Why was Edo renamed Tokyo in 1868?

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Tokyo-Yokohama Metropolitan Area Portion of the Tokyo skyline at dusk; Tokyo Tower is at the right.

Edo was renamed Tokyo in 1868 following the Meiji Restoration, a political revolution that ended the Tokugawa shogunate and returned control of Japan to direct imperial rule under the Meiji emperor.1

As part of the process of political centralization and modernization, the new government relocated the imperial capital from Kyoto to the former shogunal capital of Edo. The city was renamed Tokyo, which translates to "Eastern Capital," to reflect its new status as the seat of the imperial government.12