Hibiya - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

is a geographic name covering a part of Chiyoda

Chiyoda, Tokyo

is one of the 23 special wards in central Tokyo, Japan. In English, it is called Chiyoda ward. As of October 2007, the ward has an estimated population of 45,543 and a population density of 3,912 people per km², making it by far the least populated of the special wards...

ward (one of the 23 wards in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

prefecture). The zone along the Hibiya Street (Japan National Route 1) from Yūrakuchō

Yurakucho

is a neighborhood of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan situated in between the Ginza and Hibiya Park, near the neighborhood of Shinbashi. Unlike its tonier neighbor Ginza, Yūrakuchō provides a glimpse of Japanese life from the early postwar period, with its many izakaya and outdoor yakitori restaurants , many...

to Uchisaiwaichō

Uchisaiwaichō

is a neighborhood in Chiyoda, Tokyo, at the south-east corner of the ward bordering with Chūō and Minato. Its postal code is 100-0011.Uchisaiwaichō Station on the Toei Mita Line is located in the area.-Businesses in Uchisaiwaichō:*Kroll Inc...

is Hibiya district. There are many residence indications, but some indications using this word, Hibiya, like Hibiya Park

Hibiya Park

is a park in Chiyoda City, Tokyo, Japan. It covers an area of 161,636.66m2 between the east gardens of the Imperial Palace to the north, the Shinbashi district to the southeast and the Kasumigaseki government district to the west....

and Hibiya Station

Hibiya Station

is an underground railway station in the Hibiya district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, operated by Tokyo Metro and Toei.-Lines:* Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line * Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line * Toei Mita Line...

. (Hibiya was a ward named Kōjimachi

Kojimachi

is a neighborhood in Chiyoda, Tokyo.Prior to the arrival of Tokugawa Ieyasu, it was known as . The area developed as townspeople settled along the Kōshū Kaidō. In 1878 Kōjimachi became a ward in the city of Tokyo. It was the forerunner of Chiyoda which is now a special ward.The Kōjimachi ward was...

before the Tokyo City

Tokyo City

was a municipality in Japan and part of Tokyo-Fu which existed from May 1, 1889 until its merger with its prefecture on July 1, 1943. The historical boundaries of Tokyo City are now occupied by independent special wards...

was reformed to the present style) Once the outskirts of this district was in the sea, so the name of ‘hibi’ of Hibiya is derived from the facility for the laver of Nori

Nori

is the Japanese name for various edible seaweed species of the red alga Porphyra including most notably P. yezoensis and P. tenera, sometimes called laver. Finished products are made by a shredding and rack-drying process that resembles papermaking...

made of bamboo whose name is also ‘hibi’ which was swayed up in the bottom of the shallow water. In the era of Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

, the Tokugawa bakufu worked out of the Edo castle

Edo Castle

, also known as , is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. It is located in Chiyoda in Tokyo, then known as Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate here. It was the residence of the shogun and location of the shogunate, and also...

, the surrounding area of the Edo castle

Edo Castle

was developed and landfilled and then the calm fishing village had altered to the arranged city where many Daimyō

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

live in. Since the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

was set, Hibiya, the city of Tokyo had become a modern symbolic city for there were many buildings which were also famous and now existing like the Imperial Hotel

Imperial Hotel, Tokyo

The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, was created in the late 1880s at the request of the Japanese aristocracy to cater to the increasing number of western visitors to Japan. The hotel site is located just south of the Imperial Palace grounds, next to the previous location of the Palace moat...

of the first western hotel, Rokumeikan

Rokumeikan

The was a large two-story building in Tokyo, completed in 1883, which was to become a controversial symbol of Westernisation in the Meiji period. Commissioned for the housing of foreign guests by the Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru, it was designed by Josiah Conder, a prominent Western architect...

, the cityhall of the Tokyo City

Tokyo City

and also the Tokyo club (It was a famous and pioneering society club.). In 1930s, the first Japanese electric traffic light had appeared at this Hibiya cross over point. The town where the fashionable social circle of the aristocracy now changed into the business street that’s representative of Japan with office buildings lining up the theaters, hotels and large corporations.

See also