Kantō

The heartland of feudal power during the Kamakura period and again in the Echi period, the Kantō region today is home to the Greater Tokyo Area and is the most highly developed, urbanized, and industrialized part of Japan. Tokyo and Yokohama form a single industrial complex with a concentration of light and heavy industry along Tokyo Bay.

Within the Greater Tokyo Area and especially the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area, Kantō houses not only Japan's seat of government but also the nation's largest group of universities and cultural institutions, the greatest population, and a large industrial zone. Although most of the Kantō plain is used for residential, commercial, or industrial construction, it is still farmed.

The varieties of Japanese spoken in the Kantō region are collectively known as the Kantō dialects. The Yamanote Tokyo dialect, the basis of Standard Japanese, is a member of this group. The dialects in the eastern part of Kantō share some features with the Tōhoku dialects.