Kyoto Japan

Kyoto — Japan's imperial capital for over 1,000 years (794-1869, when the capital moved to Tokyo with the Meiji Restoration) — is home to 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 2,000+ temples and shrines, and the most concentrated traditional Japanese culture in the world. The city was deliberately spared atomic bombing in WWII (Secretary of War Henry Stimson removed it from the target list specifically to preserve its historical and cultural significance — and because he had spent his honeymoon there). Kyoto's cultural landmarks: Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion, Zen Buddhist temple covered in gold leaf — burned by a deranged monk in 1950 and rebuilt in 1955, inspiring Mishima's novel 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion'); Fushimi Inari (10,000 orange torii gates winding through a mountain); Gion district (geisha culture, preserved wooden machiya townhouses); Arashiyama bamboo grove; Philosopher's Path (cherry blossom lined canal). The tea ceremony (chado), ikebana (flower arranging), Noh and Kabuki theater, and traditional Japanese architecture are all centered in Kyoto. The Kyoto Protocol (1997) — the first binding international climate agreement — was signed here.