KYOTO
Temples & Shrines
There are thousands of shrines and temples in Kyoto and 17 of them are designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1994. Besides those UNESCO world heritage sites, there are other well known temples or shrines too. For example, Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, which is famous for its thousands of torii gates.
Festivals & Events
Food Culture
Kyoto has rich, delicious Japanese food and cuisine because of its long history. Being a city away from the sea and home to many Buddhist temples, Kyoto developed a variety of vegetables specific to the Kyoto area called Kyo-yasai. Today, Kyoto remains the home of traditional Japanese cuisine, such as Kyokaiseki, Yu Do-fu, Sushi, Tempura, Noodles, Shojin-ryori, Sukiyaki & Shabu-shabu, ingredients mostly used in Japanese Kyoto cuisine, Japanese Sake, etc. It is also famous throughout Japan for traditional Japanese sweets, some of them are only used in the Japanese tea ceremony (the tea also comes from Kyoto).
Entertainment
Kyoto is well known of its year round traditional events.
Visitors can enjoy the various events and seasons of Kyoto beginning with Hatsumode (First Visit of the Year), Kyoto Marathon, Higashiyama Hanatouro (Flower Lantern Road), Miyako Odori (Cherry Blossom Dances and Dances of the Old Capital), Hanami (Cherry-blossom Viewing), Aoi Festival (parade with people dressed in classic Heian Period costumes), Gion Matsuri (the festival was originally a religious ritual to calm the plague that spread all over the country in 869), Kyo no Tanabata (Star Festival), Gozan no Okuribi (Mountain Bon Fire), Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair (KYOMAF), Kurama no Himatsuri (Fire Festival), Jidai-Matsuri Festival (people dressed in exquisite costumes from various periods of Kyoto history), Autumn Foliage, then end with Jyoya no Kane (all temples ring their large bronze bells 108 times around midnight on New Year’s Eve).
Tourists can appreciate cherry-blossom in Spring and autumn foliage in Fall. Also, other attractions such as Shizushi Limestone Cave Park and Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. 80% of Kyoto Prefecture is covered by mountains and hills, so visitors can view beautiful green tea growing terraces while experiencing tea picking tours in the town of Wazuka.
Nature
-
Theme Park: Uzumasa eigamura (Toei Kyoto Studio Park): where visitors can dress up like a Geisha, Ninja or Samurai and observe the filming of period dramas (jidaigeki films).
-
Traditional Theatres: Visitors can experience traditional theatres such as performances of Geisha (female performers who wear elegant and intricate traditional dress and entertain their guests at elite ocha-ya (teahouse) where they sing, dance, and play traditional instruments) and Noh (a major form of classical Japanese musical drama since 14th century and is unique in its slow grace and its use of variety masks), Japanese Court Music, GEAR (non-verbal performances including mime, break dance, magic trick, and juggle), Gion Corner (unique theatre presenting one-hour shows of seven of Kyoto's professional performing arts - kyogen classical comedy, kyomai dance, gagaku music of the imperial court, koto harp, bunraku puppet theatre, the tea ceremony, and flower arrangement), Kabuki (a traditional Japanese stage drama), and Nihon Buyo (a traditional form of Japanese dance).
Kyoto International Conference Centre
The first government-built international conference facility in Japan since 1966. It is also a convention pioneer, a complex dedicated to conferences of the highest international standard, spacious surroundings in a lush natural environment, nice accessibility, and with total support of staff from conference planning and preparation, execution, to catering services. The conference centre has hosted over 16,000 conferences since it opened and is also renowned of where the Kyoto Protocol was signed. ICC Kyoto has 156,000 m² meeting spaces includes the main Conference Hall (capacity 2,000), Annex Hall (capacity 1,500), Event Hall, Banquet Hall, Tea House Hoshoan, Lodge, and numbers of smaller rooms.