Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō?) listen (help·info), literally "eastern capital", is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and includes the highly urbanized central area formerly known as the city of Tokyo which is the heart of the Greater Tokyo Area. Although not a single city, the Tokyo metropolis is the capital of Japan and it is home to the Japanese government and emperor. About 12 million people—10 percent of the country's population—live in Tokyo, while approximately 33–36 million people live in the entire Greater Tokyo conurbation, making it effectively part of the most populated urban area on Earth.

Tokyo is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. Its center is at 35°41' North, 139°46' East (35.68333, 139.7667) [1], but its borders extend to outlying islands in the Pacific Ocean, some as far as 1,000 km south of the mainland.

Tokyo is the nation's center of politics, business, finance, education, mass media, and pop culture. Tokyo has Japan's highest concentration of corporate headquarters, financial institutions, universities and colleges, museums, theaters, and shopping and entertainment establishments. Tokyo is widely considered to be one of the world's major "global cities", and a Megacity.