Travel in Tokyo - Japan - Asia - History

IMAGE:Samurai

Tokyo, known as Edo until 1868, is a city with a very exciting history. Edo Castle was constructed in 1457, and in 1603 it became the seat of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The natural waterways that are used as transportation canals, gave income to the city. That was the reason that it was established. Tokyo has always been an over-populated city. By the early 1700's, the population of Tokyo was already estimated at 1.2 million, while the population of London and Paris was 650,000 and 500,000 respectively. In 1868, the Tokugawas were overthrown and the Meiji era began, Edo was renamed Tokyo, which means "Capital of the East", and became capital of Japan.

Despite the Great Earthquake of 1923, after intensive modernization, at the beginning of the Second World War, Tokyo had a population of 7.4 million. In 1950 the population was 6.9 million and in 1970, 16.5 million. In 1995, the estimated population of the urban agglomeration was 26.8 million.

Tokyo has small as well as large sized businesses which require a sizable workforce, such as electrical products, cameras and automobiles. Most establishments, however, are small shops with fewer than 30 workers.

In Tokyo are many domestic and international corporate headquarters. It is the wholesaling and distribution centre for surrounding areas, but most important it is the chief financial centre of Japan.

Due to the increasing rate of its population, Tokyo, experienced a large housing demand which it could not satisfy, especially after the Second World War. In the 1970's and 1980's construction of multistory condominiums reached a very high peak. The prices, though, were so high that made them inaccessible and unable to meet the city's needs.

Although, the major method of transportation in Tokyo is the dense network of electric railways, subways, and bus lines, which keeps pollution from cars relatively low, like other major cities, it suffers from traffic congestion.

From time to time, there have been proposals to relocate the country's capital away from Tokyo in order to decentralize. However, no serious action has been taken towards that direction up to date.