Tokyo is a city of many centers. The municipal administrative center is in Shinjuku. The national government center is in Kasumigaseki while Nihombashi is the center of banking and finance.
When Ieyasu Tokugawa had the first bridge constructed at Nihombashi, he designated it the starting point for the five great roads leading out of his city, the point from which all distances were to be measured. His decree is still in force: the black pole on the present bridge, erected in 1911, is the Zero Kilometer marker for all the national highways and is considered the true center of Tokyo.
