Little Kyoto towns of Japan

When you have spent some time travelling in Japan, you come to notice that many prefectures have a town they refer to as “Little Kyoto”. Actually within the city I’m living in now (Tatsuno , Hyogo) there is also a “Little Kyoto” town.

I recently visited two cities (Sasayama and Izushi) in my prefecture over the weekend that were also called “Little Kyoto”. So, I began to wonder “How many “Little Kyoto” towns are there actually in Japan?”. I searched “小京都(Sho-Kyoto” and found out that currently, officially (as of April 2021) , there are 40 “Little Kyoto” towns in Japan.

Current City/Towns that are called “Little Kyoto” towns.

I also found out that there is an association that these “Little Kyoto” towns belong to which is called the “All Japan Kyoto Committee”.

History of the “All Japan Kyoto Committee” 

The All Japan Kyoto Committee was launched in May 1985. It was started with Kyoto and 26 cities and towns all around Japan which were called “Little Kyoto” at that time.

The goal of the committee is for Kyoto and associated cities/towns to cooperate with one another and publicize their rich historical and cultural attractions. As a result, the city’s image and its attraction to tourists will be enhanced.
The city or town belonging to the All Japan Kyoto Committee fulfill at least one of the following points:

The All Japan Kyoto Committee was launched in May 1985. The goal of the committee is for Kyoto and associated cities/towns to cooperate with one another and publicize their rich historical and cultural attractions. As a result, the city’s image and its attraction to tourists will be enhanced.

The city or town belonging to the All Japan Kyoto Committee fulfill at least one of the following points:

1) The City/Town has natural scenery, townscapes or structures which are similar to Kyoto.
2) The City/Town has an historical connection with Kyoto.
3) The City/Town has traditional industry and a folk entertainment culture.

Sourced from the website (https://shokyoto.jp/)

Peaks and Town Withdrawal reasons

At it’s peak ,2018, there were 63 towns which belonged to the association, the second peak was in 1999 when 56 cities belonged to the association.

According to the Japanese Wikipedia Entry on Little Kyoto, the reasons why many cities withdraw from the association can summarized as “few merits for attracting tourists”, “financial  difficulties” (an annual membership fee 50,000 yen needs to be paid), “detraction from/of promoting the town’s own unique history”.

Kanazawa City, in particular, stated that they withdrew because they were able to establish their own unique tourism strategy and no longer had to rely on the “Little Kyoto” town branding.

If cities withdraw they are able to rejoin – some notable examples from the past are Ono City in Fukui City and Aki City in Kochi City.

Municipalities that have withdrawn from the Association

The following municipalities have withdrawn (Nikkei)
2000 – Miyoshi City, Hiroshima Prefecture.
Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture.
2003 – Matsumae Town, Hokkaido.
2004 – Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture.
2005 – Oshu City, Iwate Prefecture.
2006 – Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture.
2008 – Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture.
Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture.
Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture.
2010 – Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture.
Iida City, Nagano Prefecture.
2011 – Takehara City, Hiroshima Prefecture
2012 –  Tono City, Iwate Prefecture.
2014 –  Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture.
Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture.
Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture.

Other cities that have withdrawn are : Tono City – Iwate, Yugawara Town & Ashigarashimo-gun – Kanagawa Prefecture, Takaoka City – Toyama Prefecture, Obama City & Ono City – Fukui Prefecture , Otsu City – Shiga Prefecture , Kameoka City – Kyoto Prefecture, Miyoshi City – Hiroshima Prefecture , Imari City – Saga Prefecture, Hitoyoshi City – Kumamoto Prefecture.

Little Kyoto Towns in Pop Culture

Between 1989 and 2001 there was a Japanese TV Drama Series called “Shokyoto Mystery (小京都ミステリー)” which was about a magazine reporter (Nagisa Katahira) and her cameraman (Funakoshi Eiichiro) who solve murder mysteries occurring in the various Little Kyoto towns across Japan.
Since I am a J-Drama fan I tried to search up if there were any English subtitles available for this drama, but it seems there aren’t any (yet – occasionally some translation/subtitle groups do pick up older dramas).
But it does seem you can watch the full Japanese episodes online on Youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLnGS4iAaZI