History And Geography

History

Archaeological evidence has shown that Stone Age tribes inhabited the site of Tokyo. The present city was established in the 12th century as the village of Edo also called Yedo or Yeddo. Edo Taro Shigenada, a local warlord whose family, according to tradition, perhaps took the name Edo from their place of residence built a fort there. In 1456-57, Ota Dokan, monarch of the Kanto region under the Japanese shogunate, built a castle at Edo.

The castle passed in 1590 to Leyasu Tokugawa, founder of the Tokugawa line of shoguns, who named Edo the capital of a province. After assuming the title of shogun in 1603, he established Edo as the capital of the shogunate. Kyoto remained as the imperial capital. In the Tokugawa era, the shogun's palace, encircled by the residences of the daimyos or feudal barons, samurai, and merchants, characterized the city's life. The urban population was increased by the shogun's retainers and by the large retinues of the daimyos, who were asked to divide their time between their regional power centers and the capital.

Although the city flourished as a commercial and cultural center, it declined in course of time as the shogunate weakened. On April 11, 1868, the final Tokugawa shogun surrendered Edo Castle to the imperial forces. The emperor after being restored with power announced that Edo would be his capital and renamed the city as Tokyo (eastern capital). The castle was converted into the emperor's royal palace. The city flourished towards the end of the 1910s and grew vastly in population.

The earthquake and fire in 1923 destroyed nearly half the densely populated city killing more than 150,000 citizens. The city was rebuilt with wider streets and superior architecture to serve as firebreaks.

The Allies bombed Tokyo heavily during World War II and devastated almost half of the city. Famous landmarks, shrines, industrial landmarks and structures were completely destroyed. America firebombed Tokyo on March 10th 1945, killing nearly 80,000 to 100,000 people. The renowned Meiji shrine built to honor Emperor Meiji was damaged very badly. The imperial palace grounds and the surrounding areas, where the embassies and the newest office buildings stand were the only structures left unaffected by the bombing.

A frequent effort to restore damaged landmarks and buildings have continued ever since and has allowed Tokyo to stay up to date with modern technology. The imperial palace grounds are currently the center of administration at Tokyo.

Geography

The city has an area of roughly 2,187 square kilometers Tokyo Metropolis is located in roughly the center of the Japanese archipelago, in the southern Kanto Area. Tokyo is bordered by the Edogawa River to the east and the Chiba Prefecture to the west by mountains and Yamanashi Prefecture to the south by the Tamagawa River and Kanagawa Prefecture, and to the north by Saitama Prefecture.

The Greater Tokyo Area comprises of Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba. The area houses close to 26% of Japan's total population. Tokyo and its seven surrounding prefectures Saitama, Kanagawa, Chiba, Gumma, Tochigi, Ibaraki and Yamanashi comprise the National Capital Region.

Tokyo is a metropolitan area, divided into smaller administrative bodies called wards. The "central" region is divided into 23 special wards referred to as ku in Japanese and the western Tama Area is made up of 26 cities (shi in Japanese), 3 towns (cho in Japanese) and one village (son in Japanese). The 23 special-ward areas and the Tama Area together make up a long, narrow stretch of land that stretches about 90 kilometers east to west and 25 kilometers north and south. The Izu Islands and the Ogasawara Islands are two island groups in the Pacific Ocean and come under the administration of Tokyo, despite being geographically alienated from the capital. The islands have between them 2 towns and 7 villages. The 23 special wards are Arakawa, Bunkyo, Chiyoda, Chuo, Edogawa, Itabashi, Katsushika, Kita, Koto, Meguro, Minato, Nakano, Nerima, Ota, Setagaya, Shibuya, Shinagawa, Shinjuku, Suginami, Sumida, Toshima and Taito. The Izu Islands comprise of smaller islands namely Oshima (or Izu Oshima), Toshima, Niijima, Kozushima, Miyakejima, Mikurajima and Hachijojima. The islands of Chichjima, Hahajima, Kita Iwo Jima, Iwo Jima, Minami Iwo Jima, Minami Torishima (Easternmost point in Japan), Oki no Torishima (Southernmost point in Japan) and Nishi no Shima make up the Ogasawara Islands.

Tokyo has one lake named Lake Okutama and four mountains named Mount Kumotori, Mount Takao, Mount Mitake and Mount Mihara.