Old mercantile buildings on the Kaigan-dori Street, Kobe

Large old mercantile buildings on Kobe Kaigan-dori Street of Route 2 
Effect of "impressive art"

Sometime in late 1800's or early 1900's, image via here

神戸旧居留地, Former Foreign Settlement of Kobe, was established as a place where foreigners (not all the foreigners but Europeans and Americans at first) could live and trade when the Port of Kobe opened according to the Ansei Treaties of Amity and Commerce (1858) concluded with the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Netherlands, and France, after long national isolation.

The settlement was designed by British civil engineers. 126 blocks in the district were sold to Western foreigners at auction. (The remaining building number is the block number.) The district spreads at the seaside between the east "Flower Road" and the west "Meriken Road".   The current traffic road was a sandy beach back then.

After the foreign settlement was returned back to Japanese government in 1899, Japanese businessmen also used this district and it became the business center of Kobe.

 With the start of World War II, most of the foreigners went back to their countries.  In 1945, about 70 percent of the buildings in this settlement were destroyed by air raids.

After the war, modern buildings were built while the remaining original buildings got older.  Until 1980’s, the district was simply old office streets with aged buildings, but in the late 1980’s civil movement to preserve the district got active, and besides, under the leadership of Daimaru Department Store, the mentality of the building owners changed to be conscious about “town-scape”, preserving dotted historical buildings to make a comprehensive nice and beautiful area.

In 1992, the district was designated as one of the top 100 beautiful city-scape in Japan. It is said to be one of the successful examples about the collaboration of civil movement and commercial capital.

After 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake which collapsed more than 20 old buildings in this district, Kobe City government got involved actively in the restoration. The streets are protected not only through preservation but also with the understanding of how the landscape could be developed through the construction of new buildings. 

 Collapsed No. 15 Building, old American Consulate (1880), image via here

Reconstructed No. 15 Building, image via here

The building above, which was originally built in 1880 to house American Consulate, is the only building left from the Old Settlement days and is designated as an Important Cultural Property. It was destroyed completely during the 1995 earthquake, but was subsequently rebuilt using as much of the original materials as possible. It is used as a restaurant on the first floor and a cafe upstairs. I like it when historical assets are reused actively for practical various uses not only as museums. 

Let's see some of the European style buildings on the Kaigan-dori Street.  Shosen-Mitsui Building built in 1922 would be the most impressive and magnificent building. It is one of the most representative retro architectures with meticulous relief carving, beautiful vertical lines like carved pillars, and stately masonry at the lower part. With reinforcement and partly renovation, it is used by Daimaru to display furniture and interior goods in a large scale. 

Front entrance of Shosen-Mitsui Building

other entrance

Next to the  Shosen-Mitsui Building (right) is Kaigan Building (left).   It is a modern fifteen-story building including four-story classic building at the lower part.

This block used to be occupied by Kobe Branch of Mitsui-Bussan Co.  The original building collapsed in 1995 Hanshin Earthquake and was reconstructed as an office building of which 1-4 floor was reconstructed in original style, using the original materials found in debris as much as possible.  

Original door

Tofu and Yuba Restaurant



Across the street from Kaigan Building is former Kobe Branch of Nihon Yusen Co.  After the first American Consulate moved to the other place, the building of former Nihon-Yusen Co. was built in 1918.  It survived the earthquake because of the improved earthquake-resistance finished one year before.  Grand Back for big and tall men carries on business there currently.

I wonder if this is Frank Lloyd Wright door?

Right across the Kaigan-dori Street from the Grand Back is Meriken Pier.  

Walking around this district reminds me of the history of this city. This is the place where foreigners tried to make their dream come true by trade and commerce after sailing across the Pacific to the far-east Japan.  And besides, this city's history is a symbol of phoenix rising up.  After the devastation of the war and another devastation by the earthquake fifty years later, Kobe City resurrected like a phoenix and is constantly evolving.

Two-tired Hanshin Expressway, Kaigan-dori Street, Former Foreign Settlement seen from Meriken Pier

Related post: The New Year lights at the Former Foreign Settlement of Kobe

Sources: 神戸外国人居留地　　神戸の居留地めぐり

The New Year lights at the Former Foreign Settlement of Kobe

Hello, my dear Friends, and the new visitors from the world! 

I wish your 2014 be peaceful, healthy, and fulfilling.  

Every year when the New Year holiday is over, I’d like to lose weight I gained from many irresistible foods over the years.  Leaving my mom's home on my routine visit, I decided to walk around my favorite area of Kobe, the Former Foreign Settlement, and then to do some shopping.  Most shops start winter clearances on January 4^th, and some begin even sooner. 

Front entrance on Tor Road

Since my childhood, it was Daimaru Department Store (Daimaru-Matsuzakaya now) that my family and I used to go on shopping.  Daimaru is located in the corner of the Former Foreign Settlement.



“外国人居留地 The Foreign Settlement refers to a special area in treaty ports, designated by the Japanese government in the second half of the nineteenth century, to allow foreigners to live and work. Japan at that time was in the process of changing itself from a closed, feudalistic society to a more open, modern state.” according to the Wikipedia.

North side of Daimaru-Matsuzakaya

East side

The architectural beauty of Daimaru is both classic and modern and nicely fits to the surroundings. Cloisters and lamp-posts which surround the structure make people easier to imagine the atmosphere of the time of the Former Foreign Settlement.

East side



South side of No.38 Building

The Former Foreign Settlement No. 38 building used to be the Kobe Branch of National City Bank designed by William Merrell Vories.  It was reinforced and renovated and is owned by Daimaru now.

Daimaru actively invited brand shops to open their branches in other buildings in the Former Foreign Settlemnt to draw more customers. In April, 2013, Hermes shop was moved to this part of building.

East side of No. 38 Building

The street stretching east to west on the sea side of Daimaru has been known as “Luminarie street” since 1996.  It is one of the most fashionable streets with many famous brand shops.  I'm not interested in brand clothes or goods but in taking pictures of these  interestingly illuminated buildings.



BEAMS House in the daytime

Genius Gallery

The talk about the Former Foreign Settlement of Kobe is to be continued with more details ... perhaps in the next post.

While I was staring at the city lights in the dark from the window of the straight train to Nara from Sannomiya, kobe, I got into the somber and reflective mood.  Apart from those brilliance, wealth, and warmth despite the coldness of winter, I held my breath when I turned my eyes toward the world of misery: thousands of the devastating typhoon survivors at Tacloban, the Philippines, appalling brutality in bitter and bloody conflicts and the children who witnessed those horrors, and the ongoing misery of the Tohoku, Japan, caused by the nuclear accident, to name a few.  And then, I thought the illuminations of revitalized Kobe show human miracles which have overcome and revived from the shattered community of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.  I hope a promising New Year with things getting better and better to those who have struggled to survive.