Tokyo is the capital city of Japan, where the modern imperial government moved in 1868.
The city was formerly called Edo and grew around Edo Castle, the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1868, during the Meiji Restoration, Emperor Meiji moved the imperial residence from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo, meaning “eastern capital.”
Tokyo developed into Japan's political, economic, and cultural center. The wider Tokyo metropolitan area is one of the world's most populous urban regions and contains major institutions, universities, transport hubs, and corporate headquarters.
Kyoto remained an important historic and cultural city, but it was not restored as the national capital after the imperial move. Tokyo is also sometimes described as a city and a prefecture, because the Tokyo Metropolis has a distinctive administrative structure.