Kyoto is a city in the central part of the island of Honshu, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital ofKyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. Ranked as the 11th of the world's most livable cities in the magazineMonocle in 2012, Kyoto was praised for its history and compact city solutions such as its own subway system.
Kyoto is located in a valley, part of the Yamashiro (or Kyoto) Basin, in the eastern part of the mountainous region known as the Tamba highlands. The Yamashiro Basin is surrounded on three sides by mountains known as Higashiyama, Kitayama and Nishiyama, with a height just above 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) above sea level. This interior positioning results in hot summers and cold winters.
