Tokyo: Innovation capital

Tokyo is officially counted as one of Japan's 47 prefectures rather than a single city, because in 1943 the government merged the old Tokyo City with Tokyo Prefecture into one combined body called the Tokyo Metropolis. Its 23 special wards still function like separate cities, which keeps the everyday idea of Tokyo as one simple city alive.

Tokyo isn't the largest city by strict city-proper population, but its surrounding metropolitan area is the most populous in the world. That distinction exists because Tokyo's urban core blends directly into neighboring prefectures, so whether it counts as the biggest city depends entirely on where you draw the boundary.

Edo was the name of the fishing village and castle town that grew on the site for centuries before Tokyo held any national importance. When the emperor's court relocated there during the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the city was renamed Tokyo, meaning "eastern capital," to reflect its new status as the seat of government.

Tokyo keeps one of the lowest crime rates of any major world city mainly because of strict gun laws and a dense network of small neighborhood police boxes, called koban, staffed around the clock. That local presence, combined with strong social pressure to avoid disorder, keeps violent crime rare across nearly every ward.