Vol. 34: FROM THE EDITOR

The metropolis of Tokyo has approximately 14.1 million people (as of December). That makes it more populous than the European nations of Belgium (with 11.7 million people), Sweden (10.6 million) and the Czech Republic (10.5 million), according to figures published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2023.

The scale of its economy is also enormous, accounting for 20% of Japan’s GDP in 2021, or about 109.6 trillion yen ($998 billion at the time), according to Tokyo Metropolitan Government figures. Again, if it were a country, it would have ranked 17th in the world, just below Indonesia and higher than the Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey. The yen has been depreciating since these statistics were released, so its ranking has probably dropped a little, but it would still come in around 20th.

With these things in mind, the city’s current efforts to achieve decarbonization, disaster prevention and urban resilience are consequential for the entire nation. In this feature, we hear from Gov. Yuriko Koike as we examine what advanced measures are being deployed.