160 Terada, Yokohari, and Amemiya
Figure 11.2 Urban fabrics intermixed with small farmlands in Nerima Ward, Tokyo.
Source: Aerial photo taken in 2012 by Geospatial Information Authority of Japan
of a new government after the fall of the Bakufu (Samurai feudal government), Japan
rapidly adopted modern and Western policies with the aim of catching up to the
Western powers. Urban centers experienced industrialization approximately 100
years behind their counterparts in Western countries. Factories began to concentrate
in locations such as Tokyo harbor and river mouths with good access to transportation,
and people began to flood in from rural areas to satisfy the demand of these factories
for labor. During the rapid economic growth period after the end of World War II,
large numbers of workers, riding the wave of capitalism, flooded into the Tokyo
metropolitan area. This resulted in the exclusive concentration of the population in
Tokyo and a rapid expansion of the city boundary. The surrounding farm villages,
formerly the site of primary production, were overrun by the expanding city, fed by
the amassing of secondary industries. These secondary industries spawned demand
for service industries related to business operations and management and the like,
leading to the concentration of tertiary industries. As a result, the population flowing
into the city increased further, causing even greater expansion of the city. With urban
planning unable to adequately prepare city infrastructure in advance of the too-rapid
expansion of the city, it was extremely difficult to create a well-planned city. Although
a number of large-scale new towns were established, they were insufficient to absorb
the entirety of the increasing population. For this reason, urban sprawl occurred in
various locations, resulting in a mixture of farm villages and disordered, small-scale
development and ultimately in the creation of the landscape of intermingled city and
farms typically seen in aerial photos of Tokyo suburbs.