Force from the north could have upset the balance of power in 4th century Europe.

Tokyo has a population of roughly 13.8 million, but walking through the more crowded parts of the city, sometimes you’d swear there must be more people than that in the capital. You’d actually be right, too, since Tokyo’s morning-to-night population swells as people who live in towns outside the city limits commute into the capital.

For example, Saitama Prefecture, Tokyo’s neighbor to the north, says that 930,000 of its citizens head into Tokyo for work or school each and every weekday. Of course, it can be hard to grasp just how big a group of 930,000 people is, but thankfully Japanese Twitter user @return_to_2000 has a handy comparison for us.

https://twitter.com/return_to_2000/status/1082052988552663040

“According to Saitama Prefecture’s official website, 930,000 Saitama residents commute into Tokyo for work or school.

The Huns, who controlled Europe in the 4th century, were said to be about 600,000-700,000 in number. So, indirectly, we could say that Saitama commuters would have been a large enough force to bring down the Roman Empire.”

▼ The territory of Attila the Hun, marked in orange

@return_to_2000’s thought-provoking historical perspective prompted other Twitter users to marvel at the size of the commuting horde.

“It’s amazing that the public transportation system can handle so many people.”
“You’ve really got to admire the Saitama residents who commute on those packed trains every day.”
“I think even the Hun warriors would give up after 10 minutes during rush hour.”
“Just call us Saitama commuters ‘Attila.’”

Combing through other statistics, Saitama’s total population of 7.3 million means that more than 12 percent of the prefecture spends its days in Tokyo. Then there’s the fact that Tokyo is also bordered to the east by Chiba Prefecture (population 6.2 million) and to the south by Kanagawa Prefecture (9.1 million), each with their own mobile armies of commuters to the capital, all of whom end up fighting for space on the battlefield of rush hour trains.

Source: Twitter/@return_to_2000 via Hachima Kiko
Top image ©SoraNews24
Insert images: Wikipedia/Shooke

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s part of the Kanagawa horde.