I had a discussion this evening, with a guest, about the population of Tokyo. She said the population of Tokyo was 38 million people.I said it was closer to 12 million. She triumphantly showed me the Wikipedia page which said the following.

 

“The Tokyo Metropolitan government administers the twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, that cover the area that was the city of Tokyo as well as 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the special wards is over 8 million people, with the total population of the prefecture exceeding 13 million. The prefecture is the world’s most populous metropolitan area with 35 to 39 million people (depending on definition).

 

The wording is confusing but would lead you to believe that Tokyo prefecture has 35-39 million people. But I lived in Tokyo for 9 years. To get 39 million people you would have to include all the towns of Kanto which I have traveled in extensively. There is lots of space between these cities. They are not all Tokyo.

 

The information on the Tokyo  city website makes more sense

 

“As of October 1, 2009, the population of Tokyo is estimated to be 12.989 million, or about 10% of Japan’s total population, and it has the largest population among all the 47 prefectures. “.

 

This is certainly not the first time that Wikipedia is misleading. Yet it is always the first source to come up. I prefer to avoid it if I can.