Why is Tokyo the world's largest urban area (38 million people!)

Modern Tokyo is a product of geography, politics, and history.

It's home to over 38 million people and it's the most populous urban area on planet Earth .

By around 1700 , Tokyo was probably the largest city in the world with over 1,000,000 people.

It reflected the strict social hierarchy of Japanese culture as well as the need for defensibility.

The Meiji era saw the deconstruction of the feudal system of daimyo, samurai and commoners.

Japan 's first urban planning law, passed by the national government in 1919 , was emblematic of this top down concrete before people approach.

Japan lacked a strong civil society filled with clubs and organizations to advocate for city planning reform.

After the war, Japan 's economy was teetering on the brink, and Tokyo was one of many Japanese cities that needed rebuilding.

By the 1960s , central Tokyo had stopped growing, and most of the growth was in the surrounding areas.

Japan 's economic boom solved some of the problems of earlier eras, but created new ones.