Last week, Conde Nast Traveler announced its annual Reader’s Choice Awards.
Over 300,000 readers voted for what they believed to be the best city in the world, not including those in the US.
Of all the cities in the world, the top two were in the same country – Japan. Kyoto bagged second place while Tokyo took top spot.
Despite sharing the same country (and the same letters in their names), Japan’s ancient and current capitals are literally a tale of two cities, where tradition juxtaposes the ultra-modern.
The aptly nicknamed “city of a thousand years”, Kyoto, wasJapan’s capital from 794 at the dawn of the Heian period until the Meiji restoration. Despite being the de facto seat of government since 1603, Tokyo was only made capital in 1868, when Japan’s feudal shogunate system disintegrated and the Emperor was installed in the eastern city to restore his dominion over the empire.
Since then, Tokyo has exploded. It is now the most populous urban area in the world, according to the Demographia World Urban Areas - over 37 million people inhabit the Greater Tokyo Area. In 2014, The Brookings Institution estimated Tokyo's GDP at $1.6 trillion, the highest of any metropolitan area.
The result of this polarity is two cities that are each utterly mesmerising and beautiful but in completely different ways. Scroll down to see why they were voted the best in the world.
Kyoto is located near the centre of Japan's main island of Honshu, in the Kansai region.
Kyoto is probably what you picture when you think of old Japan. Over its long reign as capital, the city accumulated a plethora of buildings and structures fit for an emperor. It has around 1,600 Buddhist temples — including the Kinkaku-ji (or Golden Pavillion)...
...and around 400 Shinto shrines (safehouses for sacred artefacts), such as the iconic red gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha.
Kyoto also managed to avoid much of the bombing in WWII — a testament to why the city remains so well preserved today...
...though that's not to say they're stuck in the past.
Kyoto is also well known for its cherry blossom season, as seen in the film "Lost in Translation."
Host to endless Instagrams, the immense bamboo grove in Kyoto's Arashiyama district is one of the city's most celebrated staples.
Geisha hunting is one of Kyoto tourists' favourite past times. There are less than 1,000 of these enigmatic female entertainers left in the whole of Japan, making a sighting a real privilege.
Kimonos are not just the reserve of the Geisha, though. The Nishijin Textile Centre puts on regular kimono fashion shows and offers visitors the opportunity to buy their own.
You can still stay in Ryokans — traditional, matted rooms without a chair in sight.
When you're ready to leave Kyoto, you can hop on the bullet train to Tokyo, which covers over 500 kilometres in two hours and 20 minutes.
It's a little busier than Kyoto...
...but if you fancy beating the crowds you can always hop on a rickshaw.
There are religious hotspots here too.
Tokyo's New Year's Eve fireworks certainly give London a run for its money.
The electronics district is an explosion of psychadelic colours.
You can play sports with a view...
...enjoy some of the freshest sushi in the world at the Tsukiji Fish Market...
...or end your stay with dinner with a twist at the $10 million dollar Robot Restaurant, which holds performances three times a day.
