Cities of the world

Kyoto, Japan History

Kyoto was the former capital of Japan and is popular for its temples and shrines. For 1100 years it was the center of politics and culture. Kyoto became the capital of Japan in the 8th century and the capital functions transferred to Tokyo in the 19th century. The festivals in Kyoto are famous worldwide and are performed by maiko, young dancing entertainers. There are three major festivals in mid-summer and one on August 16th. During the festival on August 16th, Gozan-no-Okuribi (which is commonly known as Daimonji-yaki), numerous torches are ignited on the five mountains surrounding Kyoto. Usually laid to form a letter or figure. http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/kyoto

Geography
Kyoto is an inland city making part of the eastern side of the mountainous region known as the Tamba highlands, and the northern half of the Kyoto (Yamashiro) Basin. As the largest of the municipalities, Kyoto City has an area of 827.90km, representing 17.9% of the area of the prefecture. The Kyoto Basin is surrounded on three sides by mountains known as Higashiyama. Kitayama and Nishiyama, all less than 1000m above sea level .The ground is highest in the north-east , with the level deceasing towards the southeast.

http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/eng/databox/geography.html

Population
The population of Kyoto is about 1.5 million people which is one of the largest populations in Japan. The city is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. Japan's second most populated urban region has a

10

Cities of the world

population of more than 18 million people http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/google_map_Kyoto.htm

10