Kanto

The Kanto region, meaning “east of the border” in Japanese, occupies the eastern part of Honshu and is defined by the Kanto Plain — Japan’s largest flat expanse, covering roughly 45% of the region’s area and crossing all seven prefectures. The Kanto region comprises a combined area of about 32,430 square kilometers and a population of approximately 43 million — around 34% of Japan’s total. The Tokyo Metropolitan Area located within is the political, economic and cultural center of Japan, housing the national government, most of the country’s largest corporations and its greatest concentration of universities and cultural institutions.

Tokyo, the capital and by far the largest city in Japan, is the region’s gravitational center. Officially a metropolis rather than a prefecture, Tokyo contains both the ultra-dense 23 special wards — including Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ginza, Roppongi and Asakusa. Neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture is home to Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city, with its cosmopolitan port district, vast Chinatown, and the Minato Mirai waterfront. Kanagawa also contains the ancient capital of Kamakura, the onsen resort of Hakone with its Mt. Fuji views, and the coastal Shonan region.

The outer prefectures offer a wide range of attractions — many accessible as day trips from Tokyo. Chiba, east of Tokyo across the bay, is home to  Tokyo Disney Resort. Saitama, directly north of Tokyo, features Kawagoe — a well-preserved Edo-period merchant town nicknamed “Little Edo” — and the Chichibu mountain area. Tochigi is home to Nikko, where the lavishly ornate Tosho-gu Shrine enshrines shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Ibaraki contains Kairakuen, one of Japan’s three great gardens, and Gunma, the northwestern prefecture, is known for its hot spring resorts — Kusatsu, Ikaho and Minakami.