Tokyo is the capital of Japan and the most populous metropolis in the world, and is located on Honshu, the largest island in the archipelago, measuring about 2,194.07 km² and with an average altitude of 40 m.

With a population of 13,942,856, including about 558,988 foreign citizens, approximately 3,692 Brazilians, 1,946 Peruvians, 249 Chileans, 560 Colombians, 119 Bolivians, 24 Uruguay, 408 Argentina, 715 Mexico, 18,759 Americans, 223,217 Chinese, 90,464 Koreans, 36,107 Vietnam, 33,729 Philippines, 7,822 Thai, 25,184 Nepal, 13,782 India, 5,232 Indonesia, 3,014 Mongolia, 2,420 Sri Lanka, 1,004 Iran and others (Prefecture data).

Before 1868, Tokyo was known as Edo, Edo was founded with the construction of the Castle in the 16th century, Edo became the political center of Japan in 1603, when Tokugawa Ieyasu established his government. A few decades later, Edo had become one of the most populous cities in the world. With the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the emperor and capital moved from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo. Large parts of Tokyo were destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the American bombings of 1945, destroyed much of the city, with a total of 51% of its area destroyed and more than 80.000 people killed.

In 2015, Tokyo had more than 13.4 million inhabitants, about 11% of the country’s population, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Region has more than 37 million inhabitants, making it the most populous urban area in the world.

Although it is considered one of the biggest financial centers in the world (alongside New York and London), and an Alpha Global City, Tokyo is not technically a city, as there is no city in Japan called Tokyo. In fact, Tokyo is designated as a metropolis (to), similar to a state (ken), and consists of 23 districts (ku), 26 cities (shi), 5 secondary cities (cho or machi) and 8 villages (mura ). Each has a government that operates at the regional level. Also part of its territory are small islands in the Pacific Ocean, located about a thousand kilometers to the south.

More than nine million people live within the 23 autonomous districts that make up central Tokyo. These 23 districts define the city of Tokyo, with a population of 9.24 million. Its population increases by 2.4 million throughout the day, due to students and workers coming from neighboring cities to study or work.

Tokyo is Japan’s main political, financial, commercial, educational and cultural center. As such, it has the largest concentration of commercial company headquarters, higher education institutions, theaters and other commercial and cultural establishments in the country. It also has a highly developed public transport system, with numerous train, subway and bus lines, as well as Tokyo International Airport.

Tokyo was founded with the construction of Edo Castle in 1457, and is still called Edo or Yed, known as the Edo Period (feudal military dictatorship), so the area surrounding the castle began to be called Edo. The Tokugawa clan took over castle in 1590, the clan had almost absolute control of Japan, established its government in Edo and in 1603 started the Edo Period.

In Japanese history during this period, the city enjoyed a prolonged period of peace known as the Tokugawa Peace. In addition, Edo adopted a strict policy of isolation, which helped to avoid serious military threats to the city for quite some time. Edo grew and by the 18th century it had become one of the most populous cities in the world with over a million inhabitants. The nobility together with the Emperor of Japan remained in Kyoto, which continued to be the official capital, but only in a formal way. Edo became a populous region, but suffered many losses due to various disasters such as the Great Fire of Edo in 1657, which killed thousands of people. In 1868, he changed the name of Edo to Tokyo. Then in the year 1871, the prefectures of Japan were officially created, and one of them was the City of Tokyo.

Edo suffered innumerable disasters, among which there are hundreds of fires, highlighting the Great Fire of Edo (Edo Taika) of 1657, where it is estimated that 108 thousand people died; in that same event also known as the Furisode fire, most of the city was destroyed including Edo Castle and its surroundings. Other disasters that Edo suffered were the eruption of Mount Fuji in 1707, the Great Edo Earthquake in 1855 and other minor earthquakes in 1703, 1782 and 1812.

In 1914 Tokyo Station was opened and in 1927 the first underground subway line was opened, linking Asakusa and Ueno. The Great Kanto earthquake struck Tokyo in 1923, with a toll of approximately 140,000 people dead and missing and 300,000 homes destroyed.