where does japan’s population appear to be concentrated
Honshu Honshu had a population of 103 million as of 2005[update],[citation needed] mostly concentrated in the coastal lowlands, notably in the Kantō plain where 25% of the total population resides in the Greater Tokyo Area.[citation needed] As the historical center of Japanese culture and political power,[citation needed] the island includes several past Japanese capitals, including Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura. Much of the island's southern shore forms part of the Taiheiyō Belt, a megalopolis that spans several of the Japanese islands.
Tokyo Tokyo (東京都 Tōkyō-to, literally "Eastern Capital") (/ˈtoʊkioʊ/, Japanese: [toːkʲoː] ( listen)), officially Tokyo Metropolis,[6] is the capital city of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures.[7] The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world.[8] It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands.[9] Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868; at that time Edo was renamed Tokyo. Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture (東京府, Tōkyō-fu) and the city of Tokyo (東京市, Tōkyō-shi).