Tokyo has been the capital of Japan since Emperor Meiji moved the imperial court there in 1868.
The city was formerly called Edo and grew around Edo Castle, the seat of the Tokugawa shoguns. In 1868, during the Meiji Restoration, the emperor moved from Kyoto to Edo. The city was renamed Tokyo, meaning “eastern capital,” distinguishing it from Kyoto, the historical imperial capital to the west.
Tokyo developed into Japan’s political, economic, and cultural centre. It contains the National Diet, the official residence of the prime minister, the Imperial Palace, and major universities, museums, media organisations, and corporations. The Tokyo metropolitan area is one of the world’s largest urban regions.
Kyoto remained culturally important and served as Japan’s imperial capital for more than a thousand years before the move. A common mix-up is to call Kyoto the modern capital because of its historical role, but Japan’s national government and imperial court are based in Tokyo.