The capital city of Japan is Tokyo.
Tokyo lies on the eastern coast of Honshu, Japan’s largest island, at the head of Tokyo Bay. The modern metropolis developed from Edo, a castle town that became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. Edo grew into one of the world’s largest cities before the modern nation-state was established.
In 1868, during the Meiji Restoration, Emperor Meiji moved the imperial residence from Kyoto to Edo, and the city was renamed Tokyo, meaning “Eastern Capital.” Kyoto remained culturally important and had served as Japan’s imperial capital for more than a millennium, which is why the two cities are sometimes confused in historical discussions.
Tokyo was devastated by the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 and suffered extensive destruction during World War II. It was rebuilt rapidly after 1945 and hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tokyo is administered as a metropolitan prefecture containing special wards, cities, towns, and villages.