narrator: the area that includes tokyo, and the three neighboring prefectures of kanagawa, chiba andaitama, is called the greater tokyo metropolitan area. approximately the size of metropolitan los angeles, it has about twice the populati density. it is the world's foremost megalopolis, a series of almost continuous metropolitan areas that exchange a flow of people, goods and services. and it doesn't stop there. taylor: this whole megalopolis is part of a larger megalopolis, which then stretches west down the coast of japan all the way to the next major megalopolis, which is the osaka/kobe/kyoto megalopolis. taken together, these two megalopolises and the various cities in between them, such as nagoya and other cities, is an incredible, vast megalopolis-- by far the world's largest-- and containing a very large proportion of the japanese population. translator: tokyo's expansion has been striking. many people predicted a breakdown with the strain. but it has neither broken down nor stopped growing. i believe that one of the major reasons for this is the comprehensive transportation n