簡介：◎「重獲新生」英語怎麼說？
◎ big gun 中文是什麼意思？
Tokyo: More than a City
Strangely, for an international city of such repute, Tokyo is not technically a city at all. Formed in 1943 from the old city and the outlying Tokyo Prefecture, Japan's capital is now known as Tokyo Metropolis. As such, it is the largest metropolitan area in the world.
As well as geographical size, the contiguous urban area that stretches from Tokyo to Yokohama has a population of over 37 million people, outstripping its neighbor Seoul by more than 10 million. Little wonder then that Tokyo is home to a gargantuan rapid transit system, which comprises the publicly-operated Toei and the Tokyo Metro. This latter system, alone, is the busiest subway in the world in terms of annual ridership.
Another area where Tokyo comes out on top is in GDP. Although exact figures are hard to pin down, estimates put the figure as high as US$1.9 trillion. Only New York is anywhere close. However, the obvious downside is a prohibitively high cost of living. Mercer's 2012 Cost of Living Rankings placed Tokyo in first place. The “lost decade” that followed the bursting of the economic bubble in the 1990s is partly to blame. Property prices and stocks never completely recovered. Still, this hasn't stopped the big guns from setting up shop in the Japanese capital: Tokyo hosts 51 Fortune 500 companies — more than any other metropolitan area.
東京—不只是個城市
說來奇怪，以國際城市著稱的東京嚴格說來並不是座城市。一九四三年由舊市區和外圍東京府結合而成的這個日本首府現在稱為東京都。就其本身而論，東京是全世界最大的都會區。
除了地理面積廣大以外，從東京延伸到橫濱的鄰近都會區聚居了超過三千七百萬人，比鄰國的首爾多出了一千萬人以上。無怪乎東京擁有一座巨大的捷運系統，由公營的都營地鐵與東京地鐵所構成。就每年乘客數而言，單單東京地鐵本身，即是全世界最繁忙的地下鐵。
東京另一項獨占鰲頭之處為國內生產毛額。儘管精確數據難以確認，但估計數字高達 1.9 兆美元。只有紐約稍微能接近這個數字。不過，顯而易見的缺點則是太過高昂的生活費。美世（顧問公司）在二○一二年的生活費排行中就將東京名列第一。一九九○年代經濟泡沫破滅後所帶來的「失落十年」是肇因之一。房地產價格與股市從未完全恢復。儘管如此，這點還是沒有阻止大企業在日本首都立足：東京是 51 家財星五百大企業的總部所在——比任何其他都會區都還要多。
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