Tokyo

About Tokyo

Tokyo covers 2,199.94 km2, 45th in size but first in population at 14,301,986 as of July 2026 with density 6,501 per km2 and capital functions exercised from Shinjuku Ward, usually labeled simply as Tokyo. Its domain has three belts: the 23 special wards built on Tokyo Lowland and Musashino Terrace along Sumida, Ara, and Tama rivers plus reclaimed waterfront; the Tama region of 26 cities and one village in Nishitama rising into the Kanto Mountains with Mt. Kumotori 2,017 m; and the island subprefectures of Izu and Ogasawara that include active volcanoes like Miyakejima and Chichijima's World Natural Heritage forests, stretching 1,700 km north-south. Historically it is Musashi Province, grown as Edo after Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Edo shogunate in 1603, renamed Tokyo in 1868 after the Meiji Restoration and the transfer of Emperor Meiji from Kyoto, designated Tokyo Prefecture in 1878, then merged as Tokyo City and Prefecture into Tokyo Metropolis in 1943 to streamline wartime governance; in 1947 the 35 former wards reorganized into 23 special wards with quasi-city status under Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Climate is predominantly humid subtropical Cfa except Ogasawara's tropical monsoon Am and savanna Aw; central Chiyoda averages 5.4°C in January and 26.9°C in August with annual rainfall near 1,550 mm, 4.8 days above 35°C and 17.8 tropical nights above 25°C minimum, while western Fuchu and Hachioji average -0.7°C and -1.8°C lows in January and can exceed 40°C in summer as observed in Ome 40.8°C in July 2018; Izu islands average 7.5-10.1°C January and 26°C August, Chichijima 18.1°C February warmest. Industry is overwhelmingly tertiary: finance in Marunouchi and Nihonbashi, corporate headquarters, IT startups and venture capital in Shibuya, media publishing, education and research with University of Tokyo and Waseda, government ministries, air and rail hub handling Haneda and Narita airports, GDP ¥120.22 trillion in 2022 about US$914 billion, largest city economy globally; manufacturing remains in Keihin waterfront printing due to concentration of newspapers and machinery, plus animation and game studios. Culture and tourism icons include Tokyo Skytree 634 m tallest tower, Senso-ji Temple and Nakamise arcade founded 628, Shibuya Scramble Crossing with 3,000 people per green light, Imperial Palace and National Diet Building, Meiji Shrine forest, Shinjuku Gyoen 58 hectares, Ginza shopping, Odaiba artificial island, and distant Ogasawara beaches where humpback whales migrate, embodying both hyper-modern and deeply historic Japan. Nightlife in Shinjuku Kabukicho and Ginza department stores plus transit network of JR Yamanote Loop, metro thirteen lines, and Haneda international airport handling 85 million passengers yearly support the metropolis.