For those who are not familiar with Tokyo, there is only one
Tokyo in Japan. I know.
But if you know more about Japan or have ever lived
in Tokyo, sometimes definition of ‘Tokyo’ could be confusing.
If you are just traveling in Japan, such definition does not matter.
You just keep enjoying good food and beautiful view.
However when it comes to the property investing in Japan or Tokyo.
the definition matters.
I want to give you the basic information about Tokyo today.
There are three definitions of Tokyo in Japan.
One is Tokyo special 23 wards with population 9. 2 million, second is
Tokyo Metropolitan
with 13.7 million population and third is greater Tokyo with massive 38 million people.
There are various definitions of the Greater Tokyo Area, each of
which tries to incorporate different aspects.
We, Japanese often refer Tokyo with different definitions according to the context.
Tokyo could be ‘capital region’ or ‘Tokyo 23 specials wards’ (which
I will discuss below) or something else.
Tokyo is legally classified as a”to”, which translates as “metropolis”, and is treated
as one of the forty-seven prefectures of Japan.
The metropolis is administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
as a whole. Ms. Yuriko Koike is the current governor of
Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
Tokyo-to (metropolis) has 13.6 million population.
The Tokyo metropolitan government
administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo
(each governed as an individual city).
23 specials wards are located in the central area.
if you want to invest in property in Tokyo,
properties which are located within 23 special wards
should be first reviewed.
In the meantime, the greater Tokyo (Kanto) consists of all municipalities
that have at least 1.5%
of their population aged 15 and above commuting to designated city
(Yokohama,Kawasaki, Sagamihara,Chiba, and Saitama)
or 23 special wards.
The greater Tokyo has the population of 38 million and has the
largest metropolitan economy in the world.
Based on the information announced by
Chicago Council on Global affairs,
Greater Tokyo’s GDP is 1 trillion and 536.9 billion dollars
vs. New York 1 trillion 334.2 billion dollars and LA $ 818 billion
Compared with the country’s GDP, it is as large as Canada and larger than
Korea, it is the world’s largest economic city equivalent to
“the country” ranked 9th or 10th in the world.
Tokyo. As I set out above, Tokyo is ‘a country’ and that is
why I keep saying investors should start
finding a property in Tokyo or greater Tokyo.
Here is the link of Australian news site, the Conversation
which is one of Australia’s largest independent news and commentary sites.
Article from Academic rigour, journalistic flair (Australia)
Toshihiko Yamamoto
Real estate investing consultant and author.
Toshihiko is currently writing a book about the real estate investing in Japan
for foreign investors.
Founder of Yamamoto Property Advisory in Tokyo.
International property Investment consultant and licensed
real estate broker (Japan).
He serves the foreign companies and individuals to buy and sell
the real estates in Japan as well as own homes.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from
Osaka Prefecture University in Japan
and a MBA from Bond University in Australia