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Tokyo

capital and largest city of Japan

56 dated entries naming Tokyo, drawn from 47 separate years between 824 CE and 2025 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Tokyo Prefecture, Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo, Tokyo in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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9th century

  • 824Zenpuku-ji, one of the oldest Tokyo temples, is founded by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kūkai.source

10th century

  • 940March 25 – Taira no Masakado, the self-proclaimed "New Emperor" (新皇), is subdued by local rivals who revolt against his rule. His forces are defeated by his cousin, Taira no Sadamori, in Shimōsa Province. Masakado's head is brought back to Emperor Suzaku in Tokyo.source
  • 941Kaminarimon, the eight-pillared gate to the Sensō-ji Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan, is erected.source

14th century

  • 1375Heirin-ji Temple is founded near Tokyo.source
  • 1382March 10 – (24th day of Leap Month of Kōwa 2) Kusunoki Masanori, fighting for Southern Japan, is defeated in a battle at Kawachi Hirao with Yamana Ujiyoshi and is forced to retreat back to Tokyo.source

15th century

  • 1457Edo Castle is built by Ōta Dōkan in modern-day Tokyo.source

16th century

  • 1590June 23 – The Japanese samurai Toyotomi Hideyoshi sends an army of 15,000 men, led by generals Maeda Toshiie and Uesugi Kagekatsu, in an attack on the Hachiōji Castle in what is now Tokyo. The castle is lightly defended, by only 1,300 men, because the samurai Hōjō Ujiteru has most of his troops engaged in defending Hideyohsi's siege of Odawara. The castle is captured after one day, and later destroyed on orders of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.source

17th century

  • 1660January 25 - The first bridge to span the Sumida River in Tokyo, the Ryōgoku Bridge, is built to give people a means of escape from fires. (Traditional Japanese Date: Thirteenth Day of the Twelfth Month, 1659)source

19th century

  • 1840Kajima, a construction company based in Japan, is founded in Edo (modern-day Tokyo).source
  • 1857Suzumoto Vaudeville Theater officially opens in Ueno region, Edo (modern-day Tokyo) in Japan.source
  • 1864Yasudaya Currency Exchange Bank, as predecessor of Mizuho Financial Group, is founded in Edo (modern-day Tokyo), Japan.source
  • 1868September 3 (Keiō 4, 17th day of the 7th month) – Emperor Meiji announces that the name of the city of Edo was being changed to Tokyo, or "eastern capital".source
  • 1872July 15 – Hochi Mail News, later Hochi Daily News, a Japanese language newspaper, is first published in Tokyo, although it changes coverage from general news to a sports newspaper from December 1949.source
  • 1872September 17 – Shiseido Pharmacy Shop, predecessor of Shiseido, a major worldwide cosmetics brand, is founded in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan.source
  • 1873Konishiya Rokubei, predecessor of the Konica Minolta worldwide imaging brand, is founded in Tokyo, Japan.source
  • 1874November 2 – The first issue of Japanese-language newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun is published in Tokyo, Japan.source
  • 1875July 11 – Tanaka Manufacturing, a telecommunications factory in Ginza, Tokyo, a predecessor of Toshiba, a Japanese electromechanics giant, is founded.source
  • 1876December 2 – Chugai Economic Daily, predecessor of Nikkei Economic Daily (Nihon Keizai Shinbun), is first issued in Tokyo, Japan.source
  • 1881Hattori Watch Shop (服部時計店) is founded by Kanetarō Hattori in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, predecessor of watch brand Seiko.source
  • 1881Meiji Law School, predecessor of Meiji University, is founded in Yurakucho, Tokyo, Japan.source
  • 1887Nagase Shoten (長瀬商店), predecessor of Japanese cosmetics and toiletry brand Kao Corporation, is founded in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan.source
  • 1888April 13 – Kahisakan (可否茶館), the first coffee shop in Japan, opens in Tokyo.source
  • 1899February 1 – Telephone service begins between Tokyo and Osaka.source
  • 1899November – Momijigari, the oldest extant Japanese film, is shot an open space behind the Kabuki-za in Tokyo.source

20th century

  • 1905July 27 – The Taft–Katsura agreement is reached in Tokyo.source
  • 1905August 20 — Tongmenghui, a secret society and underground resistance movement, is founded by Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren, and others in Tokyo, Japansource
  • 1912March 27 – Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki gives 3,000 Cherry blossom trees to be planted in Washington, D.C., to symbolize the friendship between the two countries.source
  • 1913January 21 – The first French private school opens in Tokyo. Later graduates include Sakaguchi Ango, Tanizaki Junichiro and Takehisa Yumeji.source
  • 1914February 10–14 large-scale demonstrations erupted in Tokyo in response to the Siemens scandal.source
  • 1920November 2 – Meiji Shrine, one of many landmark spots in Tokyo, is officially built in Japan.source
  • 1923September 1 – The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing an estimated 142,807 people, but according to a Japanese construction research center report in 2005, 105,000 are confirmed dead. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes.source
  • 1923December 27 – Toranomon Incident: In Tokyo, Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan survives an assassination attempt by communist student Daisuke Nanba.source
  • 1925March – A nation's first license radio station, NHK Radio One, an official broadcasting service start in Tokyo, following start on June 1 in Osaka and July 15 in Nagoya.source
  • 1927March 7 – Kita Tango earthquake: with a moment magnitude of 7.0. Up to 2,956 people were killed 7,806 were injured. Almost all the houses in Mineyama (now part of Kyōtango) were destroyed as a result. The earthquake was felt as far away as Tokyo and Kagoshima.source
  • 19298–29 August – Rigid airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin makes a circumnavigation of the Northern Hemisphere eastabout out of Lakehurst, New Jersey, including the first nonstop flight of any kind across the Pacific Ocean (Tokyo–Los Angeles).source
  • 1929August 8–29 – German rigid airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin makes a circumnavigation of the Northern Hemisphere eastabout out of Lakehurst, New Jersey, including the first nonstop flight of any kind across the Pacific Ocean (Tokyo–Los Angeles).source
  • 1934The Yomiuri Giants, a successful professional baseball club in Japan, is founded in Tokyo.source
  • 1940July 20–August 4 – Scheduled dates for the 1940 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, cancelled in November 1939 due to WWII (originally allocated to Tokyo, Japan).source
  • 1940July 27 – Eleven British nationals, including Melville James Cox, are arrested on suspicion of spying for military intelligence by the secret police in Japan. Cox commits suicide in Tokyo on July 29, according to a report by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.source
  • 1942April 18 – WWII: Doolittle Raid – Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle leads a bombing mission against Japan, along with 79 other airmen of the U.S. Air Force, flying 16 North American B-25 Mitchell land-based bombers. They take off from the USS Hornet in the Pacific Ocean, some 700 miles (1,126 km) east of Tokyo. Thirteen of the B-25 bombers fly over Tokyo and drop their bombs on oil storage facilities, factories and military targets. The other three B-25s drop their bombs over Yokohama, Nagoya and Kobe. All but one of the B-25s run out of fuel before reaching friendly forces in western China and are forced to land in Japanese-occupied China. With the support of Chinese farmers, 71 airmen reach free China. Eight airmen are captured by the Japanese, who execute four of them in retaliation for the raid.source
  • 1948August 19 – Toho strikes: A sitdown strike at Toho film studio in Tokyo ends after the studio is surrounded by 2,000 police and a platoon of U.S. Eighth Army soldiers.source
  • 1957October 27 – According to Fire and Disaster Management Agency has official report, An apartment house caught fire by arsonist relative insurance fraud in Akishima, Tokyo, kills eight persons, injures six persons, Japan National Police Agency official report, a suspicion was arrested on March 8, 1958.source
  • 1964July 14: According to Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency official confirmed report, a Katsushima Warehouse caught fire and explode in Shinagawa, Tokyo, total 19 person were human fatalities and 117 persons were wounded.source
  • 1971July 20 - A first McDonald's fast food outlet open in Japan at Ginza, Tokyo.source
  • 197325 November - KLM Flight 861 is hijacked on an Amsterdam to Tokyo flight. All 247 passengers on board survive.source
  • 1985June 15 – Studio Ghibli, an animation studio, is founded in Tokyo.source
  • 1989February 24 – The state funeral of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) in Tokyo is attended by leaders and representatives of 160 nations.source
  • 1994December 11 – A bomb, allegedly planted by Ramzi Yousef, explodes aboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434 bound for Tokyo, killing a Japanese businessman. The bombing, with another one at a movie theater in Manila on Dec. 1, is part of a test run for Project Bojinka.source
  • 1995April 9 - In a series of gubernatorial elections held across Japan, Yukio Aoshima and Knock Yokoyama become governors of Tokyo and Osaka respectively.source
  • 1997December – An episode of Batibot, a production being aired over GMA-7, on "Child of Labor: Sugarcane Workers" wins the UNICEF Prize from the 24th Japan Prize International Educational Program Contest; the prize is received at awarding ceremonies held in Tokyo.source

21st century

  • 2008January 16 - At the first Mekong-Japan foreign ministers meeting in Tokyo, Japan pledges US$20 million in aid for development projects in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Left out of the aid picture was Burma, a former recipient of Japanese aid, whose foreign minister Nyan Win was present for the meeting.source
  • 2013September 7 – The International Olympic Committee awards Tokyo the right to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.source
  • 2021July 23–August 8 – The 2020 Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo, Japan. They were originally scheduled for 24 July–9 August 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.source
  • 2021August 24–September 5 – The 2020 Summer Paralympics were held in Tokyo, Japan. They were originally scheduled for 25 August–6 September 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.source
  • 2025September 13–21 – The 2025 World Athletics Championships are held in Tokyo, Japan.source
  • 2025November 25 – A report published by the United Nations shows that Indonesian capital Jakarta has surpassed Japanese capital Tokyo as the world's largest city, with a population of 42 million people.source

Named in the same entries