Facts about Kobe

Another notable landmark is the Kobe Port Tower.

To commemorate Kobe's recovery from the 1995 quake, the city holds an annual event called the Kobe Luminare, where every December the city hall is decorated with illuminated metal archways.

Kobe was Japan's busiest port and one of Asia's top ports until the Great Hanshin Earthquake occurred.

Kobe's history dates back to the eighth century when the area was known as ?wada Anchorage (?wada-no-tomari).

The city also hosts the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club, founded in 1870 by Alexander Cameron Sim, a prominent foreign cemetery, and a number of Western-style residences from the nineteenth century.

The main transport hub is Sannomiya Station, with the eponymous Kobe Station located to the west and the Shinkansen Shin-Kobe Station to the north.

Kobe is home to 19 public and private universities and institutes of higher learning, including Kobe University and Konan University.

The history of Kobe is closely tied to that of the Ikuta Shrine, and in fact the name "Kobe" derives from kanbe, an archaic name for those who supported the shrine.

Kobe is also the setting of the Studio Ghibli antimated film Grave of the Fireflies.

Other rail lines in Kobe include Kobe Electric Railway which runs north to Sanda and Arima Onsen.

Elementary and junior high schools are operated by the city of Kobe, while high schools are operated by the Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education (Retrieved July 18, 2007.

The four largest sectors in terms of value of goods produced are small appliances, food products, transportation equipment, and communication equipment making up over fifty percent of Kobe's manufactured goods.

The city of Kobe directly administers 169 elementary and 83 middle schools, with enrollments of approximately 80,200 and 36,000 students, respectively.

Sannomiya Station is the main hub in Kobe, serving as the transfer point for the three major intercity rail lines.

After the opening of Japan, Kobe became very much an attraction to an international community, that gathered diplomats and foreign dignitaries, including Rudyard Kipling, around the famous "Oriental Hotel".

The exact location is not known for certain, but is probably the neighborhood of the same name in Hy?go-ku, Kobe.

Kobe is both an important port and manufacturing center within the Hanshin Industrial Region.

Kobe(K?be-shi) is the capital city of Hy?go Prefecture and a prominent seaport city in Japan with a population of about 1.5 million.

Sany? Electric Railway trains from Himeji reach Sannomiya via the Kobe Rapid Railway.

The Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway (Honsh?-Shikoku Bridge Project) runs from Kobe to Naruto via Awaji Island and includes the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world.

Kobe is a hub in a number of expressways, including the Meishin Expressway (Nagoya - Kobe) and the Hanshin Expressway (Osaka - Kobe).

Kobe New Transit runs two lines, the Port Island Line from Sannomiya to Kobe Airport and the Rokko Island Line from JR Sumiyoshi Station to Rokko Island.

The new Kobe Airport was opened on a newly-built reclaimed island on February 16, 2006.

Mount Rokko overlooks Kobe at an elevation of 931 meters.

Away from the seaside at the heart of Kobe lie the Motomachi and Kokashita districts as well as Kobe's Chinatown, Nankinmachi, all well-known retail areas.

Kobe has since dropped to the thirty-second busiest port worldwide (as of 2004).

Nearby Mount Rokko is the site of Japan's first golf course, Kobe Golf Club, established by British expatriate Arthur Hasketh Groom in 1903, and Japan's first mosque, Kobe Mosque, built in 1935.

Japanese companies which have their headquarters in Kobe include ASICS, a shoe manufacturer; Daiei, a department store chain; Kawasaki Heavy Industries, an automobile and ship manufacturer; and Kobe Steel.

Following continuous pressure from citizens, on March 18, 1975, the Kobe City Council passed an ordinance banning vessels carrying nuclear weapons from Kobe Port.

Kobe has six sister cities and a number of other affiliations.

Kobe is also famous for the Arima Onsen (hot springs), and some notable buildings include the Ikuta Shrine as well as the Kobe Port Tower.

Wedged in between the coast and the mountains, the city of Kobe is long and narrow.

Kobe is the busiest container port in the region, surpassing even Osaka, and the fourth busiest in Japan.

Kobe, as it is known today, was founded on April 1, 1889, and was designated on September 1, 1956 by government ordinance.

The landmark of the port area is the red steel Kobe Port Tower (hyperboloid structure).

The city is widely associated with the cosmopolitanism and fashion, encapsulated in the Japanese phrase, "If you can't go to Paris, go to Kobe.

Consistent with this reputation, Kobe has a population of 45,000 foreign residents from more than 100 countries.

The JR Kobe Line connects Kobe to Osaka and Himeji while both the Hankyu Kobe Line and the Hanshin Main Line run from Kobe to Umeda Station in Osaka.

Hokushin Kyuko Railway connects Shin-Kobe Station to Tanigami Station on the Kobe Electric Railway.

Other expressways include the Sany? Expressway (Kobe - Yamaguchi) and the Ch?goku Expressway (Osaka - Yamaguchi).

Kobe is classified as one of Japan's 15 designated cities and is a part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan sprawl.

Kobe also directly controls seven of the city's twenty-eight full-time public high schools, while the remainder are administered by the Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education.

Kobe is well-known for its sake: The area of Nada-ku along with Fushimi-ku in Kyoto accounts for 45 percent of Japan's sake production.

The city hosts the Asian or Japan headquarters of a number of companies including Procter & Gamble and Nestlй, and is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef.

The region is named after the Yukon River, meaning "great river" in the local aboriginal language.

Kobe is home to Kobe University, which traces its roots back to 1902.

Kobe is famous for its Kobe beef and Arima Onsen (hot springs).

Most of the movie Sayonara (1957) starring Marlon Brando takes place in Kobe.