A Brief History of Tokyo

Tokyo was initially a small fishing village called Edo. In 1457, Ōta Dōkan built Edo Castle. In 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu made Edo his base and when he became Shogun in 1603, the town became the center of his nationwide military government. Edo subsequently grew into one of the biggest cities in the world with a population of approximately one million by the 18th century. It became the de facto capital of Japan even while the emperor lived in Kyoto, the imperial capital. After about 263 years, the Shogunate was toppled in the name of restoring imperial rule. In 1869, the 17-year-old Emperor Meiji moved to Edo. Tokyo had become the nation's political and cultural center, whilst the emperor's residence also made it a de facto imperial capital, with the former Edo Castle becoming his Imperial Palace. The city of Tokyo was established, and continued to be the capital until it was abolished as a municipality in 1943 and merged with the "Metropolitan Prefecture" of Tokyo and renamed Tokyo Metropolis. ...Find out more on Wikipedia

Transport

Tokyo is built around a highly advanced and extensive network of train, subway and bus lines, and is far less automobile centric than some of the world's major cities. Many of the transportation companies are privately owned, whilst some are government owned. In Tokyo's central and most populous region, the train lines operated by JR East and the subway lines are most convenient method of transportation. Travel outside The Greater Tokyo Area is possible via the Shinkansen (Bullet Trains), which are also managed by JR Group (Japan Railways).

• Click on this link for timetables, route maps and other information about JR East.
• Click on this link for route maps and other information about Tokyo Metro.
• Click on this link for information about some of the major private train companies around Tokyo.

Climate

Tokyo experiences four strongly defined seasons. Summer's hottest months are July and August with an average daytime temperature of 30˚C, whilst June is actually one of the wettest months of the year. Autumn begins in mid-September with high levels of rainfall and average temperatures moving from approximately 27˚C in September to 21˚C in October. Winter begins in November and continues until February with drier but cold weather and daytime temperatures ranging from about 10˚C to 17˚C, but dropping as low as 0˚C at night. Spring begins in March and ends in May, with mild temperatures of approximately 13˚C and tends to one of the drier seasons.

Click on the link to view a Tokyo Weather Forecast.