Introduction
Tokyo (help·info) (??, T?ky??, literally "Eastern capital") is the de facto capital of Japan,[1] and the most populous city in the country and most populous metropolitan area in the world. Tokyo is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, the home of the Japanese Imperial Family.With a population of over 35 million people in the Greater Tokyo Area[2], Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world with over 8 million people living in the city alone.[3] It has the largest metropolitan gross domestic product in the world for a city, and it has held the title of the world's most expensive city for a decade.[citation needed]
Prior to 1943, Tokyo was the name of both one of the 47 prefectures of Japan, Tokyo-fu, and the populous city of Tokyo in the eastern half of the prefecture. In 1943 the city and prefecture were merged into a unique prefecture-level government entity, known as T?ky?-to ??? or "Tokyo Metropolis". This administrative region includes the twenty-three "special wards" of the former city, many suburban cities in the western half of the prefecture, and two chains of islands extending south into the Pacific Ocean. About 12 million people, 10 percent of Japan's population, live within Tokyo Metropolis's prefecture boundaries. Tokyo is also home to many of the tallest buildings on Earth.
Tokyo is considered one of the world's major global cities and a megacity. The word "Tokyo" may refer to Tokyo Metropolis as a whole, or only to the main urban mass under its jurisdiction (thus excluding west Tama and Izu / Ogasawara Islands), or even the whole of Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Yamanashi prefectures, depending on context. This article refers to Tokyo Metropolis unless otherwise stated.