as of March 1st,

Osaka pref. (Osaka, Sakai, ..)8,815,719
Kanagawa pref. (Yokohama, Kawasaki, Yokosuka,..) 8,800,405

It's just a matter of time, Kanagawa keeps growing at a good pace.

is it just a suburb of Tokyo?

Well, it has Japan's 2nd largest city... people always seem to forget that Yokohama isn't actually part of Tokyo. It also has Japan's 8th largest city... but Kawasaki is completely forgotten since it's sandwiched between Tokyo and Yokohama and lacks a city center since it's stretched out like a pancake.

Because railways play a big part in development along their rail lines, the success of a rail company often rests on how much it builds at each station. Tokyu railway, which operates in Kanagawa and SW Tokyo is one of the most successful private railways in Japan, operating department stores, supermarkets, sports centers, etc... while also developing new residential complexes along its stations.

I think Saitama is growing the fastest in the Tokyo metro area though.

In terms of city boundries it is the second largest city in Japan.But Osaka as an urban area is far far larger with a city center that drawfs Yokohama.

When you compare Yokohama as being the second largest city its like saying that Brisbane is bigger than Sydney.Brisbane's city population is about 900,000.While Sydney only has a population of 150,000 in the city.

Osaka has about 16 million in its urban area.Far more than Yokohama.

Uh, okay. I was comparing Osaka-shi with Yokohama-shi though. Just like Kobe and Kyoto are different from Osaka, Yokohama is different from Tokyo.

As for population growth, it's declining in pretty much all prefectures in Japan except for the ones surrounding Tokyo. Tokyo prefecture is losing people, but Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa are still growing pretty quickly.

Tokyo prefecture is losing people, but Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa are still growing pretty quickly.


Tokyo prefecture had suffered from the population decline before, but Tokyo has gained the population of recent years.

BTW population forecast in 2030. Compared with the year of 2000, only four prefectures (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shiga and Okinawa) are estimated to increase in population.

http://www.ipss.go.jp/pp-fuken/j/fuken2002/zuhyo2.gif