What kind of city is Kyoto?

Kyoto, formerly known as Miyako is a city located in the central part of the Japanese island of Honshu. It has a population close to 1.5 million people. Formerly the Imperial capital of Japan for more than one thousand years, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture. It’s located inside the Kansai region, which is encompassed mostly by the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan areas. One historical nickname for the city is the City of Ten Thousand Shrines.

Is it good investment to buy real estate in Kyoto?

Kyoto is situated inside Osaka Metropolitan Area and there are good prospects of land valorization in the region. Kyoto is very well connected city and can be accessed quickly by Bullet Train (Shinkansen) and there are several lines of subways and trains that cross the city. The Kansai International Airport is directly connected to Kyoto Station.
Also, Kyoto holds several prestigious Universities and many Unesco Cultural Heritage sites. This gives this city vitality and a unique atmosphere, very attractive to both Japanese and foreigners. Specially, there are many historical houses (see Machiya) that can be acquired for very competitive prices and renovated.

Machiya
What’s Machiya? What’s difference between Machiya and house?

Machiya are traditional wooden townhouses found throughout Japan and typified in the historical capital of Kyoto. Machiya (townhouses) and nōka (farm dwellings) constitute the two categories of Japanese vernacular architecture known as Minka (folk dwellings). Machiya originated as early as the Heian period and continued to develop throughout Edo period and even into the Meiji period. Machiya served as the dwelling for urban merchants and craftsmen, a class collectively referred to as Chōnin (townspeople). The word Machiya is written using two kanji: Machi meaning “town”, and Ya meaning “house” or “shop” depending on the kanji used to express it.