Chūō

Chūō is a special ward of the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan, and in English the ward refers to itself as Chūō City. It was formed in 1947 by merging the former Kyōbashi and Nihonbashi wards, when Tokyo City became the Tokyo Metropolis. Its name means Central Ward, and it forms the core of Shitamachi, the original downtown of Edo and Tokyo, long regarded as the main commercial center of the capital. Well-known districts include the Nihonbashi business district, the Ginza shopping district and the Tsukiji market district. The ward lies entirely outside the Yamanote Line loop. Its resident population was 169,179 on 1 October 2020 over an area of 10.21 square kilometres, and the daytime population swells to an estimated 650,000 because of its offices and shops.