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Tokyo is the city of which country. History of Tokyo

It is one of the largest and most beautiful cities in the country, located in the eastern part of the mainland. History is a constant change of eras associated with certain Japanese rulers or emperors. Each of them played a role in the life of the city, which went from a small fishing village to a technologically advanced metropolis.

The following periods in the history of Tokyo are briefly distinguished:

early life of a fishing village;
from 1603 – Edo period, construction of a fort;
since 1868 – the Meiji era, Tokyo as the “Eastern capital”;
1912–1926 – Taisho era, further flourishing of the city;
until 1989 – the Showa era (an ambiguous period, a time of ups and downs);
Currently it is the Heisei era.

Stages of the long journey

Before the Edo period, the history of Tokyo was similar to the stories of thousands of villages located along the banks of reservoirs. A quiet, calm life, fishing, its processing and sale is the main pastime of local residents.

In the 12th century, a new life for the settlement began - the Edo period, associated with the rise to power of Tokugawa Ieyasu. One of the local warriors builds a fort on the territory of a fishing village; until 1869 it was called Edo, after which it was called Tokyo. In 1457, the construction of a castle with the same name began in these places, followed by the construction of city blocks. By 1721, Edo became a world record holder; the number of its inhabitants exceeded 1 million.

A new period begins in the life of Tokyo - the Meiji era, the city castle becomes the Imperial Palace, and the city itself takes on the special status of the “Eastern capital” of the state.

The same period is characterized by the intensification of ties with the West, the strong influence of the European economy and culture. Scientific and technological progress contributes to the development of Tokyo's infrastructure, the telegraph and railway appeared, telephone installation began, even national clothing began to be replaced by European dress.

In 1912, the Taisho era began, the city continued to develop, the number of educational institutions expanded, and girls were allowed to study. The tragedy occurred in 1923; as a result of a strong earthquake, the city was damaged and city blocks were significantly destroyed.

The 20th century brought many different events; the beginning of the century was characterized by depressive moods and coups of power. World War II brought bombings of the city, which destroyed almost all wooden buildings in the city. In the second half of the 20th century, a new rise in Tokyo's economy began.

Forty years ago there were only three megacities on our planet - Tokyo, New York and Mexico City. These were As of 2010, this situation has changed dramatically, because their number has increased to 21. Moreover, according to scientists' forecasts, in ten years the number of megacities on Earth will be 29, and the vast majority of them will be concentrated in developing countries. As of today, every twentieth person on the planet is a resident of such cities. The city of Tokyo especially stands out among others, the population of which, taking into account functionally connected suburbs, exceeds the mark of 36 million people.

Heart of Tokyo

Not even all Japanese can clearly answer the question about the number of residents and the area of the capital. In this case, you need to decide on the boundaries. The fact is that they can be administrative lines separating Tokyo from the suburbs located in the immediate vicinity and associated with it, or the external boundaries of the city. The capital itself is not very big. Its length is about 90 and its width is 25 kilometers. The area of the site it occupies is 2168 square kilometers. If you consider only the so-called heart of Tokyo, its population is just over 13 million people.

Prefecture

Administratively, it is divided into 23 separate districts. In addition to them, the prefecture includes 26 small cities, 8 villages and 5 towns. It should be noted that they are all located in the so-called Tama zone, west of Tokyo itself. Japan in this part has mountainous, densely forested terrain that is unsuitable for habitation. Related to this is the fact that not many people live here. Due to the low population of the region, the government of the country decided to create four national parks here. The capital prefecture also includes two chains of small islands of volcanic origin that stretch into the Pacific Ocean for a thousand kilometers in a southerly direction.

Peculiarities

The metropolitan government, called the Tokyo Municipality, administers the prefecture. Moreover, each of the 23 city districts discussed earlier has its own municipality with an elected mayor. A key trend that has become characteristic of Tokyo residents in recent years is that the population is increasingly moving from the central areas of the city to neighboring prefectures. There is only one reason for this - the cost of living here is simply off the charts. At the same time, workers can quickly and comfortably travel along high-speed transport routes to their office, regardless of its location in Tokyo (Japan occupies one of the leading positions on the planet in terms of transport development and train speed). If we take the three central districts of Minato, Chuo and Chiyoda as an example, then at night there are no more than 300 thousand people, while during the day this figure increases six to seven times. In general, due to significant daily migration, the population of the Japanese capital, depending on the time of day, can increase or decrease by 3 million people. In this regard, answering the question of how many people are in Tokyo at any given time is not so simple.

Agglomeration

As noted above, it is quite difficult to determine the line separating the Japanese capital from neighboring prefectures. Even satellite images do not provide a clear answer. The fact is that industrial zones, residential areas, transport infrastructure and so on have merged into a single whole. Residential areas of the city were also captured by the prefectures neighboring Tokyo - Yamanashi, Ibaraki, Chiba, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama and Kanagawa. As a result, the largest urban agglomeration on the planet was formed with a population of 36 million people. No other million-plus cities in the world can boast of this figure.

Other indicators

The Japanese capital occupies a leading position on the planet not only in terms of the number of inhabitants. If we take into account the city itself (23 districts), then it is also the most densely populated on Earth. Tokyo has more than six thousand people per square kilometer. This is due to the very high cost of local real estate. It is eloquent that the price of a plot of land, as a rule, is comparable to the amount of money that would be enough to cover it with a layer of gold. Compared to all other prefectures of the state, the smallest part of the territory is allocated for agricultural land - only 8,460 hectares. These lands can only partially satisfy the demands of the capital's residents for flowers, fruits and vegetables that are grown here. On the other hand, in such an indicator as GDP, the capital prefecture is second only to three countries - Germany, the USA and Japan itself as a whole.

Long-suffering

What else is characteristic of the city of Tokyo is that the population of the prefecture is very long-suffering. Throughout history, local residents have repeatedly become victims of natural disasters (volcanic eruptions and earthquakes). For example, in 1923 there was a powerful underground storm, which resulted in the death of 140 thousand people. The city itself was destroyed. The spring of 1945 became much more tragic, when Tokyo became the main target of American planes during bombing. The city's population then decreased by 250 thousand people, as a huge number of incendiary bombs were dropped on residential areas of the Japanese capital.

Interesting facts, research and forecasts

According to many scientists and researchers, Tokyo's population will reach its peak in 2020. The city is then expected to have a population of approximately 13.35 million. Only after this the number of local residents will begin to gradually decrease.

Another interesting fact is that if today the share of elderly people here is about 21%, then in five to six years it will grow to 24%, and in twenty years it will reach 28.9%. The explanation for this is quite simple. The fact is that the entire country as a whole is characterized by a very low birth rate. In this regard, the government is already taking measures aimed at ensuring the safety of older people, including helping them find work.

Scientists believe that in ten years the number of families in the Japanese capital will reach its maximum value - approximately 6.63 million.

In 1920, the first national census of Tokyo residents took place. The city's population then amounted to 3.7 million people. Just forty years later, the figure had risen to 10 million inhabitants. The result of this was an excessive concentration of the population and a deterioration in their living conditions (rising housing prices, inflation, and so on). As a result, there was a demographic decline between 1980 and 1995.

From 2000 to 2010 Tokyo was characterized by a massive influx of immigrants from other prefectures. This resulted in a 9% increase in population during this period.

Due to the limited amount of free land, the government of the capital of Japan is actively working to create artificial islands in Tokyo Bay.

General information and history

Tokyo (東京 in Japanese) is the capital of Japan, its largest city, and one of its prefectures. It is also the administrative, cultural, political, industrial and financial (the largest urban economy on the planet) center of the country. Located in the bay of Tokyo Bay of the Pacific Ocean, in the southeast of the island of Honshu, on the Kanto Plain. The area of Tokyo is 2188.67 km².

In the 12th century, the Edo warrior Taro Shigenadoi built a fort on the site of the future city. In 1457, the ruler of the Kanto region, Ota Dokan, founded Edo Castle here, which was conquered by shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1590. After this, Edo became the center of the shogunate, and the center of the empire was still Kyoto. In 1615, the shogun destroyed his rivals, the Toyotomi clan, after which he and his descendants remained absolute rulers for 250 years. By the 18th century, Tokyo had become one of the largest cities on the planet.

After the shogunate was overthrown in 1868 and the emperor regained power, Emperor Mutsuhito transferred capital functions to Edo and renamed the city Tokyo. After this, shipbuilding and industry began to actively develop in the city. In 1872, a railway connection appeared with Yokohama, and in 1877 with Osaka and Kobe.

On September 1, 1923, an earthquake occurred in the city and in the region, which was assigned 8-9 points on the Richter scale. As a result, about 90,000 people died, almost half of the city was destroyed and a huge fire broke out.

Tokyo was also devastated by numerous bombings at the end of World War II. For example, on March 8, 1945, an air raid killed 80,000 residents. As a result of the fire, many wooden buildings were destroyed and the old Imperial Palace was damaged. After the end of the war, the city was occupied by the United States, which made it a major military center during the Korean War.

After some time, the country's economy began to actively develop. This process was called the "Japanese economic miracle." In 1966, Japan was ranked as the world's second largest economy. Two years earlier, the Summer Olympic Games were held in Tokyo. In the next decade, the city's economy was further boosted by the influx of workers from rural areas. In the late 80s, Tokyo became one of the leaders in dynamic development.

In March 1995, the city was rocked by a terrorist attack organized by the Aum Shinrikyo sect. During it, a gas attack using sarin was carried out in the metro. More than 5 thousand people became victims, 11 of them died.

Recently, the topic of moving the capital of Japan to a more seismically calm place has begun to be discussed. The contenders were the cities of Nasu, Higashino and a new city 450 kilometers from Tokyo, near Nagoya. Although the government has taken a positive decision, no further steps have been taken so far.

Districts of Tokyo

Tokyo includes twenty-three special districts, which were included in its composition until 1943, and today are separate self-governing municipalities headed by mayors and district councils. In addition, Tokyo Prefecture includes one county, 26 cities and four districts. The latter are divided into five towns and eight villages. Special districts have the same status as ordinary cities, but at the same time, part of the management functions of special districts is carried out by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

In June 2007, 8,637,098 people lived in special areas, and the density was 13,890.25 people/km². Here is a list of them: Adachi, Arakawa, Bunkyo, Itabashi, Katsushika, Kita, Koto, Minato, Meguro, Nakano, Nerima, Ota, Shibuya, Shinagawa, Shinjuku, Suginami, Sumida, Setagaya, Taito, Chiyoda, Toshima, Chuo and Edogawa.

In addition, 26 cities are located to the west of these areas. They mainly act as residential areas for those commuting to central Tokyo, but some have their own industry and commercial base. Together these cities are called "Western Tokyo": Akiruno, Akishima, Inagi, Kiyose, Koganei, Kodaira, Kokubunji, Komae, Kunitachi, Machida, Mitaka, Musashimurayama, Musashino, Nishitokyo, Ome, Tama, Tachikawa, Chofu, Fussa, Fuchu, Hamura , Hachioji, Higashikurume, Higashimurayama, Higashimato and Hino.

Also in the west of Tokyo Prefecture is Nishitama County, which includes towns and villages such as Mizuho, Okutama, Hinode and Hinohara. Basically, there are mountains unsuitable for urban construction.

There are two towns and seven villages on the islands, making up four wards of Tokyo. List of municipalities by district: Aogashima, Kozushima, Mikurajima, Miyake, Niijima, Ogasawara, Oshima, Toshima and Hachijo.

Population of Tokyo for 2018 and 2019. Number of inhabitants of Tokyo

Data on the number of city residents are taken from the Federal State Statistics Service. The official website of the Rosstat service is www.gks.ru. The data was also taken from the unified interdepartmental information and statistical system, the official website of EMISS www.fedstat.ru. The website publishes data on the number of Tokyo residents. The table shows the distribution of the number of Tokyo residents by year; the graph below shows the demographic trend in different years.

Tokyo population chart:

As of 2014, Tokyo's population was 13,370,198 and its density was 6,108.82 people/km² (the highest in the country). Approximately two-thirds of Tokyo residents live in designated areas. Every day, over 2.5 million people come to Tokyo from neighboring prefectures to study and work. Work migration is especially noticeable in the central regions of Minato, Chuo and Chiyoda, where just over 0.3 million people lived as of 2005, and this number increased to 2.4 million during the day.

When the national census was first conducted in Japan in 1920, it turned out that no more than 3.7 million people lived in Tokyo. Over 42 years, this number increased to 10 million. This jump led to problems such as rising real estate prices, increasing density and environmental degradation. In this regard, in 1980 and 1995 there was a short-term decrease in population. But then, between 2000 and 2010, the metropolitan population increased by 9%. The main factor in this process to this day is the migration of Japanese citizens from other regions of the country.

The most densely populated center of Tokyo is the Minato, Chiyoda and Chuo districts. Due to the relocation, the leadership of the metropolis is actively developing artificial islands in Tokyo Bay.

The majority of Tokyo residents since 1960 have been able-bodied residents aged 15 to 64, who make up 70% of the total population. In its turn. The majority of this group are young people in their 20s. They mainly work in the industrial, service and trade sectors.

In the mid-90s, a trend emerged: population aging. This is caused by a gradual decrease in the birth rate since the 60s, due to changes in traditional values. In 2005, the number of Tokyo residents reaching the age of 20% was approximately 20%. Moreover, that year 2,215 citizens crossed the century mark. Sexual relationships have also changed. Since 1998, women began to prevail over men, but basically throughout the 20th century it was the other way around.

Despite the fact that the capital of Japan is considered a significant international center, the number of permanently residing and working foreign citizens is small. In 2005, their number was 3% of the total number. In 2008, Tokyo was home to 145,320 Chinese, 117,567 North Korean and South Korean citizens, 31,974 Filipinos, 19,408 Americans, 9,418 Indians and 7,482 British citizens.

Tokyo city photo. Tokyo Photography

Information about the city of Tokyo on Wikipedia:

Link to Tokyo website. You can get a lot of additional information by reading it on the official website of Tokyo, the official portal of Tokyo and the government.
Official Tokyo website

Tokyo city map. Tokyo Yandex maps

Created using the Yandex service People's Map (Yandex map), when zoomed out you can understand the location of Tokyo on the map of Russia. Tokyo Yandex maps. Interactive Yandex map of the city of Tokyo with street names, as well as house numbers. The map has all the symbols of Tokyo, it is convenient and not difficult to use.

On the page you can find some descriptions of Tokyo. You can also see the location of the city of Tokyo on the Yandex map. Detailed with descriptions and labels of all city objects.

In our “short facts about countries” section, there is an overview of the founding of Tokyo, the current capital of Japan.

To begin with, let us recall that at its founding, Tokyo, then still a small rural settlement, was called Edo, which means “Gateway to the Bay.”

The name Edo spread to the village from the name of the small territorial feudal clan Edo, which in turn was part of the large feudal Taira clan. One of the heads of the Edo clan, Tara Shigenada, expanded his possessions to the south, erecting the very first fortified fort in this village at the confluence of the Sumida River into Tokyo Bay (then called the “inland sea”, and later Edo Bay) at the end of the 12th century .

The city received the name Tokyo (i.e. “Eastern Capital”) in 1868 after the Emperor of Japan moved to Edo from Kyoto (at that time, real power was returned to the imperial dynasty as a result of a successful coup, after centuries of rule by the military rulers of the shoguns).

The time since the founding of Edo has been characterized by a number of curious features in the development of the city, in particular regarding the composition of its population.

So let's talk about all this.

Old Edo.

The international Christian magazine Awake (January 2008 issue) described the founding of Tokyo (then Edo) as follows in a piece on the history of the city from its Tokyo correspondent:

“On an August day in 1590, Ieyasu Tokugawa, who later became the founder of the shogun dynasty, i.e. Hereditary commanders-in-chief of the Japanese army, who had absolute power in the country and ruled in the name of the emperor, first arrived in Edo, a fishing village in eastern Japan.

According to Tokyo history books, Edo at that time consisted of several hundred miserable shacks, in which peasants and fishermen lived. Nearby were the ruins of a fortress built more than a hundred years earlier.

This unknown village would eventually become the capital of Japan, Tokyo - a thriving metropolis with more than 12 million inhabitants.

Picture of old Edo.

Picture of old Edo. The bearers of the palanquin cago.

Ill. from an old engraving from a book published in the 1990s-2000s. with the support of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nipponia magazine.

How did this amazing transformation happen?

Due to feudal strife in the 15th and 16th centuries, Japan fell apart into many fragmented principalities. In the end, a feudal lord of peasant origin, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, managed to partially unify the country. In 1585 he became the emperor's regent. Ieyasu, mentioned at the beginning, first fought against the powerful Hideyoshi, but later took his side. Together they besieged and captured Odawara Castle, a stronghold of the influential Hojo clan. This allowed them to take control of Kanto, a region in eastern Japan (where the village of Edo, and now modern Tokyo, was also located).

Hideyoshi granted Ieyasu vast lands in the eight Kanto provinces, which had previously been owned mainly by the Hojo clan. So Ieyasu's possessions were shifted to the east. This appears to have been done deliberately to keep Ieyasu away from Kyoto, where the emperor, the formal head of Japan, lived. Nevertheless, Ieyasu did not mind and arrived in Edo, as mentioned at the beginning of the article. He set about transforming this modest village into his residence.

When Hideyoshi died, Ieyasu led the united forces of eastern Japan, entered the fight against the Western military group and in 1600 defeated it in one day. In 1603, Ieyasu was appointed shogun and became the de facto ruler of the country. So Edo turned into the new administrative center of Japan.

Ieyasu obliged the feudal lords to provide workers and materials for the construction of a huge castle A. At one time, up to 3,000 ships were involved in transporting huge granite blocks mined from rocks on the Izu Peninsula (100 kilometers south of Edo). After unloading the stones, about a hundred people transported them from the port to the construction site.

Edo Castle, unprecedented in scale in Japan, was completed 50 years later, under the third shogun of the Tokugawa clan, founded by Ieyasu. He became an impressive symbol of this irresistible dynasty.

Samurai, or warriors who served the shogun, settled around the castle. The shogun required that feudal lords maintain estates in Edo in addition to their family castles.

As, in turn, noted, regarding the issue of the founding of Tokyo, the magazine “Nipponia”, published with the support of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (No. 25, dated June 15 2013 .), “not the least role in the emergence of the city was played by Edo Castle. (Future shogun) Tokugawa Ieyasu (life: 1542-1616, became shogun in 1603, overthrowing the previous dynasty of shoguns from the Toyotomi Hideyoshi family, whose vassal he was; Tokugawa Ieyasu remained the de facto ruler of Japan until his death in 1616. , although he formally renounced his position as shogun in favor of his son in 1605. Note: The castle was well known, it was built (on the ruins of the fortifications of Tara Sigenada) (transferred here) by the feudal lord Ota Dokan (lived: 1432-1486), and Ieyasu intended to use this castle as the headquarters of his shogunate in Edo. But when Ieyasu set up his residence there, it became clear that the castle had become terribly dilapidated. Instead of stone walls, the defensive structures served as grass-covered mounds around the castle, and the house of the owner of the castle behind them was little different from peasant house. For this reason, a new plan was developed to expand and strengthen the castle."

The magazine "Nipponia" in the same issue cited Some Interesting Statistical Facts Concerning Edo After Its Establishment as the Capital. The magazine indicated that Edo, after becoming the political center of Japan, grew, despite the fact that 70% of the city’s territory was occupied by military dwellings (dynamics: in 1644, military dwellings occupied 77.5%, dwellings of commoners - 9.8, temples and sanctuaries - 10.2 of the total territory; in 1865, military dwellings occupied 63.5%, commoners' dwellings - 17.8, temples and sanctuaries - 12.7). At the same time, the number of ordinary people was practically not inferior to the military class, but they lived in crowded conditions.

Interestingly, according to the same publication, there were many more men than women in Edo. The number of men and women became equal in Edo (Tokyo) only in the 19th century. Undoubtedly, this phenomenon was associated with the dominance of the military class in Edo. (In 1733 in Edo there were only 57 women per 100 men; in 1844 there were 90 women, and in 1864 there were 99).

The Nipponia magazine wrote in this regard: “Many Edo residents were natives of other places in Japan. They were provincial samurai, whom the lords of the local daimyo fiefs sent to live near their residences in Edo, without family. Another large category of single men in Edo were young men who came to this city for the purpose of studying science or martial arts, as well as trade.”

The presence of a large number of single people in Edo also led to the emergence of specific habits: for example, there were many stalls in the city offering ready-made instant dishes (soba noodles, sushi and tempura). (Note that tempura, a dish of vegetables, fish and seafood of Portuguese origin, was brought to Japan around 1549. The founder of Edo-Tokyo, Tokugawa Ieyasu, also loved to eat tempura. Note website).

As the magazine “Nipponia” writes, already between 1733 and 1853. 1 million 300 people lived in Edo, while the population of London and Paris was then 700 thousand and 500 thousand inhabitants, respectively. As now, Tokyo, as then, Edo, was one of the largest cities in the world, and at times the largest.

Already around 1644, Edo's area was 43.9 km². At that time, it was larger than Rome, the largest city in Europe (14.6 km²), and much larger in area than London (9.2 km²), this Japanese publication indicated.

“Awake” develops this theme as follows: “After the founding of Tokyo, merchants and artisans began to flock to the city to provide for the needs of the samurai who made up the bulk of the population. IN In 1695 - approximately a hundred years after Ieyasu appeared in these places - the population of Edo reached a million! At that time it was the largest city in the world.

Picture of old Edo.

Picture of old Edo. Boat ride and fireworks display on the Sumida River.

Ill. from an old engraving from a book published in the 1990s-2000s. with the support of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nipponia magazine.

The power of the shogunate stabilized the situation in the country, and a period of peace lasted more than 250 years. The civilian population (especially merchants) prospered and enjoyed greater independence. A distinctive culture developed.

Historical dramas kabuki, puppet theater bunraku and satirical monologues of rakugo gained popularity.

To enjoy the cool, hot summer evenings, people came to the banks of the Sumida River, on which Edo stood. Fireworks displays were held there, which are still popular today.

However, Edo remained unknown to the rest of the world. For more than 200 years, all contact with foreigners was prohibited in Japan. The exceptions - and even then with reservations - were the Dutch, Chinese and Koreans.” Moreover, according to the magazine “Nipponia”, the majority of the Edo population was literate by the 19th century, and the military class by the 19th century was already almost entirely literate.

Nipponia magazine, speaking about why the city of Edo occupied such a large area, indicated that “this was because the city was built according to an urban plan that included moats with water, spiraling out from the castle clockwise, taking advantage of such advantages of the terrain like rivers, valleys and hills. Given the fairly high level of development of construction technology at that time, there was little that could prevent the expansion of the city."

Also, the Nipponia magazine, in its issue dated June 15, 2003, paradoxically noted that “the history of urban planning in Edo and Tokyo is the history of the city’s advance on the sea; it is no coincidence that until 1868 Tokyo was known as Edo, which means “Gateway to the Bay.”

At the beginning of the 17th century, the tide was approaching the very foundations of Edo Castle, where the shogun lived. Year after year, the city of Edo grew, conquering more and more land from the bay. And today Tokyo Bay is being pushed back, developing new lands for the development of the city. At the epicenter of these events is Odaiba, a seaside city that has become a coastal urban center as a result of development. The Odaiba area takes its name (which means "forts with guns") from six artificial islands built in the mid-19th century and fortified with cannons to protect the interior of the bay and the city from foreign gunboats. Modern Odaiba was formed when the bay around these six islands was filled in."

The Edo Age came to an end when, according to the author of a publication in Awake magazine about the founding of Tokyo, an unexpected event occurred that radically changed the life of the city and the entire country. The magazine wrote:

“One day, something strange appeared on the horizon of Edo, emitting black clouds of smoke. The stunned fishermen thought that floating volcanoes were approaching them! Terrible rumors spread throughout Edo. A mass exodus began.

These were four American ships. On July 8, 1853, their commander, American Commodore Matthew Perry, ordered them to drop anchor in Edo Bay. Perry demanded that the Japanese government open trade with his country. Thanks to this visit, the Japanese were able to see how much their country lagged behind the rest of the world militarily and technically.

This set in motion a series of events that led to the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate and the restoration of imperial rule. In 1868, Edo was renamed Tokyo, which means "eastern capital". This name reflects the city's location in relation to Kyoto. The emperor moved his residence from the Kyoto palace to Edo Castle, which he later turned into a new one.

Under Western influence, the new Japanese government set about renovating the country. There was a lot to catch up on. Some call this period a time of amazing transformation. In 1869, telegraph communication was established between Tokyo and Yokohama. Soon the two cities were also connected by railroad. Among the wooden buildings, brick buildings suddenly appeared. Banks, hotels, department stores, and restaurants appeared. The first universities opened. Dirt roads have been replaced by paved ones. Steamboats began to travel up and down the Sumida River.

Even people began to look different. Although the traditional kimono remained the most popular clothing, more and more Japanese began to try Western clothing.

For men, mustaches, top hats and canes became fashionable; women began to dress up in elegant dresses and learn to waltz.

Beer competed with traditional sake, and baseball became as popular as sumo wrestling, the national sport. Tokyo, like a giant sponge, absorbed and assimilated the latest cultural and political ideas...

Compared to many cities in the world, 400-year-old Tokyo is quite young. Although some areas retain the spirit of the past, by and large there is little in the city that reminds of those days. But if you look closely, you can see that its layout is inherited from ancient Edo.

A huge green oasis has been preserved in the very center. Where Edo Castle originally stood is today with surrounding areas. From it, like threads of a web, the main highways leading to the outskirts of the city diverge in all directions, much like in Edo times. The chaotic labyrinth of streets, many of which don’t even have names, reminds us of the past! Numbered blocks of varying sizes and shapes are a far cry from the straight lines of streets in many cities around the world.

But what has remained most in Tokyo is its spirit - a receptiveness to the new, especially foreign ones, as well as a resilience and determination that neither earthquakes, nor a protracted economic recession, nor the difficulties of overpopulation can break. Come to Tokyo to feel its spirit, to immerse yourself in the vibrant atmosphere of this world-famous metropolis, which grew out of a small, unknown village,” invited the Tokyo correspondent of the international Christian magazine “Awake”.

This review of the founding of Tokyo was prepared by the site based on two publications: a note from the international Christian magazine “Awake” (Russian ed., January 2008 .) “How a fishing village turned into a metropolis” and a special report “From Old Edo to Modern Tokyo: 400 Years” from the magazine for an international audience “Nipponia” (“Japan”), published with the support of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russian ed., No. 25, June 15 2013).

The city of Tokyo (Japan) is the capital of the state and one of the largest metropolises on our planet. In addition, it represents the main industrial, financial, political and cultural center of the entire eastern region. It would be unthinkable for any tourist to visit Japan and not visit its capital. This is not surprising, because, despite its modernity, national traditions that originate many centuries ago are revered here. In this article we will talk in more detail about where Tokyo is located, its history and attractions.

Short story

According to historical information, the city appeared at its current location back in the Stone Age. However, he received his great significance much later. In the middle of the twelfth century, the current capital of Japan was a small fishing village called Edo. In 1590, a shogun named Tokugawa Ieyasu made it the capital of the shogunate and began to establish long-term institutions of governance here. From that time on, the city began to actively develop, and already in the eighteenth century it became one of the largest not only in Japan, but throughout the world.

Tokyo received its current name in 1869, after Emperor Mutsuhito moved the capital of the state here from Kyoto. In the nineteenth century, industry and shipbuilding developed here at a very high pace. In 1872, the first railway was laid, connecting the Japanese capital with its suburb - Yokohama.

Throughout the history of the city, the area where Tokyo is located has suffered from disasters twice. The first time this happened was in 1923. Then, under the influence of a strong earthquake (magnitude 9), almost half of the metropolis burned down. More than 90 thousand local residents died.

The city was heavily damaged for the second time as a result of its massive bombing on March 8, 1945. It claimed the lives of 80 thousand people. Be that as it may, in both cases Tokyo was rebuilt and continued to develop. Its temporary occupation after World War II did not prevent this.

Geographical position

Speaking about where Tokyo is located, first of all it should be noted that due to its geographical specifics, the administrative city boundaries cover not only mainland areas, but also two chains of archipelagos that stretch for several hundred kilometers. The main part of the metropolis lies on the northwestern part of Tokyo Bay, and the city's territory largely consists of the Kanto Plain. As for the geographical coordinates, officially for the Japanese capital they are 35 degrees 41 minutes north latitude and 139 degrees 36 minutes east longitude.

It should be noted that all significant administrative, political, financial and cultural centers, as well as the country’s most important transport hubs, including Tokyo International Airport, are concentrated on the mainland part of the city. The area of the metropolis is just over 2188 square kilometers.

Climate

Tokyo is affected by mild winters and hot, dry summers. On average, about 1,300 millimeters of precipitation falls here annually. Their greatest number is typical for the period from June to July. The average air temperature in summer ranges from 18 to 20 degrees Celsius. In winter, under the influence of the Pacific Ocean, northern winds become softer. At this time, the thermometer is usually at 3 to 5 degrees below zero.

Snowfalls here can be called an isolated phenomenon. Along with this, as a rule, they occur every winter. It should also be noted that many scientists call this metropolis a clear confirmation of how strongly urban population growth affects the climate.

The capital is in one of the most dangerous regions of the planet. The fact is that in the southern direction from it there is a junction of four at once. All of them are in constant motion, and therefore earthquakes often occur here. The most destructive of them was discussed earlier. Typhoons are a fairly common occurrence, but they, as a rule, do not have such significant consequences.

Administrative structure

The main city of Japan is considered one of the prefectures, or more precisely, a metropolitan area, which consists of 62 administrative units. When talking about Tokyo, we usually mean 23 districts, which were unified between 1889 and 1943. As of today, all of them have the same status as cities (each has a mayor and a city council).

The government of the capital is headed by a governor, whom residents elect by popular vote. The municipal center of the city is the headquarters, which is located in Shinjuku. Among other things, the Japanese government is located on the territory of the metropolis.

Construction features

Given where Tokyo is located, its residents are forced to construct buildings that are seismically safe. The country's construction legislation obliges companies involved in this to use modern technologies, which make it possible to minimize the consequences of tremors. In this regard, there is no such concept as block construction in the Japanese capital. All buildings here are located at a certain distance from each other for safety reasons. City streets are designed in such a way that in the event of destruction, houses rest on the walls of neighboring buildings.

Big anthill

Tokyo is a city that is often called the “big anthill”. The fact is that thousands of houses, buildings and structures were erected here along the narrow streets. Two cars can barely pass each other in most of them. Neighborhoods with large shopping centers and skyscrapers stand in stark contrast. Among other things, the metropolis is shrouded in a network of wires, rails and roads. If on its main streets there are mainly buildings erected in the European style, then on the more distant ones there are densely built, mostly two-story houses.

The Japanese are trying to make the most of every piece of land in Tokyo. The prices for it here are simply astronomical. The main reason for this is due to the acute lack of free space. As a result, the country's government is forced to gradually fill up the sea. In this way, artificial islands are created, on which not only residential areas are built, but even airports, factories, shopping centers, parks and other facilities. According to rough estimates, by the end of 2015 the population in the Tokyo metropolitan area will reach 29 million people.

Transport

Public transport in the Japanese capital works flawlessly. Local commuter trains and the metro operate until late at night and are the fastest mode of transport. Most of the people working in the metropolis, who live in its suburbs and on the outskirts, park their cars near the nearest station and transfer to trains.

It is impossible not to mention Tokyo Haneda Airport, whose passenger turnover averages 41 million people per year. It ranks sixth in size on the planet. In order to unload it, another air gate, Narita, was built 60 kilometers from the city limits. You can get from this airport to Tokyo very quickly using the Shinkanzen high-speed train.

Among other things, the Japanese capital is also the largest shipping hub in the state. In order to provide naval ships with the opportunity to enter Tokyo, a modern port was built in its suburb of Yokohama, connected to it by a deep water canal. The average annual turnover of goods here is about 124 million tons.

Attractions

All of Japan is proud of its local cultural heritage. The sights of Tokyo annually attract millions of tourists from all over the world. Local national parks (especially Meiji Grove, Ogasawara and Ueno) are also considered quite popular among travelers.

Be that as it may, one of the most significant places here is the Imperial Palace with its garden, which is located in the very heart of the metropolis. Its first buildings date back to the sixteenth century. They survived even after numerous strong earthquakes. The total area of the buildings, including gardens, is about 7.5 square kilometers. The imperial residence is located inside the complex.