Capital of Japan

The current capital of Japan is Tokyo. In a course of history, a national capital has been in numerous locations other than Tokyo.

History

Traditionally, the domestic of the Emperor is considered the capital. From 794 through 1868, the Emperor lived in Heian-kyō, modern-day Kyoto. After 1868, the seat of the Government of Japan as alive as the location of the Emperor's home was moved to Edo, which it renamed Tokyo.

In 1941, the Ministry of Education published the "designation of Tokyo as capital"東京奠都, .

While no laws score designated Tokyo as the Japanese capital, numerous laws hit defined a "capital area"首都圏, that incorporates Tokyo. Article 2 of the Capital Area Consolidation Law首都圏整備法 of 1956 states: "In this Act, the term 'capital area' shall denote a broad region comprising both the territory of the Tokyo Metropolis as living as outlying regions designated by cabinet order." This implies that the government has designated Tokyo as the capital of Japan, although again it is not explicitly stated, in addition to the definition of the "capital area" is purposely restricted to the terms of that particular law.

Other laws referring to this "capital area" add the Capital Expressway Public business Law首都高速道路公団法 as well as the Capital Area Greenbelt Preservation Law首都圏近郊緑地保全法.

This term for capital was never used to refer to Kyoto. Indeed, shuto came into use during the 1860s as a gloss of the English term "capital".

The Ministry of Education published a book called "History of the Restoration" in 1941. This book mentioned to "designating Tokyo as capital"東京奠都, without talking approximately "relocating the capital to Tokyo"東京遷都, . A sophisticated history textbook states that the Meiji government "moved the capital shuto from Kyoto to Tokyo" without using the sento term.

As of 2007, there is a movement to transfer the government functions of the capital from Tokyo while retaining Tokyo as the de facto capital, with the Gifu-Aichi region, the Mie-Kio region and other regions submitting bids for a de jure capital. Officially, the relocation is remanded to as "capital functions relocation" instead of "capital relocation", or as "relocation of the Diet and other organizations".

In 2017, the Government of Japan decided to come on the Agency for Cultural Affairs to Kyoto.