Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is a modern international city, located at the southern end of Kanto Plain in Honshu. It governs 23 special zones, 27 cities, 5 towns, 8 villages, Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands, with a total area of 2 155 square kilometers and a population of about12.29 million (as of February 2003), making it one of the most populous cities in the world.

More than 500 years ago, Tokyo was a small fishing town with a sparse population, which was then called Edo. 1457, a military commander named OTA Taoist Temple built Edo City here. Since then, it has become the commercial center of kanto region. 1603, Japan established a centralized Tokugawa shogunate, and people from all over Japan gathered, and Edo City quickly developed into a national political center. According to records, at the beginning of the19th century, the population of Edo has exceeded one million. 1868, after the Meiji Restoration in Japan, the emperor moved here from Kyoto and changed Edo to Tokyo, becoming the capital of Japan. 1943, the Japanese government issued a decree to change Tokyo to Tokyo, expanding its jurisdiction.

Tokyo is the political center of Japan. Administrative, legislative, judicial and other state organs are concentrated here. Shimonoseki, known as Guanting Street, is the seat of the National Assembly Hall, the Supreme Court and government agencies affiliated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Education. What used to be Edo City is now Miyagi, where the Emperor lives.