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explore
the heart of conservative Japan
By Amita sarwal | photographs courtesy of Japan national tourist organization
apan’s imperial capital for over a thousand years, Kyoto sits snugly surrounded by picturesque hills,
or a “natural fortress” as labeled by Kyoto’s founding ruler Emperor Kammu. Kyoto, or Heiankyo as it was originally named, was the cultural and artistic centre from 794 to 1866 AD. Today the Capital of Peace’s traditional past lives blissfully alongside its present modernism.
One of Japan’s most important university towns, it has also become an important convention centre and MICE destination. Shopping opportunities and cuisine are found in abundance in Downtown Kyoto. Religion too has a significant hold, as evidenced by the over 1,600 Buddhist temples and 270 Shinto shrines. Visitors continue to throng to its steeped-in-time plethora of architectural wonders and gardens – each nurtured and preserved
with care.