- Tokyo at glance

TOKYO is one of 47 prefectures of Japan, an district including 23 special wards (called "KU" in Japanese) and 26 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages. Several islands in the Pacific ocean with active volcanoes or mountainous national parks are also in the district, so if you think everywhere in Tokyo is crowded with people or buildings, you're not quite right.

Although, when we say Tokyo, we usually mean an area of 23 wards plus several surrounding cities, where most of commercial and business facilities are concentrated.

Population of Tokyo itself is 12 million, out of which 8 million gather in the wards, but these numbers don't really show the size of the metropolis.
Large percentage of people who work or study in Tokyo do not live inside the prefecture, they have their homes in the surroundings like Kanagawa (including Yokohama-city), Saitama, or Chiba, where land prices and room rents are cheaper.

And also it is difficult to draw a line between Tokyo and other prefectures, for usually there's just a river or a road between, and row of houses, office buildings continue.
Narita international airport is far beyond the border of Tokyo and Chiba, but we call it "New Tokyo International Airport" (we're awfully sorry about this), and "Tokyo Disneyland" is also actually in Chiba, but no one really cares.

An area consisting of Tokyo and 6 surrounding prefectures is called "Kanto" region and the total population will sum up to 40 million (30% of whole Japan). It is said that about the half, approximately 20 million people in the region could be said as the true population of so-called Tokyo area.

So, there's a difference between the geographical meaning of Tokyo and its appearance, but definitely it could be numbered as one of the largest cities in the world.

Basic figures of Tokyo :