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Metropolitan Tokyo
The Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture is one of 47 prefectures in
Japan. Prefectures are the country's main units of regional government.
The Tokyo prefecture is called Tokyo-to in Japanese. Most prefectures
are called ken. Tokyo is called a to in order to indicate its
special status as the nation's capital.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture is made up of four areas:
- the city, or ward area
- about 25 suburban cities west of the ward area
- several towns in a mountainous area on the far western edge
of the prefecture, and
- the Izu Islands and the Bonin Islands, two small island groups
in the Pacific Ocean, south of the prefecture.
Nearly all of the prefecture's residents live in the ward area
or the suburban cities.
The Tokyo metropolitan region is the world's largest urban center.
It consists of most of the Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture and
parts of three neighboring prefectures-Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama.
Kanagawa, to the south, includes the port city of Yokohama and
the manufacturing city of Kawasaki. Chiba, on the east, has many
large manufacturing cities and residential suburbs. Saitama,
to the north, has many rapidly growing towns.
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