Instead of states, Japan has the "Todofuken:" 43 prefectures (ken), 1 "circuit" (do), 2 urban prefectures (fu), and 1 metropolis (to).
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Kyoto and Osaka are the urban prefectures, Tokyo is the metropolis. The difference between "urban prefecture" and "metropolis..."
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...is that Kyoto and Osaka are cities within their prefectures; outside their borders are other cities, towns, villages, districts, etc.
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But in Tokyo Metropolis, there are cities, towns, villages, and districts...but no city called Tokyo.
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Instead, there are 23 "special wards" which make up the area that used to be a city called Tokyo. Each is autonomously governed...
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...in the same manner that the other cities, towns, and villages in Tokyo-to are. Osaka and Kyoto (and other cities) also have wards, but...
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...their wards are subordinate to their respective city governments, and their *city* is the autonomous unit w/in Osaka-fu or Kyoto-fu.
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So, this all causes some confusion whenever people talk about "the city of Tokyo" and "Greater Tokyo." Both have various definitions.
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The "City of Tokyo" could refer to just the 23 special wards, or to the Tokyo Metropolis (those wards + other cities, towns, villages).
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"Greater Tokyo" can refer to: - Tokyo + Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa - The above + Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki - The above + Yamanashi
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Those other names all refer to prefectures (ken) adjacent to Tokyo-to. I generally use the broadest definition for transit discussions...
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...because the rail network that serves Tokyo, on which you can use Tokyo farecards like Pasmo and Suica, encompasses an even larger area
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Specifically: Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa, Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Yamanashi, AND lots of Shizuoka
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But even if you're not talking about rail issues, it makes more sense to talk about Greater Tokyo than Tokyo proper...
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...because Tokyo proper includes some very rural land much further away from downtown than many of its neighboring prefectures
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Here, in map form: 23 wards, Tokyo Metropolis, smallest def of Greater Tokyo, largest def of Greater Tokyo (guess where Shizuoka is, lol)pic.twitter.com/09aYZqaCO7
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The populations for these four are: - 9.3 million - 13.5 million - 36.1 million - 43.8 million
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For a sense of scale, the state of California has a population of 39.1 million
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