Tokyo

Tokyo is the capital of Japan, a city on Tokyo Bay at the edge of the Kantō Plain on the island of Honshu. Its name means eastern capital, given when the emperor moved there from Kyoto. The Shinkansen, the first high-speed railway, opened between Tokyo and Osaka in the 1960s.

The town grew around Edo Castle, built by the warrior Ōta Dōkan in the 15th century on a bay where a fishing village stood. Tokugawa Ieyasu made Edo his base, and from 1603 it was the seat of the Tokugawa shoguns, who ruled Japan until the 19th century. Merchants, craftsmen and the households of the feudal lords filled the city, and kabuki theater and ukiyo-e prints grew from its culture. In 1868 the Meiji emperor moved his court to Edo and renamed it Tokyo. The city was rebuilt after the earthquake of the 1920s and again after the Second World War, and it hosted the Summer Olympics in the 1960s.

Sony, founded in Tokyo, makes televisions, cameras and the PlayStation game consoles. Canon, based in the city, builds cameras, lenses and office printers. Bridgestone, also based in Tokyo, makes tires for cars, trucks and aircraft.

Sensō-ji, founded in the 7th century, is the oldest Buddhist temple of the city and is entered through a gate with a giant red paper lantern. The Meiji Shrine, set in a forest planted with trees given from across Japan, honors the Meiji emperor and his wife. The Tokyo Skytree, a broadcasting tower with observation decks, rises 634 m (2,080 ft) above the Sumida River. Shibuya Crossing fills with people from all sides each time the lights change, with giant video screens on the buildings around it.