Tokyo (東京) is the capital of Japan. If you count its wider metropolitan area, it is the largest city on earth. About 14 million people live within the city limits, and roughly 37 million across the region. What surprises first-time visitors is often not the size but the calm. This huge city runs on time and rarely raises its voice.
From Edo to Tokyo
For most of its history, the city had another name, Edo. It was a fishing village until Tokugawa Ieyasu, a powerful warlord, made it his base. In 1603 he became shogun, the military ruler of Japan, and Edo became the seat of his government. The emperor stayed in Kyoto, but real power sat in Edo. By the 1700s, Edo was probably the largest city in the world. In 1868 the emperor moved there, and the city took the name Tokyo, "eastern capital." Then disaster destroyed it twice in barely more than twenty years. The Great Kantō Earthquake struck in 1923, and firebombing burned the city in 1945. Both times Tokyo rebuilt itself quickly and with little nostalgia. That is why so much of it looks new.
A city of many centres
Tokyo has no single downtown. It grew as a chain of districts along the Yamanote loop line, and each one still has its own character. Shibuya belongs to the young, and Akihabara to fans of anime and electronics. Ginza stands for luxury, and Shinjuku for offices and nightlife. Asakusa keeps the old town and its temple. Locals still divide the city into shitamachi, the low-lying old quarters near the river, and yamanote, the higher ground where the rich settled. Between the towers you find wooden houses, tiny shrines and alleys just wide enough for one person.
Words & idioms to take away
Idioms & proverbs to carry away
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江戸 (Edo): the city's old name. It lives on in words like Edo-mae, "in front of Edo," the name for the local style of sushi.
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下町 (shitamachi): the "low town," the older working districts by the water. People there have a reputation for a plainer, friendlier manner than in the western hills.