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Sights Overview

Kobe resonates with a cool, hip vibe, a condition of its internationalism and its position between mountains and sea. With more than 44,000 gaijin (foreigners) living in the city, representing over 120 countries, Kobe may be Japan's most diverse city. It has great international cuisine, from Indonesian to French. It also has some of the best Japanese cuisine, specializing in Kobe beef.

Kobe is a hill-and-harbor town that brings to mind San Francisco. Downtown Kobe, the site of most businesses, is near the harbor. The rest of Kobe is built on slopes that extend as far as the base of Rokko-san (Mount Rokko). In the middle of the harbor is the man-made Poto Airando (Port Island), which has conference centers, an amusement park, and the Portopia Hotel. The island is linked with downtown by a fully computerized monorail -- with no human conductor. The major nightlife area, Ikuta (a part of the Kitano area), is just north of San-no-miya Station.

In the area known as Kitano-cho, wealthy foreigners in the late 19th century set up residences, bringing to Japan Western-style domestic architecture, referred to in Kobe as ijinkan. The district is extremely popular with young Japanese tourists, who enjoy the opportunity of seeing old-fashioned Western houses, which are rare in Japan. The curious mélange of Japanese and Western Victorian and Gothic architecture makes for an interesting walk in the hills of this neighborhood. Many residences are still inhabited by Westerners, but more than a dozen 19th-century ijinkan in Kitano-cho are open to the public. Seeing all of them can get repetitious.

To reach Kitano-cho, take a 15-minute walk north along Kitano-zaka-dori from San-no-miya Eki or a 10-minute walk west along Kitano-dori from Shin-Kobe Eki. Yamamoto-dori (nicknamed Ijinkan-dori) is Kitano's main street, and the ijinkan are on the small side streets ascending the hill.