49 Fun Facts About Tokyo

Which sushi style became the fast food of Edo, today's Tokyo, in the 1820s?

Nigiri is traditionally credited to chef Hanaya Yohei around 1824, and it was soon sold from street stalls all over Edo.

The name Tokyo literally means what?

Tokyo means 'Eastern Capital', the name chosen in 1868; China's Beijing and Nanjing likewise mean 'Northern Capital' and 'Southern Capital'.

Which shogun made Edo the seat of his government in 1603?

Tokugawa Ieyasu, named shogun in 1603, governed from Edo while the emperor stayed in Kyoto as nominal ruler; his dynasty held power there until 1868.

Who fortified Edo with a castle in 1457, on the site of today's Imperial Palace?

Ota Dokan built Edo Castle in 1457 and was assassinated in 1486 at the residence of his own lord, Uesugi Sadamasa.

Which American commodore's 1853 arrival ended Japan's seclusion and set Edo on the road to Tokyo?

Commodore Matthew C. Perry's 'black ships' anchored off Uraga in July 1853; the 1854 Convention of Kanagawa then opened Shimoda and Hakodate to American vessels.

Which religious group released sarin nerve gas on three Tokyo subway lines in March 1995?

Aum Shinrikyo's guru, Shoko Asahara, was hanged in July 2018 with six other cult members, more than 23 years after the attack.

What caused most of the deaths in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake?

Fire caused about nine in ten deaths: the quake struck at 11:58 am as households cooked lunch, and one firestorm killed tens of thousands at a single refuge.

Which architect's Imperial Hotel seemed to survive Tokyo's 1923 quake unscathed?

Frank Lloyd Wright's hotel had in fact been damaged, and it was demolished in the late 1960s; its entrance and lobby were rebuilt at the Meiji Mura museum.

Which line, opened in 1927, was Tokyo's first subway?

The Ginza Line's first stretch opened on 30 December 1927; Tokyo's second subway line, the Marunouchi, did not follow until 1954.

In 1943, Tokyo City merged with Tokyo Prefecture to form what?

Tokyo City and Tokyo Prefecture were abolished on 1 July 1943 and merged into the Tokyo Metropolis (Tokyo-to), which is why Tokyo has a governor and assembly rather than a city mayor.

Which general planned the March 1945 incendiary raid on Tokyo, the most destructive single air attack in history?

Curtis LeMay removed most of the B-29s' guns to carry more bombs and sent them in low at night; about 100,000 people died.

Which district's Kaminarimon gate, hung with a giant lantern, leads to Senso-ji?

Asakusa's lantern weighs about 700 kg, and the gate's official name, Furaijinmon, honours Fujin and Raijin, gods of wind and thunder.

Which Tokyo special ward holds the National Diet Building and the Imperial Palace?

Chiyoda means 'field of a thousand generations', a name inherited from Chiyoda Castle, another name for Edo Castle, whose grounds now hold the Imperial Palace.

Which World War II battleground, famous for a flag-raising photograph, is officially part of Tokyo today?

Iwo Jima lies about 1,200 km south of central Tokyo, yet it belongs to Ogasawara village, and Japan's Self-Defense Forces run an air base there.

What is the highest mountain within Tokyo's boundaries?

Mount Kumotori, 2,017 m, on the border of Tokyo, Saitama and Yamanashi, is Tokyo's highest point; Mount Fuji, about 100 km southwest, lies in Shizuoka and Yamanashi.

Tokyo's latitude of about 35.65 degrees north puts it further south than which of these cities?

Tokyo lies south of Rome (41.90), New York (40.71) and Beijing (39.91), which surprises people who picture it as a northern city.

Which novelist ran a Tokyo jazz bar called Peter Cat until 1981?

Haruki Murakami ran Peter Cat with his wife Yoko; his 1987 novel Norwegian Wood, set in late-1960s Tokyo, made him a literary star in Japan.

Tokyo Skytree stands 634 metres tall; why that number?

Its digits spell Musashi, the region's old name (6, 3 and 4 read mu, sa, shi), and the builders wanted a height people would easily remember.

Which Tarantino film features Tokyo's House of Blue Leaves?

Kill Bill: Volume 1's House of Blue Leaves fight took eight weeks to film, six over schedule, and part was shot in black and white to avoid an NC-17 rating.

Tokyo Tower, completed in 1958, was modelled on which Paris landmark?

The Eiffel Tower inspired Tokyo Tower's lattice design, but the Tokyo copy is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety rules.

Which Tokyo shrine enshrined Class A war criminals in 1978?

Emperor Hirohito, who had last visited Yasukuni Shrine in 1975, privately objected to the enshrinement and never went back.

Which Tokyo station did Guinness World Records rank the world's busiest in 2022?

Shinjuku Station has well over 200 exits, and Guinness counted about 2.7 million passengers a day passing through it in 2022.

Which JR loop line circles central Tokyo in about an hour?

The Yamanote Line gained its 30th station, Takanawa Gateway, in 2020, the first new stop on the loop since Nishi-Nippori opened in 1971.

The first Shinkansen line opened in 1964 between Tokyo and which city?

The Tokaido Shinkansen linked Tokyo and Shin-Osaka on 1 October 1964, nine days before the Olympics opened, covering the 552.6 km route in four hours.

Which fish set Tokyo's 2019 New Year auction record?

Bluefin tuna went for 333.6 million yen to Kiyoshi Kimura, owner of the Sushi Zanmai restaurant chain.

Senso-ji, Tokyo's oldest temple, is dedicated to which figure?

Legend says two fisherman brothers pulled a statue of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, from the Sumida River in 628.

Meiji Shrine, dedicated in 1920, honours Emperor Meiji and whom?

Meiji Shrine enshrines Emperor Meiji and his consort Empress Shoken, who died in 1914; it sits in a 70-hectare forest grown from trees donated from all over Japan.

Which airport in Ota ward handles most of Tokyo's domestic flights?

Haneda handles most domestic flights; Narita, 60 km east in Chiba, opened in 1978 after years of farmer protests and a raid that wrecked its control tower.

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were the first Games staged where?

Tokyo 1964 was the first Olympics held in Asia; the Games were also the first telecast live overseas by satellite and the first from which apartheid South Africa was excluded.

Why were the 1964 Olympics held in October rather than summer?

To avoid heat, humidity and typhoons, the Games opened on 10 October; two years later Japan made that date a national holiday, Health and Sports Day.

Which venue, built for judo at the 1964 Games, hosted judo again at Tokyo 2020?

The Nippon Budokan was built for judo's Olympic debut in 1964 and hosted judo again at Tokyo 2020; in between it became a rock venue, hosting the Beatles in 1966.

Which four made their Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020?

Skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and karate all debuted at Tokyo 2020; the first three stayed for Paris 2024, but karate was dropped.

Tokyo Dome, home of the Yomiuri Giants, was originally nicknamed what?

Tokyo Dome was nicknamed 'The Big Egg' for its white air-supported roof; it opened in March 1988 as Japan's first domed stadium, with about 42,000 seats.

Tokyo Disneyland, opened in 1983, was the first Disney park where?

Tokyo Disneyland was the first Disney park outside the United States; it is owned by the Oriental Land Company under licence and sits in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, just outside Tokyo.

Which Tokyo district, nicknamed Electric Town, grew from a postwar black market into an electronics hub?

Akihabara's electronics shops later drew computer fans, and by the 2000s it had become the heart of Japan's anime, manga and gaming otaku scene.

Which Tokyo district is known internationally as the centre of Japanese youth fashion?

Harajuku's backstreets Takeshita Street and Cat Street draw the crowds.

The famous Tsukiji fish market closed in 2018 and moved its wholesale operations where?

Toyosu Market opened in October 2018, about two years late, after toxic contamination was found in the soil and groundwater left by a former gas plant.

Hachiko, whose statue stands outside Shibuya Station, was what breed of dog?

Hachiko was an Akita, born in Odate in 1923; he kept returning to Shibuya Station to wait for Professor Hidesaburo Ueno for almost ten years after his master's death in 1925.

Who directed the original 1954 Godzilla, in which the monster levels Tokyo?

Ishiro Honda directed Godzilla (1954) for Toho, with Eiji Tsuburaya handling the effects; the film premiered in Nagoya on 27 October 1954 before its national release on 3 November.

In Lost in Translation, Bill Murray's fading movie star is in Tokyo to advertise what?

Bob Harris is in Tokyo to shoot a Suntory whisky commercial ('For relaxing times, make it Suntory time'); Sofia Coppola set much of the film at the Park Hyatt Tokyo after staying there.

The Bank of Japan's head office, completed in 1896, stands in which Tokyo district?

The Bank of Japan's head office, designed by Tatsuno Kingo and finished in 1896, stands in Nihonbashi on the site of the Edo-era gold mint, the kinza.

Which city ended Tokyo's 14-year run as the world's most expensive city in 2006?

The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2006 cost-of-living survey put Oslo ahead of Tokyo, which had topped the ranking for 14 years; Tokyo's later slide down the list tracked the yen's weakness.

Which architect designed the Yoyogi National Gymnasium and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building?

Kenzo Tange designed both the Yoyogi National Gymnasium for the 1964 Games and the twin-towered Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, completed in 1991; Kurokawa built the Nakagin Capsule Tower, Kuma the 2020 Olympic stadium.

Which animals from China sparked Ueno Zoo's 1972 craze?

Giant pandas Kang Kang and Lan Lan arrived after Japan and China restored ties; when Ueno's twins left for China in January 2026, Japan had no pandas for the first time since.

The Ogasawara Islands, part of Tokyo, were under whose control until 1968?

The United States returned the Ogasawara Islands to Japan in 1968; until then, only descendants of the islands' 19th-century settlers had been allowed to go home.

Which economist governed Tokyo for 12 years from 1967, bringing free elderly healthcare?

Ryokichi Minobe, a Marxist economist, was governor from 1967 to 1979 and made medical care free for Tokyo residents over 70 in 1969.

Which bridge, opened in 1993, links Shibaura with the Odaiba waterfront across Tokyo Bay?

The Rainbow Bridge, a 798 m suspension bridge opened in August 1993, carries road traffic, the Yurikamome line and walkways from Shibaura to Odaiba and is lit in changing colours at night.

Which Hachioji mountain draws over 2.5 million visitors a year?

Mount Takao stands just 599 m tall and lies within an hour of central Tokyo, an easy day hike on the city's doorstep.

Which line is the sole survivor of Tokyo's once 213 km Toden tram network?

Only the Arakawa line remains; motorisation from the 1950s made trams seem unfit to share the city's busy roads.