Facts about Tokyo
Tokyo's oldest Buddhist temple, Sens?-ji in Asakusa, is said to date from the year 645.
Many Japanese in Tokyo live much simpler lifestyles, underpinning the high national savings rate.
Japanese leaf spinach and spinach are the most important vegetables; as of 2000, Tokyo supplied 32.5 percent of the Japanese leaf spinach sold at its central produce market.
Decreases in the price of lumber, increases in the cost of production, and advancing old age among the forestry population have resulted in a decline in Tokyo's output.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has designated Hachi?ji, Tachikawa, Machida, ?me and Tama New Town as regional centers of the Tama area, as part of their plans to disperse urban functions away from central Tokyo.
After the war, Tokyo was completely rebuilt, and showcased to the world during the city's 1964 Summer Olympics.
Tokyo suffered two major catastrophes during the twentieth century, but recovered from both.
The nation's center of education, Tokyo has many universities, junior colleges, and vocational schools.
The highest mountain in Tokyo, Mount Kumotori, is 2,017 m high; other mountains in Tokyo include Mount Takasu (1737 m), Mount Odake (1266 m), and Mount Mitake (929 m).
JR East operates Tokyo's largest railway network, including the Yamanote Line loop that circles the center of downtown Tokyo.
The World War II fire bombings of Tokyo in 1945 killed 75,000 to 200,000 people and destroyed half of the city.
Within Tokyo lie dozens of smaller entities, most of them conventionally referred to as cities.
Presently, most of Tokyo's fish production comes from the outer islands, such as Izu ?shima and Hachij?jima.
Tokyo also has a few universities well-known for classes conducted in English.
Tokyo lies in the humid subtropical climate zone (Koppen climate classification Cfa), with hot humid summers and generally mild winters with cool spells.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nikkei Stock Index, is the second largest in the world by market capitalization of listed shares, at $4.99 trillion.
Recent urban development projects include Ebisu Garden Place, Tennozu Isle, Shiodome, Roppongi Hills, Shinagawa (now also a Shinkansen station), and Tokyo Station (Marunouchi side).
The site of Tokyo has been inhabited since ancient times; the small fishing village of Edo existed there for centuries.
Tokyo's subway and commuter rail network became the busiest in the world as more and more people moved to the area.
Outside Tokyo, Narita International Airport, in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, is the major gateway for international travelers.
The five most common foreign nationalities found in Tokyo are Chinese (120,331), Korean (103,191), Filipino (31,505), American (18,043) and British (7,585).
Tokyo had 8,460 ha (20,900 acres) of agricultural land as of 2003, placing it last among the nation's prefectures.
Tokyo's rise to importance can be largely attributed to Tokugawa Ieyasu and Emperor Meiji.
The mainland portion of Tokyo lies northwest of Tokyo Bay and measures about 90 km east to west and 25 km north to south.
Long-distance ferries serve the islands of Tokyo and carry passengers and cargo to domestic and foreign ports.
In 1869, the seventeen-year-old Emperor Meiji moved to Edo, which had been renamed "Tokyo" ("Eastern Capital") the year before.
Expressways link the capital to other points in the Greater Tokyo area, the Kant? region, and the islands of Ky?sh? and Shikoku.
The new name was meant to emphasize Tokyo's status as the new capital of Japan, both temporally and spiritually.
Edo (the old name for Tokyo) rose to prominence when Tokugawa Ieyasu made it his political base in 1590.
Tokyo is home to many different festivals that occur throughout the city.
On July 1, 1943, Tokyo City was merged with Tokyo Prefecture (???, tokyo-fu) forming the current "metropolitan prefecture."
Mainland Tokyo is further subdivided into the special wards (occupying the eastern half) and the Tama area (????) stretching westwards.
Under Japanese law, Tokyo is designated as a to (?, often translated "metropolis").
The city of Tokyo was established, and continued to serve as the capital until it was abolished as a municipality in 1943 and merged with the "Metropolitan Prefecture" of Tokyo.
Cultural highlights of Tokyo include museums, concert halls, and theaters.
Tokyo also has a great number of privately run schools from kindergarten through high school, some serve the international English-speaking community living and working in Tokyo.
Public high schools in Tokyo are run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education and are called "Metropolitan High Schools."
To the west of the special wards, Tokyo Metropolis consists of cities, towns and villages that enjoy the same legal status as metropolises elsewhere in Japan.
The special wards (tokubetsu-ku) of Tokyo comprise the area formerly known as Tokyo City, usually simply known as "Tokyo."
Within Tokyo, Tokyo International Airport ("Haneda") offers mainly domestic flights.
The Tokyo Major Metropolitan Area includes the cities of Chiba, Kawasaki, Sagamihara, Saitama, and Yokohama, making it the world's most populous metropolitan area.
Public transportation within Tokyo is dominated by an extensive network of clean and efficient trains and subways run by a variety of operators, with buses, monorails and trams playing a secondary feeder role.
Tokyo hosts one of the ten prestigious Tier I tournaments on the women's tennis tour (WTA) and it takes place directly after the Australian Open, near the beginning of the tennis season.
Tokyo has been used by several Hollywood directors as a filming location for movies set in Tokyo.
On the men's ATP tour, Tokyo also hosts a tennis event, won in 2006 by Roger Federer.
During the early Meiji period, the city was also called "T?kei," an alternative pronunciation for the same Chinese characters representing "Tokyo."
Tokyo also plays host to modern Japanese and Western pop and rock music.
Tokyo Metro and Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation operate the subway network.
The best-known outside Japan may be the kaiju (monster movie) genre, in which landmarks of Tokyo are routinely destroyed by giant monsters such as Godzilla.
Lake Okutama, on the Tama River near Yamanashi Prefecture, is Tokyo's largest lake.
Some futuristic anime and manga such as Akira depict Tokyo as a sprawling metropolis in a post-apocalyptic setting.
Tokyo was rated by the Economist Intelligence Unit as the most expensive (highest cost-of-living) city in the world for fourteen years in a row ending in 2006.
Tokyo was already the nation's political, economic, and cultural center; moving the emperor's residence to the former Edo Castle, now the Imperial Palace, made it the de facto imperial capital.
Rail is the primary mode of transportation in Tokyo, which has the most extensive urban railway network in the world and an equally extensive network of surface lines.
Local, regional, and national services are available, with major terminals at the giant railroad stations, including Tokyo and Shinjuku.
Tokyo is Japan's largest domestic and international hub for rail, ground, and air transportation.
National universities include Tokyo Medical and Dental University, University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo Institute of Technology and University of Tokyo.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is headed by a publicly elected governor and metropolitan assembly.
The nation's center of education, Tokyo has many universities, junior colleges, and vocational schools.