Tokyo: The undisputed capital of Japan or just a guess?

If you were asked what the capital of Japan is , many of you might answer ” Tokyo “. However, let me tell you that you are wrong . The story is a bit more complicated than that.

For starters, Japan is divided into 47 prefectures. Each has a name ending in ” -ken ” or ” -fu “. For example, Kanagawa Prefecture is called Kanagawa-ken , while Aichi Prefecture is called Aichi-ken . However, there are three prefectural statuses that are a bit more special . Osaka and Kyoto are prefectures called Osaka-fu and Kyoto-fu . These two cases are interesting because the word ” fu ” in Japanese does not mean exactly the same as ” ken “, but for simplicity, we translate them as ” prefecture “.

On the other hand, there is a third status called ” to ” which was originally considered a type of prefecture . Today, it is understood as the capital , but does not specifically mean “capital” in its entirety .

This means that Tokyo is not exactly the capital of Japan in its origin, because Tokyo is actually a prefecture . Even legally, at some point it was understood that there was a Tokyo prefectural government and a Tokyo city government. Also, originally, Tokyo was known as Edo .

During World War II, there was a change in the name of Tokyo. It ceased to be considered “Tokyo Prefecture” and the city of Tokyo, and was renamed Tokyo Metropolis . However, metropolis in this case refers more to a large city than to a metropolitan area itself. Tokyo Prefecture is made up of what we know as the 23 wards of Tokyo . But there are also other cities and islands administered by Tokyo Prefecture.

One of the wards, called Shinjuku , is where the metropolitan government and the mayor’s office are located. In the Chiyoda district is the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Station , while in Nagatacho is the Diet, the Japanese parliament . Each of these districts was, technically speaking, a city with its own local government and administration. Even today, there are municipal halls in each district, but some facilities such as libraries or gymnasiums can only be used by the residents of the corresponding district.

Now, which of these places is the capital of Tokyo? There is no clear answer . Actually, Tokyo does not have a legal status of capital , although it is considered as such de facto . This is because the government, the Supreme Court and the Imperial Palace are located in Tokyo. However, there is no law that specifies Tokyo as the official capital of Japan . Some laws refer to Tokyo as the metropolitan area and to surrounding prefectures such as Kanagawa, but do not clearly state Tokyo as the capital . These laws refer more to urban expansion and improvements in the urban construction system, but do not give a particular status to the city of Tokyo.

Also, it is worth mentioning that historically, the capital of Japan used to change every time the emperor changed his residence . For example, at one point the capital was changed from Nara to Kyoto , simply because the emperor moved there. This shows us that the capital follows the emperor. Technically speaking, when the emperor decided to establish his official residence in Tokyo, the imperial capital was changed to Tokyo. However, this term of ” imperial capital ” is different from administrative capital .

There is still some confusion about what is the capital of Tokyo, since there is no law that clearly specifies it . A law was even proposed in 1993 to transfer the powers of the national government to Aichi and Gifu prefectures, with Nagoya as the main seat, keeping Tokyo as the “capital”. However, this proposal was not approved and the situation remained unchanged. .

In short, there is no law that establishes Tokyo as the capital of Japan. Although it is understood that it is due to the presence of the Diet, the Supreme Court and the Imperial Palace, there is no clear specification in this regard. In addition, other seats of government and the emperor could be located in another prefecture without changing Tokyo’s status. It is important to note that the only body of the Japanese government that is explicitly located in Tokyo by law is the Supreme Court of Justice.