Greater Tokyo Area
The Greater Tokyo Area is the third most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan as well as the prefecture of Yamanashi of the neighboring Chūbu region. In Japanese, it is referred to by various terms, one of the most common being Capital Region.
As of 2026, the United Nations estimates the total population at 36,954,512. It is the second-largest single metropolitan area in the world in terms of built-up or urban function landmass at, behind only the New York City metropolitan area at. With around US$1.8 trillion in GDP, Tokyo remains the second-largest metropolitan economy in the world, also behind New York.
Definition
There are various definitions of the Greater Tokyo Area, each of which tries to incorporate different aspects. Some definitions are clearly defined by law or government regulation, some are based coarsely on administrative areas, while others are for research purposes such as commuting patterns or distance from Central Tokyo. Each definition has a different population figure, granularity, methodology, and spatial association.Various definitions of Tokyo, Greater Tokyo, and Kantō
| Inner Tokyo and Tokyo | Details | Population, thousands | Area | Population density | Map |
| Area of former Tokyo City limits | 23 special wards, does not correspond to any single authority | 8,841, 8,135, 8,490, 8,949, 9,256 | 621.9 | 13,080 14,390 14,883 | |
| Tokyo Metropolis | Prefectural-level jurisdiction, figures excluding the Izu and Ogasawara islands | 12,038, 12,541, 13,129, 13,479 | 1808 | 6,658 6,936 7,216.5 7,455 |
| Metropolitan area | Details | Population, thousands | Area | Population density | Map |
| Tokyo Urban Employment Area | All municipalities that have at least 10% of their population commuting to the 23 special wards. Figures for this definition are complex to update without a major re-study. | 3,348.2 | |||
| One Metropolis, Three Prefectures | Coarse administrative definition that contains Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba prefectures. Misses many of the more-distant suburbs that lie outside the prefectural borders, especially in Ibaraki and Gunma. Incorporates sparsely settled rural districts like Nishitama. | 33,534, 35,623, 36,092 | 13,555.65 | 2,627.9, 2,662 | |
| Kantō List of metropolitan areas in Japan | One of the two definitions the Japan Statistics Bureau uses. Consists of all municipalities that have at least 1.5% of their population aged 15 and above commuting to a designated city or the 23 special wards. Before Saitama became a designated city in 2001, the area was called Keihin'yō Major Metropolitan Area. Excludes adjacent metropolitan areas of Gunma, Ibaraki, and which are urbanized but have some small towns in between them and Tokyo. Most locally detailed definition, but hard to update without major re-study. | 36,923 | – | – | |
| Tokyo Major Metropolitan Area | Set of municipalities that are completely or mostly within 50 and 70 kilometres of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Buildings in Shinjuku. Suburbs tend to extend finger-like along major commuter train routes and density builds along express stops, not in a uniform fashion, and so this definition is of value. | 32,714, 36,303 | – | – |
| Administrative area | Details | Population, thousands | Area | Population density | Map |
| Kantō region | Entire national region, includes many rural areas | 40,550 42,607 42,945 42,995 | 32,423.9 | 1,314.1 | |
| National Capital Region | According to the National Capital Region Planning Act, very coarse administrative zone, essentially Kantō plus Yamanashi, includes large rural areas. | 41,438 43,470 43,785 43,830 | 36,889.28 | 1,178.4 |
Notes and sources: All figures issued by Japan Statistics Bureau, except for Metro Employment Area, a study by Center for Spatial Information Service, the University of Tokyo. Abbreviations: CF for National Census Final Data, CR for Civil Registry, CP for Census Preliminary.
National Capital Region
The National Capital Region of Japan refers to the Greater Tokyo Area as defined by the of 1956, which defines it as "Tokyo and its surrounding area declared by government ordinance." The government ordinance defined it as Tokyo and all six prefectures in the Kantō region plus Yamanashi Prefecture. While this includes all of Greater Tokyo, it also includes sparsely populated mountain areas as well as the far-flung Bonin Islands which are administered under Tokyo.International comparison
Using the "One Metropolis Three Prefectures" definition, Tokyo is, a similar size to that of Los Angeles County, and almost two-thirds smaller than the combined statistical area of New York City, at and 21.9 million people. Other metropolitan areas such as Greater Jakarta are considerably more compact as well as more densely populated than Greater Tokyo.Metropolitan Area definition ambiguities and issues
- The South Kantō region is a potentially ambiguous term. Informally, it may mean the One Metropolis, Two Prefectures, or the area without Saitama Prefecture. Formally, it may mean the South Kantō Block, which is not the Greater Tokyo Area, but a proportional representation block of the national election, comprising Kanagawa, Chiba, and Yamanashi Prefectures.
- In informal occasions, the term #National Capital Region often means Greater Tokyo Area. Officially, the term refers to a much larger area, namely the whole Kantō region and Yamanashi Prefecture.
- Tokyo as a metropolis includes some 394 km of islands, as well as some mountainous areas to the far west, which are officially part of Greater Tokyo, but are wilderness or rustic areas.
Cities
Cities within Tokyo
Tokyo is legally classified as a to, which translates as "metropolis", and is treated as one of the forty-seven prefectures of Japan. The metropolis is administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a whole.Eastern Tokyo Metropolis
Central Tokyo, situated in the eastern portion of Tokyo Metropolis, was once incorporated as Tokyo City, which was dismantled during World War II. Its subdivisions have been reclassified as Special wards of Tokyo. The twenty three special wards currently have the legal status of cities, with individual mayors and city councils, and they call themselves "cities" in English. However, when listing Japan's largest cities, Tokyo's twenty three wards are often counted as a single city.Western Tokyo Metropolis
, known as the Tama Area comprises a number of municipalities, including these suburban cities:Cities outside Tokyo
The core cities of the Greater Tokyo Area outside Tokyo Metropolis are:- Chiba
- Kawasaki
- Sagamihara
- Saitama
- Yokohama
source: stat.go.jp census 2005
Additional cities
In the major metropolitan area definition used by the Japanese Statistics Bureau, the following cities in Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Yamanashi, and Shizuoka Prefectures are included:Gunma Prefecture
- Tatebayashi
- Ota
Ibaraki Prefecture
Shizuoka Prefecture
- Atami
Tochigi Prefecture
- Oyama
Yamanashi Prefecture
- Ōtsuki
- Uenohara
Border areas
Geography
At the center of the main urban area are the 23 special wards, formerly treated as a single city but now governed as separate municipalities, and containing many major commercial centers such as Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro and Ginza. Around the 23 special wards are a multitude of suburban cities which merge seamlessly into each other to form a continuous built up area, circumnavigated by the heavily travelled Route 16 which forms a loop about from central Tokyo. Situated along the loop are the major cities of Yokohama, Hachiōji, Ōmiya, and Chiba.Within the Route 16 loop, the coastline of Tokyo Bay is heavily industrialised, with the Keihin Industrial Area stretching from Tokyo down to Yokohama, and the Keiyō Industrial Zone from Tokyo eastwards to Chiba. Along the periphery of the main urban area are numerous new suburban housing developments such as the Tama New Town. The landscape is relatively flat compared to most of Japan, most of it comprising low hills.
Outside the Route 16 loop the landscape becomes more rural. To the southwest is an area known as Shōnan, which contains various cities and towns along the coast of Sagami Bay, and to the west the area is mountainous.
Many rivers run through the area, the major ones being Arakawa and Tama River.
Demographics
Economy
Tokyo metropolitan area is the second largest metropolitan economy in the world only behind New York.| Prefecture | Gross prefecture product | Gross prefecture product |
 Tokyo |