Explain Like I'm Five is the best forum and archive on the internet for layperson-friendly explanations. Don't Panic!
Explained
I don't really understand how Tokyo is laid out geographically or what its categorized as. The Wikipedia article shows Tokyo having a bunch of cities within it, but I walked away more confused after reading through all the information. Being from the U.S., the closest concept I can think of are New York City's boroughs or counties. Is it an actual city or more like a county?
Archived post. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast.
Sort by:
Best
Open comment sort options
Best
Top
New
Controversial
Old
Q&A
Yeah, Tokyo is confusing.
Legally, there is no "City of Tokyo" any more. It used to exist, but it was subdivided during WW2. Instead, Tokyo is a prefecture, governed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
There are 23 "special wards" which make up the area you would usually call "Tokyo City". It basically covers the area radiating outward from the harbour, and contains the majority of the commerce, industry, government buildings, the port and the airport.
Each ward has the legal status of a city, and have their own councils and mayors. They have autonomy, but work collectively with each other and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on issues like public transport etc, where you'd usually expect there to be collaboration.
It is an incredibly densely built up area. The government building, which is in Shinjuku, has an observation floor, and all you can see is multi-storied buildings in all directions.
Aside from the 23 special wards, you have the western half of the prefecture made up of another ~25 wards. I haven't been out there, but from what I understand, it is a bit more of a normal urban sprawl - although probably still much denser than you'd find in the suburbs in the US or Australia, and I think the most extreme western wards are still physically seperate towns.
Again, each ward has the legal status equivalent to a city, with their own councils and mayors
And lastly, there are a smattering of islands, which are wards themselves
TLDR: Conceptually, Tokyo is one big city with distinct suburbs within it. Legally, it is actually a conglomerate of independent cities with an overarching government coordinating them.
Technicaly there is no city called Tokyo in Japan. There is an entity called "Tokyo-to" which is one of the prefectures (states) of Japan and includes the main parts of the city and a strip of land west of it (and a couple of mostly uninhabitated islands). The main part of the city is split in 23 "special wards" that are organised like other cities in Japan, each with their own mayors and muncipal govenment. But in Tokyo some of the services normaly provided by the city (water supply, sewage disposal, fire department and parts of the garbage collection) are instead provided by the prefecture which in turn collects some of the taxes that would normaly go to the cities.
TLDR: It is a wierd mix between state and city simmilar to D.C..
In colloquial English, it's just referred to as a city. The legal structure may be complicated and have a number of subunits that operate independently, but legal structures aren't definitive when it comes to colloquial usage.
In the US, Los Angeles would be a much better analogue than New York. What you probably think of as Los Angeles is actually a patchwork of different incorporated entities and unincorporated land within multiple different counties and the borders are often unclear even to the people who live there. For example, Santa Monica is its own city, but neighboring Venice is a neighborhood of Los Angeles. If you say "Los Angeles", though, everyone understands that you mean the entire developed area, and nobody would balk at you saying you were going to Los Angeles if you were staying in Santa Monica.
When discussing statistics and other technical matters where legal distinctions actually matter, places like Tokyo and Los Angeles are generally referred to as metropolitan areas.
Ok, I'm live near LA so I can picture that a lot better!
It's a big dense city with lots of neighborhoods. Safe, clean, great transportation, wonderful food. Something for everyone.
Tokyo, the prefecture, as it is right now is basically what the District of Columbia would be if it took back the part Congress gave back to Virginia (the cities of Alexandria and Arlington) and some of the suburbs - a legal entity, separate from the other states (in Japan, prefectures) with cities inside of it.
Hokkaido, on the other hand, is Alaska.
Ok that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up!
This is a bit late of a response, but the best analogue is London, which is comprised of 32 boroughs and the City of London, all with their own planning and legal powers but fall under a larger umbrella of Greater London that has an elected mayor and regional planning and transport responsibilities. Tokyo's metropolitan government is similar to the Greater London Authority, but also has jurisdiction over Western Tokyo, which is a collection of towns that also fall under its management.