History UsefulNotes / Tokyo

** When the sun goes down, the area remains lively with a wide array of entertainment options around Shinjuku Station, the most (in)famous area being [[HostessClub Kabuki-]][[RedLightDistrict cho]] (where most of ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' takes place, though that might be a ''bit'' obscured by [[AlternateHistory the]] [[AnachronismStew general]] [[SchizoTech premise]] [[GagSeries of]] the series; also the real-world model for Kamuro-cho in the ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' games). Ichijinsha (publisher of ''Magazine/YuriHime'') is based in this ward.

As mentioned before, Tokyo is legally one of Japan's 47 prefectures. Other prefectures are subdivided into cities, towns, and villages; so is the western half of Tokyo Prefecture (the Tama Area). The eastern half, however, is divided into 23 special wards (特別区, ''tokubetsu-ku'') - before 1943 this area was known as Tokyo City (along the lines of Kyoto and Osaka Cities) before the government reorganized it.

** Ikebukuro district, in general, is where ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' takes place.

After the war Tokyo and the rest of Japan rebuilt themselves. Foreswearing war as a political tool (Article 9) and reliant on the US for defense in the Cold War, Japan set about dominating the world economically. The Japanese economic miracle in the 1960s and 70s was hailed as a triumph of capitalism, and Tokyo as the central engine of it rode the boom to the top of the world's greatest cities. The city felt the effects of success in the 1980s when real estate in Tokyo began to reach truly mind-boggling heights - by 1989, office space in Ginza, Tokyo's main business district, reached the price of 100 million yen (US$1 million) ''per square meter''.[[note]]Extrapolating from this, various newspapers have calculated that the real estate value of the Imperial Palace and Grounds in downtown Tokyo is greater than the entirety of the State of California.[[/note]] Corporate Japan felt invincible, and [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld most of the US was inclined to agree]].

The special wards act much like municipalities elsewhere in Japan (they elect their own mayors and city councils) but they don't have quite as much control over their area as regular municipalities - they can't pass their own laws, for instance. Local councils do promote the local economy and take care of things like car registration (Website/ThatOtherWiki compares the situation to the boroughs of UsefulNotes/{{London}}), mainly using money granted to them by the metropolitan government. Confusingly, each special ward titles themselves as a "City" in English (e.g., "Chiyoda City").

** Large part of the city is occupied by United States Air Force Yokota Air Base

The special wards act much like municipalities elsewhere in Japan (they elect their own mayors and city councils) but they don't have quite as much control over their area as regular municipalities - they can't pass their own laws, for instance. Local councils do promote the local economy and take care of things like car registration (Wiki/ThatOtherWiki compares the situation to the boroughs of UsefulNotes/{{London}}), mainly using money granted to them by the metropolitan government. Confusingly, each special ward titles themselves as a "City" in English (e.g., "Chiyoda City").

** To the east, meanwhile, stands Sunshine 60, which was the tallest building in Japan completed in the 1970s.

** Another mostly residential quarter made famous by a [[Manga/YoureUnderArrest couple of traffic inspectors from the Bokuto neighborhood]], which ironically never had a police precinct in RealLife. Now known as the location of the Tokyo Skytree, the tallest tower in the world and the 2nd largest structure in the world behind the Burj Khalifa, though as far as fully-habitable buildings are concerned the much shorter Abeno Harukas over in Osaka is the victor in Japan.