Kanto: the plain where a third of Japan lives
Kanto is a region on the eastern side of Honshu around Tokyo: the name 関東 means "east of the barrier," paired with Kansai's "west of" the same historical boundary. Here lies the Kanto Plain — the largest plain in Japan, about 17,000 square kilometers. Tokyo and six neighboring prefectures together are home to nearly a third of the country's entire population.
Let's look at why a third of the country's people live on its largest plain and how the name 関東 became a mirror of neighboring Kansai. We'll compare east and west by broth flavor, the shape of New Year's mochi, and which side of the escalator to stand on — the everyday differences have piled up more than you'd think at first glance. We'll also check what the Kanto region from "Pokémon" has to do with it and what happened here on September 1, 1923.
The plain that fits a third of the country
Kanto occupies the eastern side of Honshu: Tokyo and six neighboring prefectures — Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Together they are home to about 44 million people — roughly a third of Japan's population on a territory that covers only a small fraction of the country's area.
| Unit | Writing | Center | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 東京都 | 23 wards | The nation's capital |
| Kanagawa | 神奈川県 | Yokohama | Port and maritime gateway to the capital |
| Saitama | 埼玉県 | Saitama | Old merchant town of Kawagoe |
| Chiba | 千葉県 | Chiba | Narita Airport and the bay coast |
| Ibaraki | 茨城県 | Mito | Kairaku-en Garden |
| Tochigi | 栃木県 | Utsunomiya | Nikko shrines |
| Gunma | 群馬県 | Maebashi | Mountain onsen |
Why the plain matters more than lines on a map
The Kanto Plain is Japan's largest plain, about 17,000 square kilometers: in area it is comparable to the entire island of Shikoku. In a country with little flat land, this plain is the reason the country's center of gravity eventually moved here from the west, from Kansai.
関東 by its characters: the same direction as in the name of Tokyo
関東 is read かんとう (Kantō) and means "east of the barrier" — a mirror of neighboring Kansai, "lands to the west" of the same historical boundary at the Ausaka barrier. The second character of the name, 東, "east," appears in Japanese far more often than the first.
東 — значение: east, eastern — онъёми: トウ — кунъёми: ひがし — 8 штрих(ов). 東 is read トウ (tō) in the on'yomi and ひがし (higashi) in the kun'yomi, meaning "east." The same character stands in the second syllable of the name Tokyo, 東京 — "eastern capital."
| Japanese | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 関東 | Kantō · Kantō | Kanto — the name of the region itself |
| 東京 | Tōkyō · Tōkyō | Tokyo — "eastern capital" |
| 東 | higashi · higashi | East — the direction in the region's name |
| 横浜 | Yokohama · Yokohama | Yokohama — the port city next to Tokyo |
| 関 | seki · seki | Barrier, which gave its name to both Kanto and Kansai |
東京 — "eastern capital," if you look from Kyoto
The city of Edo was renamed Tokyo, 東京, in 1868: the name literally means "eastern capital" and points not abstractly but from the former capital, Kyoto. The Kanto region itself got its name earlier and by the same logic — "east" here too is measured from the old capital lands in the west.
Write 東 along the guides — the character for east, which stands in both the name of the Kanto region and the name of Tokyo.
East and west: where broth, mochi, and speech diverge
In Kanto, people historically prefer dark soy sauce, koikuchi, while in Kansai they prefer light usukuchi, saltier in taste but not as dark in appearance. Even the way eel is cut differs: in Kanto it is opened along the back, steamed, and only then grilled, while in Kansai it is opened along the belly and grilled right away, without steaming. One theory says that in samurai-origin Kanto, people avoided "opening the belly," which echoed harakiri, while in merchant Kansai, on the contrary, they valued the image of "speaking frankly."
The escalator and the shape of New Year's mochi
On escalators in Tokyo, people stand on the left, leaving the right side for those walking past, while in Osaka it's the opposite — stand on the right; in Kyoto itself, despite being next to Osaka, people more often stand on the left. New Year's mochi in Kanto is cut from a sheet into square pieces, while in Kansai it is shaped by hand, round — the way mochi was originally made, before Edo invented cutting the sheet with a knife for speed.
Where the opposition itself came from
For centuries the center of the country was Kansai with its old capitals, while Kanto remained the eastern periphery. Everything changed with the Tokugawa shoguns' headquarters in Edo from 1603 and the government's move here in 1868: since then the literary standard of Japanese has grown out of Tokyo speech, not Kyoto or Osaka speech.
The bay, the shrine, and the 1923 earthquake
Tokyo Bay with its ports remains the country's main maritime gateway. In Nikko, in the mountains of Tochigi, stands a complex of Shinto and Buddhist buildings — a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. In Kamakura, from 1185 to 1333, was the headquarters of the first shogunate, and now the same place has a bronze Buddha in the open air. From Hakone, on a clear day, Mount Fuji is visible.
The Great Kanto Earthquake, September 1, 1923
On September 1, 1923, at 11:58, an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck off the western coast of Kanagawa Prefecture — the strongest in the region's history. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, more than 105,000 people were dead or missing: at the time it was the deadliest natural disaster in the country's history.
Crafts with a place name in the title
The region also has its own recognizable crafts: Mashiko-yaki — the pottery of the town of Mashiko in Tochigi, and Soka senbei — rice crackers from the city of Soka in Saitama, known far beyond the prefecture.
FAQ
- What is the Kanto region and which prefectures are in it?
- Kanto is a region on the eastern side of Honshu: Tokyo and six neighboring prefectures — Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Here lies Japan's largest plain and about 44 million people live here — roughly a third of the country's entire population.
- What is the difference between Kanto and Kansai?
- Many differences have piled up: in Kanto people prefer dark soy sauce, cut eel along the back and steam it before grilling, cut New Year's mochi into square pieces, and stand on the left of the escalator. In Kansai it's the opposite — light sauce, eel without steaming, round mochi, and the right side of the escalator.
- How is "Kanto" written in kanji?
- 関東, read かんとう. 関 means "barrier," 東 means "east," together — "east of the barrier." The same character 関, but with 西, "west," is used to write the region's neighbor — Kansai, "lands to the west" of the same historical boundary.
- Is it true that the Kanto region is in "Pokémon"?
- Yes: in the games "Pokémon Red" and "Pokémon Green" (1996, developed by Game Freak, published by Nintendo), the action opens in the Kanto region, modeled on the real geography of the Japanese region of the same name. Part of the interest in the word "Kanto" comes from the game rather than the real land.
- What is the Great Kanto Earthquake?
- That is the name for the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that occurred on September 1, 1923, off the western coast of Kanagawa Prefecture. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, more than 105,000 people were dead or missing — the most destructive natural disaster in the region's history.
- Why is Tokyo called the "eastern capital"?
- 東京 literally means "eastern capital": the name was given in 1868 to the former city of Edo when the government moved there. The direction is measured not abstractly but from the former capital, Kyoto — just as with the Kanto region itself, "lands to the east" of the old capital lands.
Sources
Updated: 2026-09-22