Nihonbashi dori Tokyo (NYPL Hades-2360399-4044198)

is a special ward that forms part of the heart of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. The ward refers to itself in English as Chūō City. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Kyobashi and

Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The curre ...

wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. Chūō-ku, as a combination of Kyobashi and Nihonbashi, is the core of Shitamachi, the original downtown center of Edo-Tokyo. Literally meaning "Central Ward", it is historically the main commercial center of Tokyo, although Shinjuku has risen to challenge it since 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The most famous district in Chūō is

Ginza Ginza ( ; ja, 銀座 ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous i ...

, built on the site of a former silver mint from which it takes its name. The gold mint, or , formerly occupied the site of the present-day Bank of Japan headquarters building, also in Chūō. As of October 1, 2020, the ward has a resident

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 169,179, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

of 16,569 persons per km². The total area is 10.21 km². However, because of the concentration of businesses, offices and retail space, the daytime population swells to an estimated 650,000.

Geography

Chūō is in the central area of Tokyo, surrounded by the five special wards of Chiyoda,

Minato Minato (港 or 湊) is Japanese for 'harbor', and may refer to: Places * Minato, Tokyo or Minato City, a special ward in Tokyo, Japan * Minato-ku, Nagoya, a ward of Nagoya, Japan * Minato-ku, Osaka, a ward of Osaka, Japan * Minato (湊), a neig ...

Taitō is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. In English, it is known as Taitō City. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 186,276, and a population density of 18,420 persons per km2. The total area is . Thi ...

, Sumida, and

Kōtō is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Kōtō City in English. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 488,632, and a population density of 12,170 persons per km². The total area i ...

. Administratively, Chūō is divided into the three zones of Nihonbashi, Kyobashi and Tsukishima. Nihonbashi and Kyobashi are predominantly commercial areas on the east side of Tokyo Station, and incorporate the famous districts of

and Tsukiji. Tsukishima is a separate island in Tokyo Bay dominated by

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

towers. Until

, the area was crisscrossed by small rivers and canals, used by small boats which were the primary vehicles of commerce at the time. After the war, many of these waterways were filled in to make way for new roads, buildings and expressways. However, the former waterways are the basis for many of the neighborhood divisions in the ward. The

Sumida River The is a river that flows through central Tokyo, Japan. It branches from the Arakawa River at Iwabuchi (in Kita-ku) and flows into Tokyo Bay. Its tributaries include the Kanda and Shakujii rivers. It passes through the Kita, Adachi, Ara ...

forms the eastern boundary of the ward. Chūō is physically the second-smallest ward in Tokyo, with a total area of just 10.15 km²; only Taitō is smaller.

History

* 1612: Shōgun

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

, planning to establish

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

as the de facto capital of Japan, begins work on a new commercial district surrounding the eastern end of the Tōkaidō, the main road connecting Tokyo and the Kansai region. During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

this area is known as Edomachi—the town center of Edo. Much of the area (particularly Ginza and Tsukiji) was loose sand piled at the delta of the Sumida River before being filled in by the shogunate. * 1657: After a fire consumes much of the city, the area is re-planned with more canals to accommodate more maritime commerce. * 1869: A foreigners' settlement is established in Tsukiji. It continues until about 1899. * 1872: A fire consumes much of the Ginza area. In its aftermath, the governor of Tokyo re-plans Ginza to be a modern European-style commercial district between Shinbashi (the city's main railway terminal at the time) to the south and Nihonbashi (the main business and financial district) to the north. * 1878: Under a new local organization statute, the wards of Nihonbashi and Kyobashi are established under the government of Tokyo City, covering the area now occupied by Chūō. * 1945: Following Japan's defeat in World War II, several buildings are taken over by

SCAP SCAP may refer to: * S.C.A.P., an early French manufacturer of cars and engines * Security Content Automation Protocol * '' The Shackled City Adventure Path'', a role-playing game * SREBP cleavage activating protein * Supervisory Capital Assessm ...

to serve as supply centers for the occupation forces. These include the Hattori Watch Company, the Matsuya department store and the Toshiba Building. The buildings are returned to Japanese civilian control by 1951. * 1947: Chūō Ward is founded on March 15 under the new Local Autonomy Law, merging the former Nihonbashi and Kyōbashi wards.

Districts and neighborhoods

Nihonbashi Area ()

* (馬喰町) * Hakozakicho (): Location of Tokyo City Air Terminal (T-CAT) * () ** Arashio stable (): Stable of professional sumo wrestlers * () * () * () * Hongokucho (): Location of Bank of Japan (). * () * Kabutocho (): The securities district. Location of Tokyo Stock Exchange. * () ** Suitengu Shrine (): A

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shint ...

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

at which women pray for conception and safe birth. * () * Koamicho * Kobunacho * () * Muromachi (): Location of Mitsukoshi () department stores. *

Nakasu is the red-light district which exists between the sandbank of the and the in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is named after a popular, but very short-lived, entertainment quarter of Edo, which existed in the late 18th century. T ...

(): Traditional commercial center. Also home to the Takashimaya () department stores, and the "zero milestone" from which highway distances to Tokyo are measured. * () * () * () * ()

Kyōbashi Area ()

* (): Home to St. Luke's Hospital and Nursing School and the adjacent Garden Tower skyscraper. *

(): Tokyo's most expensive shopping district, housing large stores such as Matsuya (), Matsuzakaya (), Mitsukoshi (), Wako (), and Printemps (), as well as the famous Kabuki-za () theater. At night, Ginza is ablaze with neon lights. Exclusive bars abound. **

Shinbashi Enbujō The is a theatre in the Ginza neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major kabuki venue, though other types of performances take place there as well. History The theatre was originally built in 1925 to provide a venue for the ''Azuma Odori'' g ...

(): A famous theater * (): Location of Hama-rikyū Gardens (). A spacious public park, formerly the property of ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

' of Kōshū, and later under the administration of the Imperial Household Agency * (): During the

, the location of the police barracks * Irifune () * Kyōbashi () *

(harbor) () * () ** (): A bridge across the

() * () * Tsukiji (): Location of Chūō City Office. Widely viewed as one of the best sushi () destinations in the world because of its huge wholesale fish market, which supplies restaurants and stores across eastern Japan. Also home to the

Jōdo Shinshū , also known as Shin Buddhism or True Pure Land Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Shin Buddhism is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan. History Shinran ...

temple of Tsukiji Hongan-ji (). * Yaesu (): District on the east side of Tokyo Station(). The Yaesu side of Tokyo Station is the terminal for the Shinkansen () "bullet train" lines.

Tsukishima Area ()

Harumi Japanese given name. Although the name can be given to both sexes, it is more commonly used by females. Possible writings Harumi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *晴美, "sunny, beauty" *晴海, "sunny, sea" *晴� ...

(): the Harumi passenger terminal is here * (): The location of a bridge of the same name over the Sumida River * () * Tsukishima (); Famous for many Monjayaki restaurants * Tsukuda () ** (): A Shinto shrine with a history dating back to 1590

Economy

Ricoh is headquartered in the Ricoh Building in Chūō. The company moved its headquarters to the 25-story building in the

area in Chūō from

Minato, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. The modern Minato ward exhibits t ...

in 2006. In the building the headquarters occupies the same space as its sales offices.

Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest worldwide ''sogo shosha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group. It is listed on three Japanese stock exchanges ...

is headquartered in the Harumi Island Triton Square Office Tower Y in Chūō. Daiichi Sankyo, a global

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

company is also headquartered in the ward, in the Daiichi Sankyo Building. Oji Paper Holdings and Hokuetsu Corporation, two pulp and paper manufacturing companies have their headquarters in

and Nihonbashihongoku, respectively. J. Front Retailing has its headquarters in Yaesu. Asahi Shimbun, Mitsui E＆S, and Nihon Ad Systems have their headquarters in Tsukiji.

Ajinomoto is a Japanese multinational food and biotechnology corporation which produces seasonings, interlayer insulating materials for semiconductor packages for use in personal computers, cooking oils, frozen foods, beverages, sweeteners, amino acids, ...

, Mitsui Fudosan,

Shinsei Bank is a leading diversified Japanese financial institution that provides a full range of financial products and services to both institutional and individual customers. It is owned by SBI Group and headquartered in Chuo, Tokyo. History SBI Shinse ...

, Nomura Group and Meidi-Ya are also headquartered in the ward.

Shimizu Corporation is an architectural, civil engineering and general contracting firm. It has annual sales of approximately US$15 billion and has been widely recognized as one of the top 5 contractors in Japan and among the top 20 in the world. It is a family bus ...

and Sumitomo Mitsui Construction, two construction companies are headquartered in the ward, the former in Kyōbashi and the latter in Tsukuda district.

Orion Breweries is the fifth-largest beer brewery in Japan, headquartered in Urasoe, Okinawa Prefecture. The company commands approximately 1% of the Japanese beer market, and controls 60% of the beer market on Okinawa. History Founded in 1957 in Nago, Okin ...

and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company have their Tokyo-area offices in Chūō. Toray Industries, Denka and Kureha Corporation, three global chemical companies; Astellas Pharma, a global pharmaceutical company; KOSÉ, a personal care and cosmetics company;

Nisshinbo Holdings is a Japanese company formerly listed on the Nikkei 225. It has a diverse line of businesses that include electronics, automobile brakes, mechatronics, chemicals, textiles, papers and real estate. History Nisshinbo was established in 1907 as ...

, a diversified manufacturing company; and Akebono Brake Industry, an automobile component manufacturer have their headquarters in the Nihonbashi area of the ward. Sumitomo Chemical is also headquartered in the ward, in the Kyōbashi area. MODEC, a global supplier and operator of offshore floating platforms, T. Hasegawa, a flavors and fragrances company, and Nissan Chemical Corporation, have their corporate headquarters in the Nihonbashi district.

Foreign operations

IBM has its Japan headquarters in Chūō.

Former economic operations

Dai-ichi Kikaku Senden Co., Ltd. opened in Chūō in

, Chūō in December 1951. In January 1958 the company relocated to a new headquarters in Ginza. The company moved to another headquarters in Ginza in September 1961 and its name changed to Dai-ichi Kikaku Co. Ltd. In November 1974, after growth, the company moved to another headquarters in Ginza. In November 1981 Dai-ichi Kikaku moved its head office to a facility in Ginza and a facility in Uchisaiwaichō, Chiyoda. The headquarters of Asatsu moved to Ginza in July 1995. Asatsu and Dai-ichi Kikaku merged into Asatsu-DK on January 1, 1999. In the late 1990s GeoCities Japan was headquartered in the Nihonbashi Hakozaki Building in

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed ...

maintained its Japanese headquarters in Mid-Tower of the Tokyo Towers. File:RICOH Company Head Office Building 2007-1.jpg, Ricoh Building File:Ajinomoto headquarters 2009.jpg,

headquarters File:Oji Paper (headquarters 1).jpg, Oji Paper Holdings headquarters

Politics and government

Chuo is run by a city assembly of 30 elected members. The current mayor is Yoshihide Yada, an independent backed Liberal Democratic Party and

Komeito , formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalit ...

Elections

* 2007 Chuo mayoral election

Transportation

Rail

At Tokyo Station, six Shinkansen, seven ordinary railway, and one subway line serve Chūō. In addition, three Toei subway lines stop at various stations throughout the ward.

Highway

Shuto Expressway * No. 1 Ueno Route (Edobashi JCT – Iriya) * No. 6 Mukojima Route (Edobashi JCT – Horikiri JCT) * No. 9 Fukagawa Route (Hakozaki JCT – Tatsumi JCT) * C1 Inner Loop (Edobashi–Takaracho–Kyōbashi–Ginza–Shiodome–Hamazakibashi–Shiba Park–Tanimachi–Kasumigaseki–Daikanmachi–Edobashi)

Education

Colleges and universities

* * St. Luke's International University * Waseda University Nihonbashi Campus

Primary and secondary education

Public elementary and junior high schools schools in Chūō are operated by the Chūō City Board of Education (中央区教育委員会). Public high schools are operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education. There is one prefectural high school in Chuo Ward, . Public junior high schools include: * Ginza Junior High School ( 銀座中学校) * Harumi Junior High School ( 晴海中学校) * Nihonbashi Junior High School ( 日本橋中学校) * Tsukuda Junior High School ( 佃中学校) Public elementary schools include: * Akashi Elementary School (明石小学校) - ** Its previous building opened in 1926. The Architectural Institute of Japan advocated for retaining the building, but the board of education chose to raze the building and build a new one. * Arima Elementary School ( 有馬小学校) - * Chuo Elementary School - ** Formed on April 1, 1993 ( Heisei 5) by the merger of Kyoka Elementary School (京華小学校) and Teppozu Elementary School (鉄砲洲小学校). * Hisamatsu Elementary School ( 久松小学校) - * Joto Elementary School ( 城東小学校) - Yaesu * Kyobashi Tsukiji Elementary School ( 京橋築地小学校) - Tsukiji * Meisho Elementary School (明正小学校) - *

Elementary School ( 日本橋小学校) - * Sakamoto Elementary School ( 阪本小学校) - * Taimei Elementary School - Ginza * Tokiwa Elementary School ( 常盤小学校) - * Toyomi Elementary School (豊海小学校) - * Tsukishima Daiichi (No. 1) Elementary School (島第一小学校) * Tsukishima Daini (No. 2) Elementary School ( 島第二小学校) - * Tsukishima Daisan (No. 3) Elementary School ( 島第三小学校) -

* Tsukudajima Elementary School ( 佃島小学校)

References

External links

Chūō City Official Website

Chūō City Tourism Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chuo, Tokyo Wards of Tokyo