Diet building
Tokyo Station
| Tokyo developed in a spiral pattern with the Imperial
Palace at the center. Before the palace was built at the current location
in 1868, the site was occupied by the Edo Castle, which served as the headquarters
of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate throughout the Edo period (1603-1868). Even today
the financial, legislative, and administrative centers of Japan are clustered
around the Imperial Palace. The area known as Nagatacho, where the Diet (legislature)
and the prime minister's official residence are located, is the hub of Japanese
politics. The offices of the ministries and agencies are concentrated in the Kasumigaseki
district, which lies to the immediate east of the Diet building.
About a kilometer northeast of the Imperial Palace lies Tokyo Station, a red brick edifice with an elegant silhouette. Tokyo Station is the terminal for the Shinkansen bullet trains that connect every region of Japan. To the west of Tokyo Station is Marunouchi, Japan's largest business district, where many large corporations have their headquarters. Every morning, a sea of dark business suits pours out of the train stations only to be sucked into the surrounding office buildings. Just north of Marunouchi is Otemachi, where the Tokyo branches of the major Japanese and foreign banks are concentrated near the Bank of Japan, the country’s central bank, creating a huge financial district. |
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