Tokyo consists of the southwestern part of the Kanto region, the Izu
Islands, and the Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo is the capital of Japan,
and the place where over 13 million people live, making it one of the most populous
cities in the world. When the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu established a
government there in the early 17th century, the area started to develop,
spreading out around his residence, Edo Castle. Most of the city was
devastated by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and then again by the
bombing in the WWII, however, Tokyo was able to achieve a remarkably rapid
recovery both times.
Tokyo is not only the political and economical center of Japan, it has also
emerged as a center of the world economy and culture. There are a number of
attractions in Tokyo that should not be missed. There are large-scale
downtown areas, including Ginza where famous shops from around the world
stand side by side, the sleepless Shinjuku that has become the "new city
center of Tokyo," Asakusa which is reminiscent of the traditional Edo (the
former name of Tokyo), and Shibuya that starts the trends for the young
people. Other unique areas include the computer town Akihabara, a dense
retail area where numerous electronic shops compete against each other,
attracting many shoppers from Japan and overseas, and Tsukiji, an open-air
wholesale food market catering to shops and consumers everywhere in Japan.