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is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
,
Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...
, and
Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...
. Tokyo Bay is connected to the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
by the
Uraga Channel The is a waterway connecting Tokyo Bay to the Sagami Gulf. It is an important channel for ships headed from Tokyo, Yokohama, and Chiba to the Pacific Ocean and beyond. Geography The Uraga channel is at the southern end of Tokyo Bay (formerly ...
. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous and largest industrialized area in Japan.


Names

In ancient times, Japanese knew Tokyo Bay as the . By the
Azuchi–Momoyama period The was the final phase of the in Japanese history from 1568 to 1600. After the outbreak of the Ōnin War in 1467, the power of the Ashikaga Shogunate effectively collapsed, marking the start of the chaotic Sengoku period. In 1568, Oda Nobuna ...
(1568–1600) the area had become known as after the city of Edo. The bay took its present name in modern times, after the Imperial court moved to Edo and renamed the city Tokyo in 1868.


Geography

Tokyo Bay juts prominently into the
Kantō Plain The is the largest plain in Japan, and is located in the Kantō region of central Honshū. The total area of 17,000 km2 covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, ...
. It is surrounded by the
Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...
in
Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...
to the east and the
Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamakur ...
in
Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...
to the west. The
shore A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...
of Tokyo Bay consists of a diluvial
plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
and is subject to rapid marine
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...
. Sediments on the shore of the bay make for a smooth, continuous shoreline.


Boundaries

In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line from
Cape Kannon A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
on the west of Miura Peninsula to
Cape Futtsu is a cape located east of Tokyo Bay in Futtsu, Chiba in Japan. References Cape Futtsu- Chiba Prefecture Futtsu 260px, Futtsu City Hall is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 42,476 in 1 ...
on the east Bōsō Peninsula. This area covers about in 2012, reclamation projects continue to slowly shrink the bay. In a broader sense, Tokyo Bay includes the Uraga Channel. By this definition the bay opens from an area north of the straight line from
Cape Tsurugisaki A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
on the east of Miura Peninsula to
Cape Sunosaki is a cape on the Pacific Ocean, in the city of Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The cape is located at the southwestern point of Bōsō Peninsula on the island of Honshu, and marks the point between the inner and outer parts of the peninsula ...
on the west of the Boso Peninsula. This area covers about . The area of Tokyo Bay combined with the
Uraga Channel The is a waterway connecting Tokyo Bay to the Sagami Gulf. It is an important channel for ships headed from Tokyo, Yokohama, and Chiba to the Pacific Ocean and beyond. Geography The Uraga channel is at the southern end of Tokyo Bay (formerly ...
covers .


Depth

The shoal between Cape Futtsu in Chiba Prefecture and
Cape Honmaku A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
in
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
is known as Nakanose, and has a depth of . North of this area the bay has a depth of and an uncomplicated underwater
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...
. Areas south of Nakanose are significantly deeper moving towards the Pacific Ocean.


Islands

The only natural island in Tokyo Bay is
Sarushima , is a small island located off Yokosuka, Kanagawa in Japan. It is the only natural island in Tokyo Bay. Sarushima was used as a battery by the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period, and after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the island was devel ...
() at
Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city ...
, Kanagawa Prefecture. Sarushima was one of the locations fortified with
coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of ...
during the Bakumatsu period and was subsequently incorporated into the Tokyo Bay Fortress during the
Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
. The
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...
maintained a
degaussing Degaussing is the process of decreasing or eliminating a remnant magnetic field. It is named after the gauss, a unit of magnetism, which in turn was named after Carl Friedrich Gauss. Due to magnetic hysteresis, it is generally not possible to red ...
station on the island until the end of World War II. The island is now uninhabited and is a marine park. Many
artificial island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those th ...
s were built as naval fortifications in the Meiji and Taishō periods. After World War II these islands were converted to residential or recreational use. Odaiba, also known as ''Daiba'', was one of six artificial islands constructed in 1853 as a fortification to protect the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
at Edo, and was known as the Shinagawa Daiba. After World War II Odaiba was incorporated into Tokyo and redeveloped for commercial and recreational use. Before World War II,
Yumenoshima is a district in Kōtō, Tokyo, Japan, consisting of an artificial island Land reclamation, built using waste landfill. It is not the first such island in the bay (see Umi-no-mori :ja:海の森公園). At current fill rates, there will be no mo ...
was planned as an airfield (one of the largest in the world at the time), but after the US military expansion of
Haneda Airport , officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary ...
following World War II, the plan of the airfield fell through. The island briefly opened as a public beach before being repurposed and used as a landfill between 1957 and 1967 to dispose of the large quantities of garbage from the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. The reclaimed land now hosts
Yumenoshima Park is a sports park in Yumenoshima, Kōtō Ward, Tokyo, Japan. It was made by improving a landfill site called Yumenoshima, which had been the final disposal site for garbage from 1957 until 1967. Yumenoshima was the site of the archery event of ...
with numerous recreational facilities. Hakkei Island (), formerly Landfill Number 14, was constructed in 1985 and is home to Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. Other artificial islands include Heiwa, Katsushima, Shōwa, Keihin, and Higashiōgi islands.


Rivers

Numerous rivers empty into Tokyo Bay, and all provide water for residential and industrial areas along the bay. The Tama and Sumida rivers empty into the bay at Tokyo. The
Edo River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It splits from the Tone River at the northernmost tip of Noda City in the Sekiyado district, crosses through Nagareyama and Matsudo, and empties into Tokyo Bay at Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. The Edo ...
empties into Tokyo Bay between Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture. The Obitsu and Yōrō rivers empty into the bay in Chiba Prefecture.


Land reclamation

Land reclamation has been carried out along the coast of Tokyo Bay since the Meiji period. Areas along the shore with a depth of less than are simplest to carry out landfill, and
sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...
from the floor of Tokyo Bay is used for these projects. The topography of the shoreline of Tokyo Bay differs greatly from that of the pre-modern period due to ongoing land reclamation projects. Tokyo Bay includes about of reclaimed land area in 2012. Aggregate household waste production is enormous in Greater Tokyo, there is little room for traditional garbage disposal sites; waste is rigorously sorted at the household, much of it is turned into ash and further recycled into bay landfill.


Bridges

The
Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line The , also known as the Trans-Tokyo Bay Expressway, is an expressway that is mainly made up of a bridge–tunnel combination across Tokyo Bay in Japan. It connects the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture with the city of Kisarazu in Chiba ...
bridge-tunnel crosses Tokyo Bay between Kawasaki and Kisarazu; Tokyo-Wan Ferry also crosses the bay toward the Uraga Channel between Kurihama (in Yokosuka) and Kanaya (in Futtsu on the Chiba side).


Development


Fishing

Tokyo Bay was a historical center of the
fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
industry, a source of shellfish, and other aquaculture. These industries decreased with the industrialization of the Tokyo Bay region early in the 20th century, and almost completely ceased with the construction of the Keihin and Keiyō industrial zones directly after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.


Ports

A number of Japan's most important
port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
s are located in Tokyo Bay. The
Port of Yokohama The is operated by the Port and Harbor Bureau of the City of Yokohama in Japan. It opens onto Tokyo Bay. The port is located at a latitude of 35.27–00°N and a longitude of 139.38–46°E. To the south lies the Port of Yokosuka; to the north ...
, the
Port of Chiba The is the largest seaport in Japan, located in Chiba Prefecture on the interior of Tokyo Bay. The Port spans across the cities of Ichikawa, Funabashi, Narashino, Chiba, Ichihara, and Sodegaura. History Port activity has existed in the are ...
, the
Port of Tokyo The Port of Tokyo is one of the largest Japanese seaports and one of the largest seaports in the Pacific Ocean basin having an annual traffic capacity of around 100 million tonnes of cargo and 4,500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units. The port is a ...
, the Port of Kawasaki, the Port of Yokosuka, the Port of Kisarazu, rank not only as the busiest ports in Japan, but also in the Asia-Pacific Region.


Industrial zones

Industrial zones on Tokyo Bay were developed as early as the Meiji era (1868–1912). The Keihin Industrial Zone was built on
reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...
in Kanagawa Prefecture to the west of Tokyo. This was expanded to the
Keiyō Industrial Zone , also known as the Keiyō Industrial Region, the Keiyō Industrial Area, or the Keiyō Industrial Belt, is an industrial zone on the northeastern coast of Tokyo Bay that crosses 8 cities in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The zone spans from the wester ...
in Chiba Prefecture along the north and east coasts of Tokyo Bay after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The development of the two zones has resulted in the largest industrialized area in Japan. The large-scale industrial zones of the coastal Tokyo region have caused significant
air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...
and
water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...
pollution.


Military facilities

The Port of Yokosuka contains the naval bases of the
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...
and the
United States Forces Japan is a subordinate unified command of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). It was activated at Fuchū Air Station in Tokyo, Japan, on 1 July 1957 to replace the Far East Command. USFJ is commanded by the Commander, US Forces ...
.


History


Perry Expedition

Tokyo Bay was the venue for the
Perry Expedition The Perry Expedition ( ja, 黒船来航, , "Arrival of the Black Ships") was a diplomatic and military expedition during 1853–1854 to the Tokugawa Shogunate involving two separate voyages by warships of the United States Navy. The goals of thi ...
, which involved two separate trips from 1853 to 1854 between the United States and Japan by Commodore
Matthew Perry Matthew Langford Perry (born August 19, 1969) is an American-Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom ''Friends'' (1994–2004). As well as starring in the short-lived television series '' St ...
(1794–1858). Perry sailed on his four " Black Ships" into Edo Bay on July 8, 1853, and began negotiations with the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
that led to a peace and trade
treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pe ...
between the United States and Japan in 1854.


World War II

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender at the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
was signed on September 2, 1945, on board , which was anchored at 35° 21′ 17″ N 139° 45′ 36″ E. A flag from one of Commodore Perry's ships was flown in from the Naval Academy Museum and displayed at the ceremony.


See also

*
Port of Tokyo The Port of Tokyo is one of the largest Japanese seaports and one of the largest seaports in the Pacific Ocean basin having an annual traffic capacity of around 100 million tonnes of cargo and 4,500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units. The port is a ...
*
Uraga Channel The is a waterway connecting Tokyo Bay to the Sagami Gulf. It is an important channel for ships headed from Tokyo, Yokohama, and Chiba to the Pacific Ocean and beyond. Geography The Uraga channel is at the southern end of Tokyo Bay (formerly ...
*
Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamakur ...
*
Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...
* Keihin * Keiyō


References

{{Authority control Bays of Japan Landforms of Tokyo Tourist attractions in Tokyo Geography of Yokohama Landforms of Chiba Prefecture Tourist attractions in Chiba Prefecture Landforms of Kanagawa Prefecture Tourist attractions in Kanagawa Prefecture