Mental Health in Tokyo

Abstract

Edo, meaning river mouth, the original name of Tokyo, first appeared in written records at the end of the twelfth century. In 1457, during the Muromachi Era, Edo Castle was built. In 1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu was named Shogun and established the Edo shogunate. By about 1616, Edo was one of the greatest cities in the world, with a population of over a million [1,2]. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo; and the castle became the Imperial Palace, where Meiji Tennou, the emperor, and the imperial families lived. Following the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, fires devastated Tokyo; and during Worl War II, from 1943 to 1945, Tokyo suffered extensive damage from heavy bombing by the U.S. Air Force. Both of these disasters ruined much of what had been left of Edo. However, Tokyo has been reconstructed, and is now one of the world's principal cities, a center of political, economic, industrial, and cultural activities. Located almost in the center of the country in the southern part of the Kanto plain, the largest area in a narrow island country, it is the capital of Japan and its largest and busiest city. Tokyo's special metropolitan prefecture (called Tokyo City in English) stretches about 90 kilometers east to west, and some 25 kilometers north to south; it encompasses some 2,150 square kilometers. The greater Tokyo metropolitan area includes not only Tokyo City but also the three adjoining prefectures of Saitama, Kanagawa, and Chiba, covering an area of roughly 1,600 square kilometers. The city has two international airports, a port, and numerous subway lines, and is the center of the country's extensive, nationwide, railway system.