They elaborate on their choice of Kyoto as a way to isolate themselves further from distraction -- the language barrier.

I know I moved out of London last year because I no longer needed to be in London and rent was hard to justify.

Sounds like they were in the same boat. You can rebuild your app from anywhere, might as well do it from somewhere cheaper (yet still vibrant).

But that was certainly not the only reason for moving to Kyoto.