Tokyo is the capital city of Japan and the location of the Imperial Palace.
Tokyo began as Edo, a castle town that became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. In 1868, during the Meiji Restoration, the imperial court moved from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo, meaning “Eastern Capital.”
The city grew rapidly as Japan industrialized and became a major center of government, finance, education, manufacturing, and culture. The Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 devastated much of the urban area, and Tokyo was heavily damaged again during World War II before undergoing postwar reconstruction.
Tokyo’s rail system connects dense neighborhoods across the metropolis, with services operated by several companies. The city hosted the 1964 and 2020 Summer Olympics; the latter were held in 2021 after a one-year postponement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.