Portal:Tokyo

The Tokyo Portal

Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital and most populous city in 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.

Before the 17th century, Tokyo, then known as Edo, was mainly a fishing village. It gained political prominence in 1603 when it became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. By the mid-18th century, Edo was among the world's largest cities, with over a million residents. 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. From 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 2023, Tokyo is home to 29 of the world's 500 largest companies, as listed in the annual Fortune Global 500—the second highest number of any city. (Full article...)

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The architecture of Tokyo has largely been shaped by the city's history. Twice in recent history has the metropolis been left in ruins: first in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and later after extensive firebombing in World War II. Because of this and other factors, Tokyo's current urban landscape is mostly modern and contemporary architecture, and older buildings are scarce. Tokyo once was a city with low buildings and packed with single family homes, today the city has a larger focus on high rise residential homes and urbanization. Tokyo's culture is changing as well as increased risk of natural catastrophes, because of this architecture has had to make dramatic changes since the 1990s. Located off of Tokyo Bay which makes typhoons and rising sea levels a current risk, along with volcanoes and large earthquakes. As a result of this, a new focus has been placed on waterborne risks such as rising sea levels and seismic events.

Tokyo in recent years has been growing at a steady rate. As a result, new buildings have been built at increased heights in order to make the most out of the land they occupy. Tokyo continues to advance in technology and grow, which will continue to change its architecture for years to come. (Full article...)

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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 1Shinjuku (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 2Taira no Masakado, who challenged the Emperor by becoming the effective ruler of Kanto (from History of Tokyo)
Image 3JR Yamanote Line (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 4Soil liquefaction in Kōtō after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake (from History of Tokyo)
Image 5Shibuya (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 6Toyota Crown Comfort Nihon Kotsu Taxi (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 7Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower viewed from Odaiba (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 8Otoya Yamaguchi preparing to stab Inejiro Asanuma a second time (from History of Tokyo)
Image 9A 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 10Tokyo from the air after the firebombing of the city, 1945 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 11Funeral procession for Hirohito (by then renamed Showa) on 24 February 1989 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 12An 1814 handscroll depicting the Great Fire of Meireki (from History of Tokyo)
Image 13Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara in 2003 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 14The Ginza Line, Asia's oldest subway line, first opened in 1927 (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 15The 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 16Toei bus (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 17An 1869 picture scroll of the 1772 Great Meiwa Fire (from History of Tokyo)
Image 18Yukio Mishima giving a speech during his 1970 coup attempt at the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force building (from History of Tokyo)
Image 19A scene of the 2020 Summer Olympics' opening ceremony, where 1,824 drones formed the Games' logo. (from History of Tokyo)
Image 20Map of operators in Greater Tokyo Area (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 21An 1809 etched print of the Senso-ji temple, before it was firebombed during World War II and rebuilt (from History of Tokyo)
Image 22A 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 23A view of the IMTFE in session (from History of Tokyo)
Image 24Marunouchi (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 25Nihonbashi Bridge, in a c. 1838–1842 painting by Hiroshige (from History of Tokyo)
Image 261960 protests against the United States-Japan Security Treaty (from History of Tokyo)
Image 27Emperor Meiji, moving from Kyoto to Tokyo after the fall of Edo in 1868 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 28The Metropolitan Police Department burning at Marunouchi, near Hibiya Park during the 1923 earthquake (from History of Tokyo)
Image 29Police officers and Japan Defense Force troops responding to the scene of the 1995 subway sarin attack (from History of Tokyo)
Image 30The Shintomi-za theater, as painted by Utagawa Hiroshige III in 1881 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 31Folding screen view of Edo in the 17th century, showing Edo Castle on the upper right corner (from History of Tokyo)
Image 32Asakusa (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 33A 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 34Tokyo Imperial University's law building before 1902 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 35Commodore Matthew C. Perry's fleet during his second visit to Tokyo in 1854 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 36A leaflet dropped by the U.S. over Tokyo during the bombings, urging civilians to leave the city (from History of Tokyo)
Image 37This marker in Nihonbashi is the place from which distances along highways are reckoned. (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 38Picture 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 39Tokyo streets at night (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 40Rokumeikan, a club mixing Japanese and European styles (from History of Tokyo)
Image 41Japanese children in ruins, Tokyo, 1945 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 42A painting of the new Tokyo Imperial Palace (from History of Tokyo)
Image 43This 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 44A Tokyo taxi driver indicating a fare of 50 Sen by holding up five fingers, in 1932 (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 45Tokyo Haneda Airport (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 46A kawaraban (news broadsheet) depicting the damage of the 1855 earthquake (from History of Tokyo)
Image 47Tokyo-Wan Ferry Shirahama-maru (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 48The Nikkei 225 stock market index from 1970 to 2024 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 49The 1964 Summer Olympics closing ceremony (from History of Tokyo)
Image 50A German map of Tokyo from 1896 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 51Tokyo's 23 special wards, one part of the Tokyo Metropolis prefecture (from History of Tokyo)
Image 52Ōta Dokan, who built the start to Edo Castle (from History of Tokyo)
Image 53Hokusai's painting of the 47 ronin storming Kira Yoshinaka's mansion (from History of Tokyo)
Image 54Tokugawa Ieyasu, who made Edo the capital of Japan (from History of Tokyo)
Image 55A jar from the Yayoi period (300 BC to 300 AD) found in Kugahara, Ōta (from History of Tokyo)
Image 56A section of the Tamagawa Josui in an 1856 painting by Hiroshige (from History of Tokyo)
Image 57The Tokyo Skytree in 2014 (from History of Tokyo)
Image 58Ginza (from Special wards of Tokyo)
Image 59The Kabukicho district of Shinjuku in 1982, before police cracked down on its illegal activities (from History of Tokyo)

Did you know (auto-generated) -

... that a scene from the television adaptation of the manga It's All About the Looks was filmed at the Tokyo Girls Collection fashion show?
... that self-help author Beth Kempton held positions at both the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Tokyo and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London?
... that Japanese pianist Nagaoka Nobuko, a child prodigy called an "absolute genius", was killed in the final American firebombing of Tokyo?
... that in 1994 Kazuyoshi Akiyama conducted the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra in the first performance of Schoenberg's Moses und Aron with Japanese musicians?
... that with his self-produced solo ice show Gift, two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu is expected to become the first ice skater to perform at the Tokyo Dome?
... that Izawa Takushi is called the "Quiz King from Tokyo University"?

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

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