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Trade & EconomicsTokyo: Trade and Economics Overview
Industrializing rapidly after WWII, the Tokyo metropolitan region is the largest commercial center in Japan. Here, especially in the central business district, most large (both Japanese and foreign) businesses and banks have established their headquarters. The region’s port of Yokohama is the country’s largest port.
Tokyo has evolved into one of the leading international economic centers in the world. In the realm of finance, the Tokyo Stock Exchange is one of the world’s major financial centers. And headquartered in Tokyo, the government-controlled Bank of Japan regulates Japan’s banking system. The giant automakers Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. are headquartered in Tokyo as well, shipping Japanese cars all over the world. Electronics equipment is also one of the leading industries of the area. Hitachi Limited, Toshiba, Sony and NEC Corporations are headquartered in Tokyo. Publishing and printing are lead industries as well. Several Tokyo companies are among the 25 largest firms in the world.
In other parts of the Tokyo region, Yokohama (the region’s main port) and Kawasaki produce automobiles, chemicals, iron and steel, machinery, metal products, petroleum products, ships. The Chiba Prefecture, with a mild climate and level terrain, is conducive to farming, rice production, dairy. Commercial fishing in the Bay is now impossible because of industrial pollution. Before WWII the Tokyo Bay Area manufactured soy sauce and fabric.
Compiled by Adriana Dakin, WorldLink Foundation
Sources: Japan, An Illustrated Encyclopedia, v. 2, Kodansha (Tokyo: 1993); Japan, Lonely Planet (Hawthorn, Australia: 1994); World Book,“Tokyo” (1997); Encyclopedia Britannica, Macropaedia, volume 28 (Chicago: 1995).