Kyoto - Asian Destinations

Kyoto is the capital of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai area of Honshu, Kyoto is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. As of 2018, the city had a population of 1.47 million.

Kyoto (then known as Heian-kio) was chosen in 794. as the new seat of the Japanese imperial court. The Japanese emperors ruled from Kyoto for the next eleven centuries until 1869, when the court moved to Tokyo. The city was destroyed during the First War in the 15th century and went through a long period of decline, but it gradually revived under the Tokugawa shogunate (1600-1868) and flourished as the capital of Japan. The modern municipality of Kyoto was founded in 1889. The city was spared great destruction during the Second World War and, as a result, its pre-war cultural heritage has been largely preserved.

It is considered the main cultural city of Japan and a major tourist destination. It houses numerous Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, palaces, and gardens, many of which UNESCO has jointly protected. Prominent sights include the Kyoto Imperial Palace, Kiyomizu-dera, Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji, and the Imperial Villa Katsura. Kyoto is also a center of higher education, and Kyoto University has an international reputation. Kyoto is the location of approximately 2,000 temples and shrines.

Kyoto then and now

Plenty of archaeological evidence suggests that human settlement in the Kyoto area began in the Paleolithic period, although not much-published material on human activity in the region before the 6th century has been preserved.

The Hamaguri uprising of 1864 burned 28,000 houses in the city, showing rebel dissatisfaction with the Tokugawa Shogunate. The emperor's subsequent move to Tokyo in 1869 weakened the economy. The modern city of Kyoto was founded on April 1, 1889. The construction of the Biva Lake canal in 1890 was one of the measures taken to revive the city. In 1932, the population of the city exceeded one million inhabitants. Kyoto became a city by government decree on September 1, 1956. In 1997, Kyoto hosted a conference that resulted in a protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.

Nintendo

Kyoto's key industries are information technology and electronics: the city is home to Nintendo, Intelligent Systems, SCREEN Holdings, Tose, Hatena, Omron, Kyocera, Shimadzu Corp., Rohm, Horiba, Nidec Corporation, Nichicon, Nissin Electric, GS Yuasa.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

About 20% of Japan’s national treasure and 14% of important cultural assets are located in the city. UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Historical monuments of ancient Kyoto (cities of Kyoto, Uji, and Otsu) include 17 sites in Kyoto, Uji in Kyoto prefecture, and Otsu in Shiga prefecture. The site was declared a World Heritage Site in 1994.

Museums

• Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum
• Onishi Seivemon Museum
• Kitamura Museum
• Kyoto City Museum Arashiyama Orgel
• Kyoto City Museum Heiankio Sosei-Khan Museum
• Kyoto City Museum of Art
• Kyoto City Archaeological Museum
• Kyoto Art Center
• Kyoto International Museum Manga
• National Museum of Modern Art
• Kyoto National Museum
• Kyoto University Museum
• Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts
• Garden of Fine Arts, Kyoto
• Kyoto Museum of Fine Arts Prefectural Insho-Domoto
• Corio Art Museum
• Joutenkaku
• Riozen Historical Museum
• Sen-oku Hakuko Kan
• Toei Kyoto Studio Park
• Nomura Art Museum
• Namikawa Cloisonne Museum of Kyoto
• Iurinkan Museum
• Hosomi Museum (xì jiàn měi shù guǎn)
• Hakusasonso Hashimoto Kansetsu Garden and Museum
• Cancer Museum
• Kyoto Museum of World Peace, Ritsumeikan University
• Okochi Sanso
• The Kyoto Kaleidoscope Museum
• Shigureden Kyoto Railway Museum

By: Nitza - Gossip Whispers