Until 1868, Kyoto was the capital of Japan since the end of the 8th century, it is one of the most popular destinations amongst overseas tourists to Japan. With a variety of historically valuable structures such as temples, shrines and Japanese gardens the city draws over 50 million visitors annually from all over the world.
Kobe is a major port city in western Japan that opened to foreign trade and became home to one of the first foreign communities in the 19th century. The city is on a narrow strip of land between mountains and sea, and has a variety of tourist attractions ranging from a vibrant commercial districts that includes a Chinatown, a ropeway, and a cable car that take you to either a garden or an observatory where you can enjoy a commanding view of the entire landscape of the town with the port in the backdrop.