Kyoto city is located in the western Japan. It takes 2 hour and 20 minutes by Shinkansen Bullet Train from Tokyo, the capital of Japan.  The city is inland, and surrounded by mountains. To the east of the city center, Kamogawa River runs from the north to the south. People enjoy sitting around, walking and running on the riverside. 

Streets are east-west or north-south, making a neat grid in the city. This grid streets and a lot of shrines and temples will remind you of the fact that Kyoto had been Japanese capital (where The Emperors lived) since 794 until 1868. Kyoto station is located to the south of the city center. In front of the station is a bus terminal where you can take buses bounded for a range of destinations. We have a introduction page of the City Bus.

Currently, 1.47 million people live in the city. This is the 7th largest population of the Japanese cities. The city has the highest percentage of students, around 9 %. The percentage of Foreigners is 3 %, of whom 65 % are from Korean Peninsula and other 20 % are from China. (As for Tokyo, Foreigners 5%, Chinese 36%, Korean 29%.)