TECH & CULTURE
Exploring Japan: Tokyo
July 26, 2022
This article series will provide an informational foundation about the prefectures of Japan. For this installment, we are looking at Tokyo.
While most people think of Tokyo as a city, it is officially a metropolis, administered on the same level as Japan’s prefectures and led by a governor (Ms. Yuriko Koike) rather than a mayor.
Tokyo is subdivided into 23 special wards, 26 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages. These range from the crowded eastern half, which is packed with skyscrapers and home to the headquarters of thousands of businesses, to the sparsely populated western region of Nishi-Tama, consisting of mountains covered in dense forests.
Tokyo is subdivided into 23 special wards, 26 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages. These range from the crowded eastern half, which is packed with skyscrapers and home to the headquarters of thousands of businesses, to the sparsely populated western region of Nishi-Tama, consisting of mountains covered in dense forests.
Tokyo also includes a long chain of islands stretching nearly 2,000km from the main island. This means that Japan’s easternmost and southernmost points are both part of Tokyo.
Each of these subdivisions has its own local government, with Tokyo as a whole being governed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, a 127-member legislative body, and a directly elected governor as the executive branch. With over 13 million residents and a GDP comparable to some countries, governing Tokyo is a significant task.
In many ways, Tokyo is the center of Japan, serving not only as the nation’s capital, but also as the central hub of Japan’s finance, electronics, publishing, and broadcasting, and fashion industries.
Tokyo is also Japan’s transportation hub, boasting the most extensive and most-used rail network in the world. Because of their speed and reliability, most people living and working in Tokyo commute to work by train or bus, with very few people taking their own personal automobiles.
Tokyo is also Japan’s transportation hub, boasting the most extensive and most-used rail network in the world. Because of their speed and reliability, most people living and working in Tokyo commute to work by train or bus, with very few people taking their own personal automobiles.
Airplanes, however, are generally prohibited from flying directly over Tokyo. Because of this, of the two main airports serving Tokyo, Haneda airport is located on reclaimed land in Tokyo Harbor, and Narita Airport is located some distance to the east in neighboring Chiba Prefecture.
