KYOTO
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In modern day and age, Kyoto has about 2 million people, and is apart of the Hanshin Industrial Zone, which also includes Osaka and Kobe. The industries are primarily electicity, machinery, and chemical plants. Anyway, on to the good stuff.
When the Emperor of Japan changed, so did it's capital. In the year 710 AD it was decided that there should be one permanent capital. After 84 years and two attempts to form a capital city, Uda was chosen as the permanent site for the capital city of Japan. Kammu, the Emperor, moved there along with the court, and changed it's name to Kyoto (combining the Chinese character for "capital" and "city"). Over the course of 1,074 years Kyoto remained the capital power center for all of Japan.
However, this all changed in 1868, at the beginning of the Meiji period. The capital was yet again moved, however, this time to Edo (Tokyo). With this drastic change, Kyoto was indirectly blessed. When WWII came about, the Allied forces bombed many of the key cities of Japan. Because of it's unstrategical location in the center of the main island of Japan, there remained only historical appeal to the city, and was therefore left untouched. Touches of the Tokugawa period (aka the 17th century) can be seen in much of the remaining wooden architecture, however, most is buried in the now urbanized city.
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