Tokyo Travel Information

Tokyo Information

The Japanese capital of Tokyo is huge. Still officially the world's largest city, it is a sprawling, multi centred metropolis with an estimated 2008 population of over 34 million inhabitants. Officially known as Tokyo Metropolis, it is also one of Japan's 47 prefectures

Originally a small fishing village known as Edo it came to prominence when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made it his base in 1590. By the 18th century it had already become one of the world's largest cities and was the de facto capital, this status becoming more recognised in 1869 when Emperor Meiji moved there from Kyoto and Edo Castle became the Imperial Palace.

The city, or more accurately the several cities that comprise Tokyo, is designed around its railway stations, allowing extremely high density while still functioning very well in terms of movement.

Having been largely destroyed twice during the 20th century, by an earthquake in 1923 and by fire bombing during the Second World War, Tokyo's architecture is overwhelming modern high rise although pockets of older buildings do exist. In film, Tokyo has also been seriously damaged by a number of large, not terribly believable monsters, but there seem to be no lasting effects of this.

The various districts of Tokyo are quite distinct, with widely varying characters. They tend to specialise in certain things; Shinjuku is known for its night life, Akihabara for electronics, Asakusa for pottery shops and temple markets, Shibuya for youth culture and so on.

While its sheer size and complexity can be intimidating, Tokyo, like most of Japan, is generally extremely safe and quiet easy for foreigners to negotiate.