Page 222 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Japan

EXPERIENCE Western Honshu

3
KOBE Did You Know?

Kobe beef only
神戸 comes from the black
wagyu cows of
! D5 ⌂ Hyogo Prefecture k Kobe, 5 miles (8 km) SE; Kansai Hyogo Prefecture.
43 miles (70 km) S £ JR Shin-Kobe Stn, Sanyo Shinkansen
line; Sannomiya Stn, JR Tokkaido, Hankyu, & Hanshin
lines n In front of JR Sannomiya Stn; www.feel-kobe.jp
Kobe has been a center of international trade since the Nanban art. The word Nanban
8th century and is today home to a large expatriate (“southern barbarian”) was at
community. The city hit the headlines in 1995 when first applied to foreigners who
a huge earthquake struck, but there is little evidence arrived from the south, mainly
of the disaster now, so effectively has the city been the Portuguese. Later it was
applied to all Europeans.
rebuilt. The downtown area is famous for its nightlife,
while Kobe beef is renowned around the world.
3
1 2 " Kitano-cho
Chinatown Kobe City Museum
⌂ 12-min walk N of
⌂ 5-min walk S of ⌂ 10-min walk S of Sannomiya Stn
Motomachi Stn Motomachi Stn # Hours
vary, check website ∑ city. Wealthy foreign traders and
The city’s 14,000 or more kobe.lg.jp/culture/culture/ diplomats built homes in this
Chinese residents have turned institution/museum area after Kobe became one
this quarter (Nankin-machi) of Japan’s major international
into a lively and colorful slice This museum covers the ports at the start of the Meiji
of Kobe life. Approached via history of the city from its period. Over 20 of these
four large gateways, the central origins to its reconstruction beautifully preserved homes,
plaza, Nankin Park, is bordered after the 1995 earthquake. many in the Gothic Victorian
by Chinese restau rants and There is an intriguing display style, are open to the public.
trinket shops, and is filled of objects retrieved from the The area, which suggests fin
with street vendors. The park Old Foreign Settlement and a de siècle European elegance
has statues representing the scale model of the area. The to many Japanese people,
12 animals of the Chinese muse um also has the world’s is considered one of Kobe’s
astro logical calendar. top collection of 16th-century more fashionable districts.
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