ABSTRACT
Tokyo, the Japanese say, is the brain of new Japan, but Kyoto is its heart. Naturally aristocratic and conservative, the departure of the Court took away that progressive modernizing element which was so valuable to the nation as a whole, but so dangerous to its relics of antiquity, and left Kyoto to cultivate its arts and preserve its monuments and traditions in peace. The first European hotel in Kyoto was Yaami's, which rambles delightfully up a pine-clad hillside east of the town. The Yaami is cool and pleasant in summer; but the Kyoto hotel, across the river in the town, which is under the same management, has the advantage of being more central, and sparing the extra half-mile of jinrikisha ride. The Nijo palace was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who needed a foothold in Kyoto while governing from Yedo; it is therefore nearly contemporary with Nikko, but in a stronger, bolder style, as befitted the palace-fortress.
