Located at the head of
Tokyo Bay, Tokyo is part of the
Kantō region on the central coast of
Honshu, Japan's largest island. Tokyo serves as Japan's economic center and the seat of both the
Japanese government and the
Emperor of Japan. The
Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers Tokyo's central
23 special wards (which formerly made up
Tokyo City), various commuter towns and suburbs in
its western area, and two outlying island chains known as the
Tokyo Islands. Despite most of the world knowing Tokyo as a city, since 1943 its governing structure has been more akin to a prefecture, with an accompanying
Governor and
Assembly taking precedence over the smaller municipal governments which make up the metropolis.
Prior to the 17th century, Tokyo was predominantly a fishing village and was named
Edo. In 1603, however, the city ascended to political prominence after being named the seat of the
Tokugawa shogunate. By the mid-18th century, Edo emerged as one of the world's most-populous cities with a population of over one million people. Following the
Meiji Restoration in 1868, the imperial capital in
Kyoto was moved to Edo, and the city was renamed Tokyo (
lit.'Eastern Capital'). In 1923, Tokyo was damaged substantially by the
Great Kantō earthquake, and the city was later badly damaged by
allied bombing raids during
World War II in retaliation for Japan's
attack on Pearl Harbor. Beginning in the mid-20th century, Tokyo underwent rapid reconstruction and expansion that contributed to the era's so-called
Japanese economic miracle in which
Japan's economy propelled to the
second-largest in the world behind
that of the United States. Tokyo is also part of an industrial region that spans from
Yokohama and
Kawasaki to
Chiba. , the city is home to 29 of the world's largest 500 companies listed in the annual
Fortune Global 500. (Full article...)
Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche (アンダーグラウンド, Andāguraundo, 1997–1998) is a book by Japanese novelist
Haruki Murakami about the 1995
Aum Shinrikyosarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. The book is made up of a series of interviews with individuals who were affected by the attacks, and the English translation also includes interviews with members of Aum, the religious cult responsible for the attacks. Murakami hoped that through these interviews, he could capture a side of the attacks which the sensationalist Japanese media had ignored—the way it had affected average citizens. The interviews were conducted over nearly a year, starting in January 1996 and ending in December of that same year.
The interviews highlight many intriguing aspects of the Japanese psyche. Work was a high, if not central, priority for most of the interviewees. Isolation, individualism, and lack of communication were also strong themes which were common throughout many accounts of the attacks. Many of the interviewees expressed disillusionment with the
materialism in Japanese society and the sensationalistic media, as well as the inefficiency of the emergency response system in dealing with the attack. (Full article...)
2.4 million passengers passed through
Shibuya Station on an average weekday in 2004. It is the third-busiest commuter rail station in
Tokyo. The platforms pictured here service the
Tōkyū Tōyoko Line.
Image 25The five-story pagoda of
Kan'ei-ji, which was constructed during the reign of
Tokugawa Hidetada and required the building of the Kimon (Devil's Gate) (from History of Tokyo)
Image 29A social hierarchy chart based on old academic theories. Such hierarchical diagrams were removed from Japanese textbooks after various studies in the 1990s revealed that peasants, craftsmen, and merchants were in fact equal and merely social categories. Successive shoguns held the highest or near-highest
court ranks, higher than most court nobles. (from History of Tokyo)
Image 44A Tokyo taxi driver indicating a fare of 50 Sen by holding up five fingers, in 1932 (from Transport in Greater Tokyo)
Image 45Picture of the Upper Class, a c. 1794–1795 painting by Utamaro. The woman on the left is lower in class than the woman on the right, who wears more colorful clothes (from History of Tokyo)
... that Paralympian Gemma Collis-McCann, who sits on
wheelchair fencing's new Gender Equity Commission, has been chosen to join three men as the UK's wheelchair fencing team
in Tokyo?
... that pianist Fujita Haruko, one of the first 19 female students enrolled at the
University of Tokyo, was taught by Leo Sirota, who was once called the "god of piano"?
... that episodes of the
TV Tokyo late-night show Nogizaka Under Construction are uploaded to
YouTube shortly after broadcast, which is considered unusual in Japanese media?