Selling Miyako: imagining Kyoto's new "old" capital

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the images that place branding produces. In the following pages, I bring attention to these issues in Kyoto, Japan by focusing on the city's image as the ancient capital miyako, and the city's attempt to manage that image through policy change, introduced in 2001 as the "Kyoto City Basic Plan" (kyōtoshi kihon keikaku) and now called the "Miyako Plan," and one ongoing political booster turned place branding campaign called the "Charm of Kyoto Series" (kyōto no miryoku shirīzu) which launching with the catchphrase "I am so happy that Kyoto is in Japan--Let us Remake Kyoto into a the city with the sweet scent of elegance--(nihon ni kyōto ga atte yokatta, miyabi ni kaoru machi・kyōto sōsei shiyō).