Happy birthday to Tokyo – from Edo to Tokyo

Today is the day the name “Tokyo” was born. 153 years ago, on September 3, 1868, Emperor Meiji decreed that Edo would be called ‘Tokyo’.

Prior to that, during the Edo period, the area where Tokyo is now located was called ‘Edo’, where the Tokugawa family, the shoguns, had their residence and prospered as the political and economic center of Japan. However, the emperor still lived in the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

In 1868, at the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period, the emperor moved his residence from Kyoto to Edo, which meant that the capital city was moved to Edo. One month prior to his move, on September 3rd, 1968 Emperor Meiji decreed that Edo would be called ‘Tokyo’ (the capital in the east) and Tokyo became the capital of Japan.

Happy birthday to Tokyo.