Tokyo

Tokyo is often thought of as a city but is commonly referred to as a "metropolitan prefecture". The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo (each governed as an individual city), which cover the area that was formerly the City of Tokyo before it merged and became the subsequent metropolitan prefecture. The metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the special wards is over 9 million people, with the total population of the prefecture exceeding 13 million. The prefecture is part of the world's most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 35 million people and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy with a GDP of US$1.479 trillion at purchasing power parity, ahead of the New York metropolitan areain 2008. The city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city.[8] The city is considered an alpha+ world city, listed by the GaWC's 2008 inventory[9]and ranked fourth among global cities by A.T. Kearney's 2012 Global Cities Index.[10]In 2012, Tokyo was named the most expensive city for expatriates, according to theMercer and Economist Intelligence Unit cost-of-living surveys,[11] and in 2009 named the third Most Liveable City and the World’s Most Livable Megalopolis by the magazine Monocle.[12] The Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world.[13][14] Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1964 and is scheduled to host again in 2020 Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means "estuary".[16] Its name was changed to Tokyo (Tōkyō: tō (east) + kyō (capital)) when it became the imperial capital in 1868,[17] in line with the East Asian tradition of including the word capital ('京') in the name of the capital city.[16] During the early Meiji period, the city was also called "Tōkei", an alternative pronunciation for the same Chinese characters representing "Tokyo". Some surviving official English documents use the spelling "Tokei".[18]However, this pronunciation is now obsolete. Tokyo still sees new urban developments on large lots of less profitable land. Recent projects include Ebisu Garden Place, Tennozu Isle, Shiodome, Roppongi Hills, Shinagawa (now also a Shinkansen station), and the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station. Buildings of significance are demolished for more up-to-date shopping facilities such as Omotesando Hills. Land reclamation projects in Tokyo have also been going on for centuries. The most prominent is the Odaiba area, now a major shopping and entertainment centre. Various plans have been proposed[29] for transferring national government functions from Tokyo to secondary capitals in other regions of Japan, in order to slow down rapid development in Tokyo and revitalise economically lagging areas of the country. These plans have been controversial[30] within Japan and have yet to be realised. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated much of the northeastern coast of Honshu was felt in Tokyo. However, due to Tokyo's earthquake-resistant infrastructure, damage in Tokyo was very minor compared to areas directly hit by the tsunami,[31]although activity in the city was largely halted.[32] The subsequent nuclear crisis caused by the tsunami has also largely left Tokyo unaffected, despite occasional spikes in radiation levels.[33][34] On September 7, 2013, the IOC selected Tokyo to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. Tokyo will be the first Asian city to host the Olympic Games twice.