関東 (Kantō) Major Metropolitan Area

関東 (Kantō) Major Metropolitan Area, also called Greater 東京 (Tōkyō) in the Kantō Region of ⽇夲 (Nippon¹), is the world's biggest metropolitan area, with 38.2 million residents.² Besides the city proper it includes several cities of over a million: 横浜 (Yokohama), 巛崎 (Kawasaki) and さいたま (Saitama). The metropolitan area on Honshū island extends around Tōkyō and Sagami bays, and throughout the Kantō Plain. It includes much of the Kantō Region plus part of Yamanashi Prefecture.

東京 (Tōkyō) itself is at the head of Tōkyō Bay, within the Kantō Plain and along the Sumida, Ara, Edo (right bank) and Tama (left bank) rivers. The 'city' had a population of 8.6 million in 2007.³ It became the capital of ⽇夲 (Nippon) in 1603, although it was called 江戸 (Edo) from 1603 to 1868. The tallest building is the Tōkyō Tower, 333 meters, an observation structure and tourist destination.⁴ The tallest conventional building as of early 2014 is the 52 story Toranomon Hills. Two other towers among many are the Tōkyō City Hall, whose decoration is inspired by the microchip, and the tubular Roppongi Hills Mori Tower.⁵ The Imperial Palace is also located within the city and is another tourist destination.⁴ The Haneda Airport is located in Ōta Ward and is the nation's busiest.⁶ The city is an important container port.⁷ The city was heavily damaged by the 1923 earthquake and by American bombs in World War II but after each time was rebuilt.

From the late 12th century until the 1333 CE 鎌倉 (Kamakura) became the de facto capital of ⽇夲 (Nippon). Thereafter it was regionally important until the 16th century, whereafter it declined to village sized. In the 20th century it revived to the become a moderate-sized city (174 thousand in 2008⁸) whose Great Buddha⁹ is visited by tourists.⁴ The 1923 earthquake created a wide beach.¹⁰ The city is located in Kanagawa Prefecture, which is entirely included in the 関東 Major Metropolitan Area,¹¹ west of the Miura Peninsula on Sagami Bay. The tallest buildings as of 2014 are the 14 story Kamakura Grand Marks (2006) and the Coop Kamakura (residential, 2000).¹² The city is where Nichiren, founder of a branch of Buddhism, flourished in the 13th century.¹³

横浜 (Yokohama) is located along the west central coast of Tōkyō Bay and had a population of 3.6 million in 2008.⁸ Most of the city was destroyed by the 1923 earthquake and again by American bombing in World War II, but was rebuilt each time. The tallest building is the 73 story Yokohama Landmark Tower.⁵ It is an important container port.⁷

巛崎 (Kawasaki) is located just south of 東京 (Tōkyō), beyond the right bank of the Tama River and on Tōkyō Bay. It had a population of 1.4 million in 2008.⁸ The tallest building as of early 2014 is the 59 story Park City Musashino Kosugi Station Tower D (2009).⁵ The industrial city was heavily damaged by American bombing in World War II but recovered since.

さいたま¹⁴ (Saitama) was a city created in 2001 from four cities in the Saitama Prefecture: Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono and Iwatsuki, and had a population in 2008 of 1.2 million.⁸ It is located north-northwest of 東京 (Tōkyō) on the Ōmiya Plateau. As of early 2014 the tallest building was the 35 story Land Axis Tower (2002).⁵

The nation's second busiest airport, Narita International, is located at 成田 (Narita) and the smaller Shibayama, both in Chiba Prefecture, east-northeast of 東京 (Tōkyō). 成田 (Narita) had a 2008 population of 125 thousand.⁸ The tallest building in early 2014 was the 17 story Ana Hotel Narita.⁵

The Minami Kantō Gas Field is one of the world's largest¹⁵ and is located at the head of Tōkyō Bay and in Chiba Prefecture, both within and beyond the Major Metropolitan Area.¹⁶

View of a skyscraper from the Sumida River, 東京 (Tōkyō), ⽇夲 (Nippon)

Historical maps

Footnotes

1. Informally also called Nihon in Japanese, and known as Japan in English.
2. 2012 calculation from world-gazetteer.com, accessed 2/6/2013. The exact definition of the metropolitan area used in this source may vary from that formally included in the 'major metropolitan area.'
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_wards_of_Tokyo, accessed 3/25/2014. The city existed until 1943 after which it devolved into 23 wards. The 23 wards are less than the '東京 (Tōkyō) Metropolitan Government,' which comprises the entire 東京 (Tōkyō) prefecture. That in turn is much less than the Major Metropolitan Area, which is a statistical grouping.
4. http://www.touropia.com/tourist-attractions-in-japan/, accessed 3/26/2014.
5. Emporis.com, accessed 6/4/2014. The Toranomon Hills building was topped out but not yet open as of 6/4/2014. It, the Tōkyō and the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower are located in the Minato Ward. The Tōkyō City Hall is located in the Shinjuku Ward. The Imperial Palace is in the Chiyoda Ward.
6. Airports with more than 10 million passengers in 2010 determined from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Japan, accessed 3/26/2014.
7. The Times Atlas of the Oceans (Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1983), "commodity loading ports" map.
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Japan, accessed 6/4/2014.
9. Originally part of the Taiisan Kotokuin temple's main hall, which was destroyed in a 15th century tsunami (emporis.com, accessed 6/4/2014).
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakura,_Kanagawa, accessed 6/4/2014.
11. See the map for the 関東 (Tōkyō) Major Metropolitan Area included in the table in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Tokyo_Area, accessed 3/25/2014.
12. emporis.com, accessed 6/4/2014.
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakura,_Kanagawa, accessed 6/4/2014.
14. The city is written in hiragana characters, unlike the prefecture with the same name, which is written in kanji. See, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saitama,_Saitama and http://www.city.saitama.jp/index.html.
15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_gas_fields, accessed 6/4/2014.
16. See map at http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8D%97%E9%96%A2%E6%9D%B1%E3%82%AC%E3%82%B9%E7%94%B0.
17. Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), "Tables of World's Largest Cities." This source shows 鎌倉 (Kamakura) as the largest city in ⽇夲 (Nippon) in 1200 and 1300 CE and 東京 (Tōkyō) as largest in 1700, 1800 and 1900. 東京 (Tōkyō) is the largest metropolitan area in the world today (2012 calculation from world-gazetteer.com, accessed 2/6/2013), and, per Chandler, was the seventh largest in 1900 CE. As 江戸 (Edo, sometimes spelled Yedo in English) Chandler has it as the world's second largest in 1800 and fourth largest in 1700.