上京

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 上京, read じょうきょう, combines going up toward 上 with capital 京, conventionally Tokyo.
• Basic usage: It means going or moving from elsewhere to Tokyo, as in 進学を機に上京する.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Scope and context
  • Do not generalize the character 京 to any national capital; in modern Japanese the destination is Tokyo.