A stroll through early foreign cultures and history in Kobe (Kitano Ijinkan-gai)
A stroll up the gradual slope towards the mountains from Sannomiya Station takes you to the Kitano Ijinkan-gai area where the scenery is at times strangely non Japanese. This is where foreign traders of the 19th century built their homes. On the high bluff overlooking the sea remain several homes of characteristically western-style architecture to note the Kazamidori-no-yakata (Weathercock House) that has come to symbolize the Kitano area, the Moegi-no-yakata (Sharp Residence), the Line-no-yakaya (Line House) and the Uroko-no-ie (literally the “Scale House”).
| By train | By bus |
|---|---|
| From Tokyo Take the JR Tokaido Sanyo Shinkansen (Nozomi) to Shinkobe Station … Approx. 2 hr 51 min. From Osaka Take the Hankyu Limited Express Service from Umeda Station to Sannomiya Station … Approx. 27 min. Take the Hanshin Limited Express Service from Umeda Station to Sannomiya Station … Approx. 29 min. Take the JR Special Rapid Service from Osaka Station to Sannomiya Station … Approx. 21 min. | From Tokyo Take the Dream Kobe Bus (JR Bus Kanto) from the Yaesu South Exit of Tokyo Station to Shinkobe, Sannomiya or Kobe (South Central Exit) Stations … Approx. 8 hr 50 min. |
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| Uroko-no-ie |
- 1.JR/Hankyu/Hanshin Sannomiya Station
- 2.Kitano Ijinkan-gai
- Its name literally meaning "different people's homes", Kobe's Ijinkan-gai in Kitano is where foreign traders built homes after the Port of Kobe was opened to world trade in the Meiji Period. There are 24 homes that can be visited today.
- 3.Tor Road
- 4.Kitano Meister Garden
- This craft center has 20 studio/shops that produce and sell Kobe brand confectionaries, crafts, microbrews and other interesting items.
- 5.Muslim mosque
- 6.Kantei-byo Shrine
- This shrine venerates, as the protectorate of wealth, the General Guan Yu of China's period of Three Kingdoms that ensued the de facto loss of power of the Han Dynasty in 220.
- 7.JR Motomachi Station
