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Tokyo History
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Long before neon lights and advertising
signs could be spotted on Tokyo's skyscrapers, there stood a
small fishing village named Edo. It was the 12th century and
a local warlord, Edo Taro Shigenada, had built a fort in the
area. The village of Edo grew, gaining prominence, and expanded
into a small city. In 1456, a ruler of a nearby region constructed
a castle in Edo, which was eventually passed on to another leader,
who declared Edo the capital of the province it was |
situated in. Although the imperial capital remained Kyoto, Edo
became a bustling city encircled by feudal barons, merchants and
samurai. It was also, however, ruled by a feudal military dictatorship
known as the Tokugawa shogunate. Established in 1603, this period
is now commonly known as the Edo period (for, perhaps, obvious reasons),
where the area was ruled by descendants of the Tokugawa family with
strict adherence to the warrior-caste system: samurai were at the
top, followed by peasant farmers, artisans and merchant traders
on the bottom.
But while Edo prospered and became a culturally rich city, its
economy weakened and, in 1868, the last Tokugawa descendant gave
up the castle in Edo to imperial forces. Having been restored to
power, the Japanese emperor took over Edo and made the castle his
royal palace. It was at this time when he also renamed the city
Tokyo (meaning, “eastern capital”) in order to distinguish
it from Kyoto (or, as it’s sometimes called today, Saikyo,
meaning “western capital”). Although Tokyo has been
known as Japan's capital since 1869, there's been some debate as
to whether or not the capital was ever legally transferred to it
from Kyoto, which has led to some debate about which is the true
capital.
Regardless, Tokyo became the urban epicenter of Japan. It continued
to expand, until, in 1923, a devastating earthquake and fire wiped
out nearly half of the city's population. It rebuilt, of course,
and planners redesigned the city to brace it from future natural
disasters (city workers paved wider streets to serve as firebreaks,
for example). A few decades later, when World War II hit, the allied
forced bombed much of Tokyo's landmarks, industrial plants and ended
up killing around 100,000 people.
Yet, over the next two decades, the Japanese witnessed an economic
miracle. Jobs were created, buildings were rebuilt—bigger
and better than ever before—social welfare improved and Tokyo
boomed. So did the rest of the country, as Japan began dominating
a range of industries, from steel to shipbuilding and automobiles
to home electronic goods. In the early 1990s, Tokyo was hit by a
recession. Their bubble economy had burst, temporarily though, and
in the past decade and a half, Tokyo became one of the most dynamic
cities in the world. It’s full of vibrant clubs, rich museums,
a myriad of restaurants, numerous strips of shops and a major financial
district.
More Information
 www.state.gov
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