Tokyo in the context of Traffic collisions

A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational division, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the government's offices and meeting places; the status as capital is often designated by law or a constitution. In some jurisdictions, including several countries, different branches of government are in different settlements, sometimes meaning there are multiple official capitals. In some cases, a distinction is made between the official (constitutional) capital and the seat of government.

English-language media often use the name of the capital metonymically to refer to the government sitting there. Thus, "London–Washington relations" is understood to mean diplomatic relations between Great Britain and the United States.

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands alongside 14,121 smaller islands. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions, and around 75% of its terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. With a population of over 123 million as of 2025, it is the world's 11th most populous country. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city.

The first known habitation of the archipelago dates to the Upper Paleolithic, with the beginning of the Japanese Paleolithic dating to c. 36,000 BC. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara and later Heian-kyō. From the 12th century, actual power was held by military aristocrats known as shōgun and feudal lords called daimyō, enforced by warrior nobility named samurai. After rule by the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates and a century of warring states, Japan was unified in 1600 by the Tokugawa shogunate, which implemented an isolationist foreign policy. In 1853, an American fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868.

The capital of Japan is Tokyo. Throughout history, the national capital of Japan has been in locations other than Tokyo. The oldest capital is Nara.

This is a list of cities in Japan sorted by prefecture and within prefecture by founding date. The list is also sortable by population, area, density and foundation date. Most large cities in Japan are cities designated by government ordinance. Some regionally important cities are designated as core cities. Tokyo is not included on this list, as the City of Tokyo ceased to exist on July 1, 1943. Tokyo now exists as a special metropolis prefecture (都, to), with 23 special wards (with the same status of city) making up the former boundaries of the former city in the eastern half of the prefecture.

The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tochigi) as well as the prefecture of Yamanashi of the neighboring Chūbu region. In Japanese, it is referred to by various terms, one of the most common being Capital Region (首都圏, Shuto-ken).

As of 2016, the United Nations estimates the total population at 38,140,000. It covers an area of approximately 13,500 km (5,200 mi), giving it a population density of 2,642 people/km. It is the second-largest single metropolitan area in the world in terms of built-up or urban function landmass at 8,547 km (3,300 mi), behind only the New York City metropolitan area at 11,642 km (4,495 mi). With over US$2 trillion in GDP, Tokyo remains the second-largest metropolitan economy in the world, also behind New York.

Japan is divided into 47 prefectures (都道府県, todōfuken, [todoːɸɯ̥ꜜkeɴ] ), which rank immediately below the national government and form the country's first level of jurisdiction and administrative division. They include 43 prefectures proper (県, ken), two urban prefectures (府, fu: Osaka and Kyoto), one regional prefecture (道, dō: Hokkaidō) and one metropolis (都, to: Tokyo). In 1868, the Meiji Fuhanken sanchisei administration created the first prefectures (urban fu and rural ken) to replace the urban and rural administrators (bugyō, daikan, etc.) in the parts of the country previously controlled directly by the shogunate and a few territories of rebels/shogunate loyalists who had not submitted to the new government such as Aizu/Wakamatsu. In 1871, all remaining feudal domains (han) were also transformed into prefectures, so that prefectures subdivided the whole country. In several waves of territorial consolidation, today's 47 prefectures were formed by the turn of the century. In many instances, these are contiguous with the ancient ritsuryō provinces of Japan.

Each prefecture's chief executive is a directly elected governor (知事, chiji). Ordinances and budgets are enacted by a unicameral assembly (議会, gikai) whose members are elected for four-year terms.

Tokyo Bay (東京湾, Tōkyō-wan) is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is the most populous and the largest industrialized area in Japan.

The Kantō region (関東地方, Kantō Chihō; IPA: [kaꜜn.toː, kan.toː tɕiꜜ.hoː, kan.toː tɕi̥.hoꜜː]) is a geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi, and Tokyo. Slightly more than 45 percent of the land area within its boundaries is the Kantō Plain. The rest consists of the hills and mountains that form land borders with other regions of Japan.

As the Kantō region contains Tokyo, the capital and largest city of Japan, the region is considered the center of Japan's politics and economy. According to the official census on October 1, 2010, by the Statistics Bureau of Japan, the population was 42,607,376, amounting to approximately one third of the total population of Japan.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (東京都庁, Tōkyōto-chō) is the government of the Tokyo Metropolis. One of the 47 prefectures of Japan, the government consists of a popularly elected governor and assembly. The headquarters building is located in the ward of Shinjuku. The metropolitan government administers the special wards, cities, towns and villages that constitute part of the Tokyo Metropolis. With a population closing in on 14 million living within its boundaries, and many more commuting from neighbouring prefectures, the metropolitan government wields significant political power within Japan.

The 23 special wards (特別区, tokubetsu-ku) of Tokyo are a unique form of municipality under Japan's 1947 Local Autonomy Law. They are city-level wards: primary subdivisions of a prefecture with municipal autonomy. Together, they cover 627 km (242 sq mi) and, as of 2024, house roughly 9.8 million residents, yielding a density of about 15,742 people/km (40,770 people/sq mi). Similar ward systems are legally possible in other prefectures, but none have been established.

Tokyo's 23 special wards unite with 39 ordinary municipalities (cities, towns and villages) to their west to form Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture. Without the ordinary municipalities the special wards account for what was the core Tokyo City, before this was abolished in 1943 under the Tōjō Cabinet. It was four years later, during the Occupation of Japan, that autonomy was restored to Tokyo City by means of the special wards, each being given a directly elected mayor and assembly like all other cities, towns and villages in Japan.

Tokyo City (東京市, Tōkyō-shi) was a municipality in Japan and capital of Tokyo Prefecture (or Tokyo-fu) which existed from 1 May 1889 until the establishment of Tokyo Metropolis on 1 July 1943. The historical boundaries of Tokyo City are now occupied by the special wards of Tokyo. The defunct city and its prefecture became what is now Tokyo, also known as the Tokyo Metropolis or, ambiguously, Tokyo Prefecture.

The governor of Tokyo (東京都知事, Tōkyō-To Chiji) is the head of government of Tokyo.

In 1943, upon the unification of Tokyo City and Tokyo Prefecture into Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the position of Governor was created. Previously, the prefecture had a Governor while the City had a Mayor. The current title was adopted in 1947 due to the enactment of the Local Autonomy Law.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly (東京都議会, Tōkyō-to gikai) is the prefectural parliament of Tokyo Metropolis.

Its 127 members are elected every four years in 42 districts by single non-transferable vote. 23 electoral districts equal the special wards, another 18 districts are made up by the cities, towns and villages in the Western part of the prefecture, one district consists of the outlying islands (Ogasawara and Izu Islands).

Chiyoda (Japanese: 千代田区, Hepburn: Chiyoda-ku; IPA: [tɕijoda] ), a.k.a. Chiyoda City in English, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. Located in the heart of Tokyo's 23 special wards, Chiyoda consists of the Imperial Palace and a surrounding radius of about a kilometer (1000 yards), and is known as the political and financial center of Japan. As of October 2020, the ward has a population of 66,680, and a population density of 5,709 people per km (14,786 per sq. mi.), making it by far the least populated of the special wards. The residential part of Chiyoda is at the heart of Yamanote, Tokyo's traditional upper-class residential area, with Banchō, Kōjimachi, and Kioichō considered the most exclusive neighbourhoods in the entire city. The total area is 11.66 km (4½ sq. mi.), of which the Imperial Palace, Hibiya Park, National Museum of Modern Art, and Yasukuni Shrine take up approximately 2.6 km (1 sq. mi.), or 22%.

Chiyoda is known as the economic center of Japan; the districts of Otemachi, Marunouchi and Yurakucho east of the palace (an area colloquially known as "Daimaruyu") house the headquarters of 19 Fortune 500 companies, is the source of roughly 10% of the combined revenue of all Japanese companies, and produced the equivalent of around a quarter of the country's GDP in 2017. With a day population of around 850,000, its day/night population ratio is by far the highest of all municipalities in Japan. Tokyo Station, Tokyo's main inter-city rail terminal and the busiest train station in Japan in terms of scheduled trains, is also located in Chiyoda.

The Imperial Palace (皇居, Kōkyo; lit. 'Imperial Residence') is the main residence of the emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda district of the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains several buildings including the Fukiage Palace (吹上御所, Fukiage gosho) where the emperor has his living quarters, the main palace (宮殿, Kyūden) where various ceremonies and receptions take place, some residences of the Imperial Family, an archive, museums and administrative offices.

The 1.15-square-kilometer (0.44 sq mi) palace grounds and gardens are built on the site of the old Edo Castle.

Shinjuku (Japanese: 新宿区, Hepburn: Shinjuku-ku; IPA: [ɕiɲdʑɯkɯ] ), officially called Shinjuku City, is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo. It is located to the west of the Japanese capital.

Since the end of World War II, Shinjuku has become a major secondary center of Tokyo (fukutoshin), rivaling the original city center in Marunouchi. Today, it is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administrative center of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

Shibuya (渋谷区, Shibuya-ku; IPA: [ɕibɯja] ) is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. A major commercial center, Shibuya houses one of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shibuya Station.

As of January 1, 2024, Shibuya Ward has an estimated population of 230,609 in 142,443 households and a population density of 15,262.01 people per square kilometre (39,528.4 people/sq mi). The total area is 15.11 km (5.83 sq mi). Notable neighborhoods and districts of Shibuya include Harajuku, Ebisu, Omotesandō, Yoyogi and Sendagaya.

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Edo shogunate, was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868.

The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars of the Sengoku period following the collapse of the Ashikaga shogunate. Ieyasu became the shōgun, and the Tokugawa clan governed Japan from Edo Castle in the eastern city of Edo (Tokyo) along with the daimyō lords of the samurai class.

In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community of people living in a particular place. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities with surrounding urbanized areas. Settlements include homesteads, hamlets, villages, towns and cities. A settlement may have known historical properties such as the date or era in which it was first settled or first settled by particular people. A number of factors like war, erosion, and the fall of great empires can result in the formation of abandoned settlements which provides relics for archaeological studies.

The process of settlement involves human migration.