Countries and cultures - Countries and capitals - Tokyo - Japanese language
What does the name “Tokyo” literally mean?
Correct!
The Japanese name 東京 (Tōkyō) literally means “eastern capital”. The character 東 means “east”, and 京 means “capital”. Today’s metropolis was previously called Edo. In 1868, during the Meiji Restoration, Edo was renamed Tokyo. In the same year, Emperor Meiji traveled from Kyoto to Tokyo; the following year, the transfer of the imperial and political center to Tokyo became permanent. The name can therefore also be understood as a deliberate geographic counterpart to Kyoto, the former imperial capital farther to the west.
Tokyo literally means “eastern capital”; Edo was renamed Tokyo in 1868.
