Kyoto

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for over a millennium, and carries a reputation as its most beautiful city and the nation's cultural capital. However, visitors may be surprised by how much work they will have to do to see Kyoto's beautiful side. Most first impressions of the city will be of the urban sprawl of central Kyoto, around the ultra-modern glass-and-steel train station, which is itself an example of a city steeped in tradition mixing with the modern world.

Nonetheless, the persistent visitor will soon discover Kyoto's hidden beauty in the temples and parks which ring the city center, and find that the city has much more to offer than immediately meets the eye. There are over 2000 temples and shrines in the city, and nobody sees it all in one visit (or two, or three...) - nor should you even try. It would take months if not years to see all that Kyoto has to offer, and many places are especially beautiful during certain seasons, like the plum blossoms, cherry blossoms, autumn leaves, etc. These give very different impressions and appearances, and you can visit Kyoto again and again, yet still be amazed to see something new.

Nestled among the mountains of Western Honshu, Kyoto was the capital of Japan and the residence of the Emperor from 794 until the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when the capital was moved to Tokyo. During its millennium at the center of Japanese power, culture, tradition, and religion, it accumulated an unparalleled collection of palaces, temples and shrines, built for emperors, shoguns, and monks. Kyoto was among the few Japanese cities that escaped the allied bombings of World War II and as a result, Kyoto still has an abundance of prewar buildings, such as the traditional townhouses known as machiya. However the city is continuously undergoing modernization with some of the traditional Kyoto buildings being replaced by newer architecture, such as the Kyoto Station complex.