Itsuki Hiroyuki once said, "Kyoto is the country within the country of Japan."
From 794 AD, when Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Heian-kyo (now Kyoto), to 1868, when Emperor Meiji moved it to Tokyo, for over a thousand years, Kyoto was consistently the capital of Japan, the gathering place of the Japan Imperial Family, court nobles, and aristocracy, serving as Japan's political center for a long time.
If the various regions of Japan were personified, then Kyoto would be the true millennial aristocrat of Japan, possessing a cultural gene distinctly different from the ordinary sense of 'Japan.'
Perhaps in a few decades, Kyoto's influence may gradually wane, becoming akin to a mascot for the Emperor. But in 1991, Kyoto still remained the homeland of major financial cliques and nobility, with many families' 'main houses' located there, and elderly family elders enjoying their twilight years in Kyoto.
