There are two major metropolitan regions in Japan. Kanto Means East of the Barrier, the Hakone checkpoint. Essentially, Greater Tokyo. Two watershed moments. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which killed more than 100,000. Operation Coronet, the proposed land invasion of the Kanto plain during the latter part of World War II...which did not occur because the Atomic Bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki convinced Japan to surrender. Had a population of 43.23 million in 2019.  Was around 11 million in 1920. Kansai Means West of the toll gate, and was the center of feudal Japan.   Sometimes also called the Kinki region. But this second name has been less and less used because of the English word kinky, or perverted.  In 2016 Kinki University changed its English name to Kindai University.  Earlier, Kinki Nippon Railway Company became Kintetsu Railway in 2003, then Kintetsu Corporation in 2015. Includes Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in the country. Major cities are Kyoto, Osaka an