Sightseeing Itinerary for Kobe's Old Quarter
When touring Kobe, visiting the Kitano-cho Ijinkan, or old foreign settlement quarter, is a must. Its history dates back to the opening of Kobe Port just prior to the start of the Meiji Era. Today Kobe Port is one of the most important ports in Japan for foreign trade and it, along with Hakodate, Nagasaki, and Yokohama, was opened to foreign commerce in 1868. Since then Kobe has served as the gateway for many foreigners involved in international trade.
At the time foreigners could only live in designated areas where they could rent houses and property from Japanese and in Kobe that area was Kitano-cho in Kobe’s Chuo Ward. During the Meiji and Taisho eras foreigners who lived there at that time built many Western-style homes and thus this area came to be called the Kitano Ijinkan-gai. ”Ijin” was the word first used to mean ”foreigner” and “gai” means “area”.
There used to be many old Western-style buildings in Nagasaki and Yokohama, too, but sadly almost all of them have disappeared. The old Western-style buildings in Kobe’s Kitano, fortunately, were not damaged during the 1945 air raids on Kobe and they also survived the Awaji Earthquake that damaged Kobe and Osaka in 1995 making them especially valuable today. There are several of these valuable old buildings scattered throughout the Kitano Ijinkan-gai that have preserved the vestiges of the older eras.
At the time foreigners could only live in designated areas where they could rent houses and property from Japanese and in Kobe that area was Kitano-cho in Kobe’s Chuo Ward. During the Meiji and Taisho eras foreigners who lived there at that time built many Western-style homes and thus this area came to be called the Kitano Ijinkan-gai. ”Ijin” was the word first used to mean ”foreigner” and “gai” means “area”.
There used to be many old Western-style buildings in Nagasaki and Yokohama, too, but sadly almost all of them have disappeared. The old Western-style buildings in Kobe’s Kitano, fortunately, were not damaged during the 1945 air raids on Kobe and they also survived the Awaji Earthquake that damaged Kobe and Osaka in 1995 making them especially valuable today. There are several of these valuable old buildings scattered throughout the Kitano Ijinkan-gai that have preserved the vestiges of the older eras.
