10 Origins Of Famous City Names
7. Tokyo
Tokyo is well known for being a sprawling metropolis of neon lights and high-tech trains mixed with traditional gardens and ancient temples. The Japanese capital has a population of close to nine million people making it the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Famous sites within Tokyo include the Imperial Palace and the Tokyo Tower. Due to its vast size, Tokyo is actually not a city but is instead officially known as a metropolitan prefecture. This title is unique to Tokyo and means that it combines elements of both a city and a prefecture. A prefecture serves as an administrative area within Japan and the country is divided up into 43 of these.
Tokyo started its life as a small fishing village in east Japan and was originally named Edo, which means estuary. However, in 1868 Emperor Meiji moved to Edo making it Japans new imperial capital city and renaming it Tokyo. The name is a combination of the Japanese words To, meaning east, and Kyo, which means Capital. It is tradition in the east that a capital city should contain the word capital within its name. Interestingly, the previous imperial capital city of Japan was named Kyoto, a reverse of the two words that make up Tokyos name.