Tokyo City

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Tokyo Prefectural Office and Tokyo City Hall

Tokyo City (東京市, Tōkyō-shi^?) was a municipality in Japan which existed from May 1, 1889 until its merger with Tokyo Prefecture in July 1, 1943.^[1] The historical boundaries of Tokyo City are now occupied by independent special wards.

History

See also: History of Tokyo

In 1868, the medieval city Edo, seat of the Tokugawa government, was renamed Tokyo, and the offices of Tokyo Prefecture (-fu) were opened.^[1] The extent of Tokyo Prefecture was initially limited to the former Edo city (15 wards listed below), but rapidly augmented to be comparable with the present Tokyo Metropolis.^{[citation needed]}

Tokyo City initially did not maintain a separate mayor or city council; instead, the governor of Tokyo Prefecture served as mayor of Tokyo, and each ward had its own assembly.^{[citation needed]} Tokyo began electing its own mayor in 1898 but retained ward-level legislation, which continues to this day in the special ward system.^{[citation needed]} The city hall of Tokyo was located in the Yurakucho district, on a site now occupied by the Tokyo International Forum.^[2]

Tokyo became the second-largest city in the world (population 4.9 million) upon absorbing several outlying districts in July 1932, giving the city a total of 35 wards.^[1]

In 1943, the city was abolished and merged with Tokyo Prefecture to form the Tokyo Metropolitan Government,^[1] which was functionally a part of the central government of Japan: the governor of Tokyo became a Cabinet minister reporting directly to the Prime Minister.^{[citation needed]} This system remained in place until 1947 when the current structure of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government was formed.^[1]

Wards

Tokyo portal

References