Kobe

Kobe (officially 神戸市, ) is the sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture.

The capital of Hyogo is Kobe.

With a population around 1.5 million, the city is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kyoto.

Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe.

Companies headquartered in Kobe include ASICS, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Kobe Steel, as well as over 100 international corporations with Asian or Japanese headquarters in the city, such as Eli Lilly and Company, Procter & Gamble, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Nestlé.

Kobe Steel, Ltd., operating worldwide under the brand Kobelco, is a major Japanese steel manufacturer headquartered in Chūō-ku, Kobe.

It is located on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, on the north shore of Osaka Bay and about 30 km west of Osaka.

Osaka was opened to foreign trade by the government of the Bakufu at the same time as Hyōgo (modern Kobe) on 1 January 1868, just before the advent of the Boshin War and the Meiji Restoration.

The natural geography of the area, particularly of Wada Cape in Hyōgo-ku, led to the development of a port, which would remain the economic center of the city.

Hyogo is one of nine wards of Kobe in Japan.

The earliest written records regarding the region come from the Nihon Shoki, which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD 201.

Ikuta Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the Chūō Ward of Kobe, Japan, and is possibly among the oldest shrines in the country.

While the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake diminished much of Kobe's prominence as a port city, it remains Japan's fourth-busiest container port.

The focus of the earthquake was located 17 km beneath its epicenter, on the northern end of Awaji Island, 20 km away from the center of the city of Kobe.

With a population around 1.5 million, the city is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kyoto.

Keihanshin is a metropolitan region in the Kansai region of Japan encompassing the metropolitan areas of the cities of Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka in Osaka Prefecture and Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture.

Companies headquartered in Kobe include ASICS, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Kobe Steel, as well as over 100 international corporations with Asian or Japanese headquarters in the city, such as Eli Lilly and Company, Procter & Gamble, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Nestlé.

Its founder, Kihachiro Onitsuka, began manufacturing basketball shoes in his home town of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

The city is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef, as well as the site of one of Japan's most famous hot spring resorts, Arima Onsen.

During this time, Hyōgo Port, along with northern Osaka, composed the province of Settsu (most of today's Kobe belonged to Settsu except Nishi Ward and Tarumi Ward, which belonged to Harima).

Tarumi is one of nine wards of Kobe City in Japan.

Shortly thereafter in 1184, the Taira fortress in Hyōgo-ku and the nearby Ikuta Shrine became the sites of the Genpei War battle of Ichi-no-Tani between the Taira and Minamoto clans.

Ichi-no-Tani was a Taira defensive position at Suma, to the west of present-day Kobe, Japan.

It is located on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, on the north shore of Osaka Bay and about 30 km west of Osaka.

Major ports on Osaka Bay include Osaka, Kobe, Nishinomiya, Sakai, Amagasaki, and Hannan.

It is located on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, on the north shore of Osaka Bay and about 30 km west of Osaka.

Most of Japan's industry is located in a belt running along Honshu's southern coast, from Tokyo to Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Hiroshima; by contrast, the economy along the northwestern Sea of Japan coast is largely based on fishing and agriculture.

The region has since been identified with the West and many foreign residences from the period remain in Kobe's Kitano area.

Kitano-chō or Kitano Ijinkan is a historical district in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, which contains a number of foreign residences from the late Meiji and early Taishō eras of Japanese history.

Later, during the Edo period, the eastern parts of present-day Kobe came under the jurisdiction of the Amagasaki Domain and the western parts under that of the Akashi Domain, while the center was controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate.

It occupied Akashi District (corresponding to most of the present-day city of Akashi and western part of Kobe) and surroundings in Harima Province.

During this time, Hyōgo Port, along with northern Osaka, composed the province of Settsu (most of today's Kobe belonged to Settsu except Nishi Ward and Tarumi Ward, which belonged to Harima).

Most of Settsu's area comprises the modern day cities of Osaka and Kōbe.

The Port of Kobe was Japan's busiest port and one of Asia's top ports until the Great Hanshin earthquake.

The Port of Kobe is a Japanese maritime port in Kobe, Hyōgo in the greater Osaka area, backgrounded by the Hanshin Industrial Region.

This incident inspired the well-known Studio Ghibli film Grave of the Fireflies and the book by Akiyuki Nosaka on which the film was based.

Set in the city of Kobe, Japan, the film tells the story of two siblings, Seita and Setsuko, and their desperate struggle to survive during the final months of the Second World War.

The earthquake destroyed portions of the Hanshin Expressway, an elevated freeway that dramatically toppled over.

The Hanshin Expressway is a network 239.3 km of expressways surrounding Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, Japan.

The landmark of the port area is the red steel Port Tower.

The Kobe Port Tower is one of the landmarks in the port city of Kobe, Japan.

To the east is the city of Ashiya, while the city of Akashi lies to its west.

Akashi is a city located in southern Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, on the Seto Inland Sea west of Kobe.

To the east is the city of Ashiya, while the city of Akashi lies to its west.

Ashiya is a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, between the cities of Nishinomiya and Kobe.

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

Kobe Luminarie is a light festival held in Kobe, Japan, every December since 1995 to commemorate the Great Hanshin earthquake of that year.

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

Motomachi is a district of Chūō Ward in Kobe, Japan.