Tokyo and Kyoto each occupy a unique place in the popular imagination. A whole world within a city, Japan's modern-day capital is an horizon-filling, high-rise, hi-tech urban phenomenon, while its erstwhile capital, Kyoto, offers more reflective pleasures centred on time-honoured traditions.
At the time of the Meiji Restoration, the ruling class renamed Edo as Tokyo and selected it as the capital of the new nation they intended to build, rather than Kyoto where old traditions and customs remained prominent.
At the time, the ruling emperor was merely 15, so the power was given to the oligarchs. They decided to stay in Edo instead of going back to the then-capital city Kyoto because of its convenient location and easy access to the West for trade. Edo was given a new name: Tokyo, the “Eastern Capital”.
In conclusion, Tokyo is not the capital of Japan because there is no Japanese law or constitution which designates the city of Tokyo as capital of Japan. Tokyo simply happens to be the largest city in Japan, with the Diet, Supreme Court and Imperial Palace. Other articles: Why is Japan called Japan?
Tokyo began life as a village known as Edo.
The city's name was formally changed to Tokyo, meaning eastern capital, in 1868, when the nearly 700-year shogunate period came to an end, and the new emperor, Meiji, moved his residence there.
As mentioned above, the English word Japan has a circuitous derivation; but linguists believe it derives in part from the Portuguese recording of the early Mandarin Chinese or Wu Chinese word for Japan: Cipan (日本), which is rendered in pinyin as Rìběn (IPA: ʐʅ˥˩pən˨˩˦), and literally translates to "sun origin".
Tokyo was originally known as Edo (江戸), a kanji compound of 江 (e, "cove, inlet") and 戸 (to, "entrance, gate, door"). The name, which can be translated as "estuary", is a reference to the original settlement's location at the meeting of the Sumida River and Tokyo Bay.
The capital of Japan for more than 1,000 years (from 794 to 1868), Kyōto (literally, “Capital City”) has been called a variety of names through the centuries—Heian-kyō (“Capital of Peace and Tranquillity”), Miyako (“The Capital”), and Saikyō (“Western Capital”), its name after the Meiji Restoration (1868) when the ...
From 794 through 1868, the Emperor lived in Heian-kyō, modern-day Kyoto. After 1868, the seat of the Government of Japan and the location of the Emperor's home was moved to Edo, which it renamed Tokyo. In 1941, the Ministry of Education published the "designation of Tokyo as capital" (東京奠都, Tōkyō-tento).
As the capital of Japan from 794 to 1868, Kyoto is sometimes called the thousand-year capital (千年の都).
Before Tokyo existed, Kyoto was officially recognized as Japan's imperial capital. That reign lasted for more than one thousand years.
These cities are anagrams of each other, but it transpires that there's a reason for this. Kyoto, the old capital of Japan, means Capital City. Tokyo was called Edo until the capital was moved there, at which point it was re-named “The capital in the East” or, in Japanese, Tokyo.
Ans. Malaysia has two capital cities- Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. While Kuala Lumpur is termed as its official capital, Putrajaya is its administrative capital and the seat of the national legislature.
Some countries have multiple capitals. In some cases, one city is the capital for some purposes, and one or more others are capital for other purposes, without any being considered an official capital in preference to the others.
Throughout this time, the Emperor resided in Kyoto, which was the formal capital of the nation. The Edo Period lasted for nearly 260 years until the Meiji Restoration in 1868, when the Tokugawa Shogunate ended and imperial rule was restored. The Emperor moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo.
Borrowed from Japanese 東京 (Tōkyō, literally “eastern capital”), as opposed to Kyoto in the west, from Middle Chinese 東 (tuwng, “east”) + 京 (kjæng, “capital”).
U.S. Secretary of War Henry Stimson wanted Kyoto removed from the target list, on the grounds that the city was too culturally significant to the Japanese to be destroyed.
Osaka is a cheaper, more modern option with lively nightlife, however there isn't a lot to do in the city. Kyoto is much more traditional and atmospheric, but it comes with a pricetag, and the city quiets down at night. Whichever city you choose, you'll be sure to have a great time!
Westerner ("seiyohjin" or "western ocean person") is used by Japanese in formal speech or writing to refer to Euramericans in general. But often they'll just use the term "gaijin" or, more politely "gaikokujin", (gai means "outside", and koku means "country"), meaning "foreigners" .
Nihon and Japan originate from the same word, each translating to "sun origin." As such, the country has also earned the nickname "Land of the Rising Sun." The nickname dates back to the days of western expansion, when Marco Polo learned of the wonders of this island nation through traders in Southern China.
In Japanese, the term Igirisu (Katakana: イギリス) is used interchangeably with Eikoku, but is considered slightly more foreign because it comes from the Portuguese word Inglês (English) – despite this origin, Igirisu refers to the United Kingdom as a whole, and not specifically to England, which is Ingurando (Katakana: ...
Naturally, homophones exist in other languages as well, but in Japanese, it's far more common. The second factor apart from homophones, where things literally sound the same, is that the syllables and consonant combinations are so few that it's hard to recall vocabulary when they sound so similar.
Japan in Japanese is “Nippon” or “Nihon” while in English it is called “Japan”. In most languages around the world, it is called a name similar to “Japan” (for example, “Japon” in French or “Giappon” in Italian).