Why MOST Of Japan's Population Live In Just Three Cities: Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya

Japan is a fascinating country for a lot of reasons. But chief among them is the fact that well over half the population live in just three metropolitan areas: Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. And for a country that is both larger in population (125 million people) and large in size (145,000 square miles) there should probably be more areas of the country that have more people. So why do so many Japanese live within just three relatively tiny areas?

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[PolecanePC]

Just some data.
Tokyo itself has 14M people
the whole metropolitan area which is named Greater Tokyo has 37M total

[mnj]

Thanks for awesome insights!
8:14 Toyota HQ is not in Greater Tokyo but in Nagoya. Instead, Nissan is located in Yokohama, Greater Tokyo.

[PrepareToTakeoff]

"and as usual, there is a geographic reason behind this" never gets old!

[ThatNinjaGuy]

A common misconception people have about Tokyo is that it is a city. In fact it’s NOT a city but Tokyo is actually a prefecture (politically equivalent to state in the us) Tokyo has a governor, and within Tokyo there are multiple cities, towns and villages. What people think of when they think “the city of Tokyo” are the 23 special districts of Tokyo. They each have their own mayor, their own education system, police, fire departments, etc.

[StrawberryRaine]

I went to Japan for the first time last week. I wanted to visit a smaller city, rather than the big three, so I went to Kofu. The glimpse I got of Tokyo compared to what I experienced in Kofu was staggering! Tokyo truly looked bustling, people absolutely everywhere. Kofu, on the other hand, was very quiet and peaceful. The area immediately outside the train station was fairly busy, but literally anywhere other than that was very empty. I found I was the only one wondering the streats more than once. I visited Kofu castle, I thought it would be at least a little busy considering it's one of the main tourist attractions in Kofu, but there were only about five other people there, and I think some of them were workers setting up for an upcoming event or something. The time of day I went was also likely a factor, 12pm on a weekday, but even exploring the city on the weekend was very peaceful.
Sure, Kofu wasn't as convenient as I'm sure Tokyo is. There's not as many tourist spots or things to do, and no one really spoke English, but I'm very happy I went. It was easier to go at my own pace, and it was so nice often being the only one visiting a given location. Just being able to have space to myself, which I hear is much harder to find in Tokyo.
I'm sure I'll go to Tokyo and Kyoto and such someday, but I recommend that people get out of those main areas more as well!

[itsehsanh]

Excellent video. I have traveled to 100 countries and Japan is my number 1 country. It has something for everyone. I have been three times and each time I have felt more at "home." I do plan to move there in the near future!

[Ricky_]

I think there are certain factors that should be mentioned here, like snow. Japan is the snowiest country in the world. However, most of that snow actually falls in a very specific area. Osaka and Nagoya are only a few kilometres away from getting massive amounts of snow. Tokyo is a bit more shielded though because of the mountains. During the sengoku period, there were certain areas like Hokuriku and Tohoku that had a military advantage thanks to the snow. So, many of those places grew in population. In fact, in 1850, Kanazawa was the 4th most populous city in the country and it is now the 35th most populous. Sapporo, on the other hand, has grown but that's mostly because people who liked snow and wanted to get away from the humid Summers of the South moved there throughout the Meiji and post-Meiji era. It should also be mentioned that Hokkaido was basically uncharted territory at the time. So, lots of people settled there in the same way Americans settled in California during the same time. Of course, these aren't the only factors. Tokushima was the 10th biggest city in 1873 and now it's the 87th. Part of the reason for this has to do with the fact that it's located in Shikoku, the poorest island, which didn't allow much population growth due to the surrounding area. The small amount of space was also an issue for Nagasaki. It's historically been a massive port city but, despite that, Fukuoka is by far the largest city in Kyushu and that's primarily thanks to the landscape. Fukuoka is located on a plain while Nagasaki is squeezed in between the mountains. In fact, if you go to Nagasaki, you'll notice way more people live in apartments than the rest of the country because of the land and despite being a coastal city, some people even live more than 200 metres above sea level. The Kanto region and the plains in Nagoya were desirable and they were sparsely populated, hence why they grew. This how Yokohama went from being a minor city to Japan's second largest city, overtaking Osaka. The prefecture of Kanagawa had massive amounts of flat land that Osaka didn't have.

Hvaing said that, everything else that you've touched on is correct. I just thought I'd add this as well since I know quite a lot about Japan's history and geography myself.

[BrianBaileyedtech]

I am in Japan right now - just outside of metro Tokyo in Tsuchiura. I love Tokyo but the mid-sized cities have a much better quality of life - like Okayama or Takamatsu where I was earlier this week. Okayama has a metro population of 700, 000 but it feels much smaller. Takamatsu is at 350, 000. These two cities are modern, clean and not nearly as dense as Tokyo, making it easier and more relaxing to get around.

[theknowledgeco-operative]

Japan has always had a remarkably urban society. For centuries it has had one or more of the world's largest cities.

[baboon]

I live in the US my whole life. I visited Japan for the first time back in August. Their public transportation is so impressive and I loved their bullet trains. The distance from Tokyo to Osaka is almost the same as NYC to Buffalo, NY which (about 7 hours by car). Shinkansen takes about of that time. It is sad in the US, I have to drive everywhere to get around.

[paulctc]

The reason is simple. Because the Old capital was Kyoto and the new one is Tokyo. Historical demography shows in 1600AD one third of its people lived in present Kansai region, or "Kyoto and Osaka metropolitan zone". And From the 17th century, the development of Edo/ Tokyo - the Tokugawa shogun's home city and turned to be the true capital from the mid-19th century onwards - caused the population to move from Kansai to Kanto. The two metropolis were separated by the steep Japanese Alps, so the most important route connecting them detours along the southern coast - Tokaido road. The most fertile land along the road was Nagoya.

[toomuchdrivetothrive]

I lived in rural Japan and it was the best time of my life. I lived in Tokyo for 7 years and had fun but would never do it again. Kyushuu is the best place in Asia IMO. It is perfect. Good weather (except for typhoons), nice beaches, low cost of living, really nice people, great food and gorgeous scenery.

[SerbAtheist]

Nagoya is perhaps the largest megacity that people know about but don't realize it's a megacity.

[kosjeyr]

While in the military, I spent 3 years on Okinawa from 2009 to 2012. Typhoon parties... earthquakes... all were fun to me.
The banyan tree...

[SeverityOne]

Regarding geography: I'm a bit weird, in the sense that I like to watch train cab ride videos. It's like going on a little adventure, not knowing where you'll end up.

One of these videos was of a Japanese local, narrow gauge passenger train. It was somewhere in winter. Nothing spectacular, people were wearing winter clothes, but that was about it. At some point, the train entered a tunnel, and when it came out, it was in the middle of a quite serious snowstorm.

The geography played a _major_ role in how Japan was shaped.

[arifshahabuddin]

Japan indeed is a fascinating country. Three countries: Japan, Germany and the UK (in the past) were able to turn their relatively small countries with limited resources into powerhouses. Indeed, Japan and Germany are the third and fourth wealthiest countries in the world, respectively.

One way to learn more about Japan is to watch the classic films of directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi. The films of the jidaigeki genre (period films ("jidai" is where George Lucas got the word "jedi")) was a specialty of Mizoguchi. His classic films include "Sansho the Bailiff" which takes place in the Heian period (~1000 AD), "Ugetsu" which takes place in Sengoku period (~ 1550 AD), "The Life of Oharu" which takes place in the Edo period (~ 1650 AD) and "The Last Chrysanthemum" which takes place at the turn of the 20th century. Ozu's films focused more on the contemporary period (gendaigeki). His classic films include "Late Spring", "Tokyo Story" and "An Autumn Afternoon." Each of these films depict the transformation of Japanese life in the post-war period. Finally, Kurosawa, who may well be the greatest director that ever lived, directed films about both the past and present. The jidaigeki genre includes "Rashomon", "Seven Samurai", "Kagemusha" and "Ran." His gendaigeki films include "Stray Dog", "Ikiru" and "High and Low."

This was a limited list of films and there were other great Japanese directors. Each of the films mentioned, however, were classics with "Tokyo Story" sometimes ranking as the greatest film ever made. These films give a great appreciation for Japanese history and culture.

[thechairman]

My family and I went to Hokkaido this summer and yeah there's parts of it where you don't see a soul for miles. It's beautiful and cooler than Honshu but of course it gets buried in snow in winter.

[Tコメ-et]

From Japan
This video is well done, but unfortunately there are some mistakes and not enough explanation.
Tokyo Metroplex → Greater Tokyo Area ( Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tochigi)
Osaka Metroplex → Kinki Major Metropolitan Area (Osaka Prefecture and parts of Hyogo, Kyoto, Nara, Shiga, Wakayama, Mie Prefectures)
Nagoya Metroplex → Chūkyō metropolitan area (Aichi, Gifu, Mie Prefectures)
Population of each prefecture
Tokyo Metropolis 14 million
Osaka Prefecture 8.8 million
Aichi Prefecture 7.5 million
TOYOTA is located in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture.
You can find out the rest on your own.

[Fools_Requiem]

It's geography is pretty much a major reason I'd want to move there. As much as I love cities, Japan's cities are far too packed. But the rest of the country is fucking gorgeous. It actually wouldn't be that much of a disadvantage to live in the rural areas simply because of the short distance you'd need to travel to get to places. It's not like living in rural Wyoming. It's more like living in rural New England (Northern Maine excluded). Sure, its rural, but you're not hundreds of miles away from civilization.

[kylekylelam]

Relocating young people from major metropolitan to regional areas can ease many of Japan’s social-economical problems, esp. aging population.