ABSTRACT
The Tokyo metropolitan area (TMA) is located in the Kanto plain, almost at the center of Japan. TMA consists of the capital, Tokyo, and the prefectures of Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Although the plain covers only 3.5 percent of the total area of Japan, its population is some 33 million and accounts for 26 percent of the nation’s total. The metropolitan area also contains almost one-quarter of all businesses in Japan, employing over 27 percent of the nation’s workers, especially in the high-skilled sectors of finance, real estate, and insurance. In short, Tokyo, and its metropolitan surroundings, is one of the economic centers of the nation. Therefore, it is not surprising that many colleges and universities are concentrated in TMA. As Table 5.1 shows, 319 colleges and universities, accounting for 26 percent of the nation’s total, were located in the TMA, with 183 colleges and universities sited in Tokyo, as of 2003. The number of college and university students in the 319 institutions in the TMA is 1.2 million, or almost 40 percent of the nation’s total.
