This year I visited Kyoto, a city in the central part of Honshu island, Japan, near Osaka harbour. It was the imperial capital of Japan, now part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area. Historically, Kyoto was the largest city in Japan, later surpassed by Osaka and Tokyo at the end of the 16th century. In the prewar years, Kyoto traded places with Kobe and Nagoya, ranking as the 4th and 5th largest city. In 1947 it went back to being 3rd, but its population has gradually declined ever since. By 1960 it had fallen to 5th again, and by 1990 it had fallen to 7th. If current trends continue it could fall to 9th after Fukuoka and Kawasaki. Kyoto has 2000 religious places, 1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines, and palaces, gardens and architecture intact, being the one of the best preserved cities in Japan. Home to 37 institutions of higher education, Kyoto is one of the academic centers of the country. The geography and scale of the city are such that the city may be easily navigated on a bicycle. The original city was arranged in accordance with traditional Chinese feng shui following the model of the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an (presently Xi'an).
No comments:
Post a Comment