ABSTRACT
In today’s world, populations, along with economic, social and cultural institutions, are centered in urban districts, resulting in the formation of large city regions worldwide. Many of these cities have populations in excess of 1 million. The Tokyo metropolitan region is an area of more than 31 million people, and as such is a conurbation on a scale without precedent in human history. The Tokyo metropolitan region is situated on the wide expanse of the Kanto plain, in the geographic heart of Japan (see Figure 12.2). At the center of the region is Japan’s capital, the city of Tokyo itself. Japan’s administrative, economic and social institutions are concentrated in Tokyo, which is also the center of the nation’s road and railway network and the terminus of the Shinkansen rail routes and expressways.
