Kyo means Capital
The to in Kyoto means City
The To in Tokyo means Eastern.
Kyoto was the original capital of the Emperor. Tokyo was originally called Edo, and when the country unified Edo grew in size and prominence. It was renamed Tokyo and the capital was moved there. Eastern Capital.
Also, Tokyo has two long "o"s (sometimes transliterated more correctly as Tōkyō), while Kyoto (more precise transliteration; Kyōto) only has one. They are not actually anagrams of each other.
Or, more natively put, きょうと is not an anagram of とうきょう, missing out on a う. And 都 isn’t 東.
There’s a swingin’ town I know called
Capitol City
People stop and scream hello in
Capitol City
It’s the kind of place that makes
A bum feel like a king
And it makes a king feel like some
Nutty, cuckoo, super kingDuolingo defs left that bit out
Hopefully it helps in your studies. ✌️ 京 is present in both names, means capital.
京都 (Kyoto) Capital city
東京 (Tokyo) East Capital
Haha Tokyo & Kyoto are the first kanji you learn on duo.
Really? The first Kanji lessons in my Duolingo are 1 2 3. The second is a few simple Kanji for names.
Tokyo and Kyoto don’t show up til the third for me.
They’ve updated the course a lot since I did my first lesson when they released.
They’re memorable for me because I turn off the english pronunciation… so To + Kyo & Kyo + To were the first kanji that I actually learned to read without inferring contextually.
I have tried Doulingo for Japanese for a short time, after already knowing a bit of beginner’s Japanese. I cannot speak for all languages offered by Doulingo, but if you are trying to learn Japanese, stay away from Doulingo. Its lessons sometimes teach you things that are objectively wrong.
I’ve been on/off the course since they first released it. It’s changed A LOT fyi.
Seems to me that’s a general pitfall of learning a language academically vs immersive. You inevitably are learning a textbook version that’s outdated colloquially.
I use duo to learn how to read the subtitles on the Japanese media I watch. For that goal duo has been amazing because you can turn off the English pronunciations.
All I care about is not being illiterate if I ever get to visit.
What does edo mean?
Cove entrance, or rather the entrance to the bay.
Why have I read Osaka (IIRC) as the “real” capital, and is it true or anything, what does it even mean? Thank you!
Osaka was the capital at some point. The capital of Japan moved quite a few times a few decades at a time: Naniwa, Asuka, Sakurai (Nara), Osaka, Fujiwara-kyo, Heian-kyo… Heian-kyo was the capital the longest by a long shot, and was renamed Kyoto at some point early on - like the previous person said, literally capital city. Osaka was capital for a bit some time in the mid 600s, not long at all, but that’s also the period where Japan got real big and important.
To vs Tō
