Is Tokyo a city or a prefecture/state?

Is Tokyo a city?

What is Tokyo exactly?  Is Tokyo a city or is it a state/province? What prefecture is Tokyo in? Tokyo is often compared with some of world’s largest cities such as New York, London or Paris, so it is natural most people overseas would think that Tokyo is simply a city just like any other major city of the world.

Japan has 47 prefectures, and Tokyo is considered one of them. Therefore, Tokyo is a prefecture rather than a city. Tokyo Prefecture is actually called Tokyo-to, which can be translated as Tokyo Metropolis.  A prefecture in Japan is, in some sense, similar to a state in the USA.  (Tokyo Metropolitan Government uses the term “Tokyo Metropolis” instead of Tokyo Prefecture.)
Tokyo Prefecture comprises 23 wards, some cities such as Fuchu City, Musashino City and Mitaka City, and also some remote islands in the Pacific, e.g., the Bonin Islands located 1,000 kilo meters south of central Tokyo. These remote islands are also parts of Tokyo Prefecture.

Tokyo is sometimes regarded as a de facto city. One main reason for this is because there was, in fact, a Tokyo City in the past. It existed on the eastern side of Tokyo from 1889 to 1943. The area is presently known as Tokyo’s 23 wards area.

• Although there are 23 wards in Tokyo Prefecture now, there was a time when there were 35 wards or 15 wards.
• Each ward of Tokyo has its own mayor, just like a city.　Nowadays, each ward calls itself a city, and the municipal office is called the city office or city hall. If you visit the website of, for example, Chiyoda ward, one of the main wards in Tokyo, where Tokyo Central Station and the Imperial Palace are located, you will notice that it says “Chiyoda City”. If you go to Taito ward’s municipal office, you will notice that the wall says “Taito City Hall”.
• Tokyo hosted the Olympic/Paralympics games (which moved from 2020 to 2021). In this case, Tokyo was regarded as a de facto city. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government was the organization that hosted the Olympic Games.
• Some large cities in Japan such as Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya etc. are also divided into wards.

To the question of “Is Tokyo a city or a prefecture (state)?”, the right answer is, “It is not a city but, rather, a prefecture.”

The area Tokyo Metropolis (Tokyo Prefecture) governs are central area, normally referred to as Tokyo 23 wards area, Tama area which comprises of 26 cities, Nishi Tama County which comprises of 3 towns and 1 village, and remote islands which have  4 branch local offices.  The prefecture’s population is about 14,000,000 which accounts for 10 percent of the entire population of Japan.  Tokyo Prefecture itself is not the largest congregation of the world but if Greater Tokyo area such as parts of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa are included, then it will be by far the largest congregation of the world.

According to Tokyo’s Prefectural Office, their official name in English is “Tokyo Metropolitan Government” and the English translation of “Tokyo-to” is “Tokyo Metropolis”. On the website of Tokyo Metropolitan Government they use the term “Tokyo Metropolis” to refer to the area they govern. Interestingly on their website, they also use the term Tokyo City as a generic term.

What prefecture is Tokyo in?  Tokyo is not city but a prefecture itself, therefore Tokyo is a name of a prefecture.