It is located at the head of Tokyo Bay, on the eastern coast of Honshu, the largest of the four main islands of the Japanese archipelago. The city of Tokyo proper is made up of 23 special wards (ku), with an area of 570 sq km (220 sq mi). The Tokyo metropolitan prefecture (Tokyo-to), of which it is part, extends to the west of the central city. The great urban sprawl, of which Tokyo is the heart, is known as the Greater Keihin Metropolitan Area, and it includes two major cities, Yokohama and Kawasaki, to the south. Tokyo has been the national capital of Japan since 1868, after the rule of the feudal Tokugawa dynasty was overthrown in the Meiji Restoration; at that time the city's name was changed from Edo. Today Tokyo is the country's financial, industrial, commercial, and cultural centre. Population 8,339,695 (2007).

II

Economy

The city's modern large-scale industries are concentrated along the shores of Tokyo Bay. Here, extending from Tokyo to Yokohama, is the Keihin Industrial Region, the largest industrial complex in Japan. This district produces nearly one-fifth of the country's total manufactured goods by value. Heavy industry predominates, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total by value. Light manufacturing is highly diversified: food products, textiles, cameras and optical goods, metals, machinery, chemicals, and a wide variety of consumer goods are produced.

The port of Tokyo, at the head of Tokyo Bay, is handicapped by the lack of a natural deep-water harbour. Thus, about 80 per cent of the cargo handled is domestic. In value of international trade, Tokyo ranks fourth in Japan, accounting for 7.4 per cent of the country's total.

With the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912), a national railway system was built, with Tokyo as its focus. Trunk lines link the city to all parts of Japan, and an intricate network of lesser lines spreads across the near hinterlands. The city's key stations—Tokyo Central, Ueno, Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, and Shibuya—each handle some 400,000 to 1.7 million or more passengers each day. As existing trunk railways have become overburdened, new superexpress railways (Shinkansen, meaning 'New Trunk Line' in Japanese, using what is known in English as the 'bullet train') are being constructed. Today, high-speed “bullet trains” operate between Tokyo and the city of Fukuoka, a distance of some 1,070 km (665 mi), in about seven hours.

The modernization of the road network within Tokyo has been especially difficult, because the streets of the old city of Edo were narrow and crooked, totally unsuited for motor traffic, and there was also an extensive canal network. Before the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, however, radiating trunk roads and motorways were constructed that connect the downtown area to eight new ring roads; most of the canals had already been filled in. Since the 1960s, trams have been gradually eliminated in favour of buses. By the late 1970s the city had 175 km (109 mi) of underground railway track. Nonetheless, severe traffic problems are still common in many locations.

Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport), on Tokyo Bay to the south of the central city, had been used for both international and internal flights, but in 1978 the New Tokyo International Airport (Narita Airport), 55 km (33 mi) to the east of the centre of Tokyo, was opened for international service. Haneda Airport is now used mostly for domestic flights.

III

Places of Interest

A

The Urban Landscape

The Greater Keihin Metropolitan Area has grown with great rapidity since the late 1940s; its outer boundary extends about 40 to 70 km (24 to 42 mi) from the centre of Tokyo and encompasses approximately one-quarter of Japan's population. This outward expansion has been accompanied by a rapid increase in population in the areas surrounding Tokyo. By contrast, the inner 23 special wards have been losing population since 1965.

The heart of Tokyo's central city is the old town of Edo, though much of its traditional fabric has been destroyed by earthquakes, American firebomb raids in World War II, and redevelopment. The most prominent building here is the Imperial Palace with its surrounding parks. To the south and west of the Imperial Palace, in the Kasumigaseki district, are most of Tokyo's important government buildings, such as the National Diet Building (seat of the national legislature), the Prime Minister's Secretariat, the Supreme Court, and the national ministries. Farther to the south is the Tokyo Tower. To the east of the Imperial Palace is the Marunouchi district, the city's (and the country's) leading business quarter. Many of Japan's largest enterprises and financial institutions have headquarters here. The district's importance became notable after the Tokyo Central Station opened in 1914. To the east of Marunouchi is Tokyo's most important shopping district, which extends from the Nihonbashi district, in the north, to the famous Ginza district, in the south. The streets of these districts are lined with many department stores, long-established speciality shops, places of entertainment, and a wide variety of restaurants.

To the west of the central city the terrain becomes increasingly hilly, rising to the Musashino Uplands. The eastern edge of this area, known as Yamanote, has retained much of its well-to-do residential character. Since 1930, however, many manufacturing plants, universities, hospitals, and other institutions have moved into Yamanote and other outlying areas to the west. This process greatly accelerated after the mid-1950s, accompanying Japan's remarkable economic growth. The outward dispersal of population has resulted in the development of subcentres, such as Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Ikebukuro, where private rail links from outlying suburban areas join the Yamanote Loop Railway Line. The overall effect has been a doughnut development pattern, with business and construction moving out of the centre to this ring. These subcentres have attracted retail, financial, and other service industries, and many have new high-rise buildings with as many as 40 or 50 storeys, an unusual sight in Japan. In Ikebukuro the Sunshine 60 (storeys) Building, the tallest in Japan, was completed in 1978. Farther to the west, beyond the suburbs, Tokyo-to incorporates part of Chichibu-Tama National Park, a scenic mountain area.

B

Cultural and Educational Institutions

Tokyo is Japan's pre-eminent educational and cultural centre. Within Tokyo-to are more than 100 public and private universities (one-quarter of the country's total), enrolling about one-third of the nation's university students. The most prestigious national university is the University of Tokyo, and two well-known private universities are Keio University (1858) and Waseda University (1882). In the popular Ueno Park are the Tokyo National Museum, the country's largest art museum; National Museum of Science; National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum; and the municipal zoo. Near the Imperial Palace are the National Diet Library, National Archives, and National Museum of Modern Art. The Nezu Art Museum is in Aoyama. Tokyo is also the national centre of the performing arts. The city has numerous theatres in which both traditional forms (such as Noh theatre and kabuki) and modern dramas are performed. Several symphony orchestras and many smaller musical organizations perform both Western and traditional Japanese music. Also of note is the Meiji Shrine in the central city, which draws tourists and worshippers from all parts of Japan.