'Which city do you like most?' - latest 'City Brand Research' on a nationwide scale on Sep. 7 shows clearly that Japanese people are fond of and drawn to the cities in northern and southern Japan: Hokkaido & Okinawa.

city ranking by charming points

1. Sapporo 札幌市　(Hokkaido Pref.)
2. Kobe 神戸市　(Hyogo Pref.)
3. Hakodate 函館市　(Hokkaido Pref.)
4. Yokohama 横浜市　(Kanagawa Pref.)
5. Kyoto 京都市　(Kyoto Pref.)

6. Furano 富良野市　(Hokkaido Pref.)
7. Otaru 小樽市　(Hokkaido Pref.)
8. Kamakura 鎌倉市　(Kanagawa Pref.)
9. Okinawa 沖縄市　(Okinawa Pref.)
10. Naha 那覇市　(Okinawa Pref.)

11. Nagasaki 長崎市　(Nagasaki Pref.)
12. Kanazawa 金沢市　(Ishikawa Pref.)
13. Beppu 別府市　(Oita Pref.)
14. Fukuoka 福岡市　(Fukuoka Pref.)
15. Osaka 大阪市　(Osaka Pref.)

16. Sendai 仙台市　(Miyagi Pref.)
17. Nara 奈良市　(Nara Pref.)
18. Asahikawa 旭川市　(Hokkaido Pref.)
19. Kurashiki 倉敷市　(Okayama Pref.)
20. Noboribetsu 登別市　(Hokkaido Pref.)　

NB: Tokyo 東京　is not a city but the aggregation of 23 special administrative wards.

很奇怪，东京没有作为一个单独城市而列出?
北海道景色秀丽.

Nagoya isn't even on the list? What gives?

What makes Sapporo the best Japanese city? Is it because it has so much flatlands to sprawl so that it is possible to build American-style sprawl/neighborhoods (as opposed to the cramped nature of most of the Japanese cities)?

Sapporo is very popular amongst the Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers, Philipinos and the other Asians plus the Australian winter resort tourists and investors. It's chosen to be the most charming city in Japan. By the way, the rivaling Fukuoka is the Asian Best city, which is also very attractive, too. :)

to me..in term of skyline would be Tokyo,Osaka and Yokohama but in term of charming...my favourite are Kyoto,Kobe and Sendai. ;)

京都　！＝　東京？　
is kyoto a part of tokyo?

京都　！＝　東京？　
is kyoto a part of tokyo?

No, it isn't.
Kyoto is one of old capital's names in Japan, and the word has a mean of capital. In the history, it moved to an east place, called Tokyo, the east side of Kyoto.
Nowadays, the name describes just a place. It's distinguished between the capital and other places with suffix like Tokyo-To, Osaka-Fu, Kyoto-Fu, Hokkaido, and other prefectures as Kanagawa-Ken.:nuts: