Nankin-machi

Kōbe

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Kōbe's Chinatown – Nankin comes from Nanjing; machi just means town – dates to the early days of the city opening its port to foreign traders. It was rebuilt after the 1995 earthquake and has all the visual signifiers of Chinatowns the world over: tiered gates at the cardinal entrances (except for the north side, guarded by lions) and lots of restaurants.

It's definitely touristy, but it's fun: most restaurants have stalls out the front selling street food, like nikuman (steamed buns, usually filled with pork; baozi) and chimaki (sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, also often filled with pork; they're also called zongzi) for a few hundred yen each.

Transportation

  • subway: Kaigan line to Kyūkyoryūchi-Daimaru-mae
  • train: JR or Hanshin lines to Motomachi

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Nearby Kōbe attractions

1. Kōbe City Museum

0.26 MILES

Kōbe's local-history museum, in a Greek-revival-style building dating from 1935, is undergoing major renovations and scheduled to reopen in November 2019.

4. City Hall Observation Lobby

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The 24th-floor observatory atop Kōbe's City Hall stays open generously late so you can get a night view of the city, towards the mountains or the bay …

5. Ikuta-jinja

0.44 MILES

Kōbe's signature shrine is said to date from 201, though it's been rebuilt many a time – a symbol of resilience for the city. It's right in the middle of…

6. Kitano-chō

0.87 MILES

For generations of Japanese tourists, this pleasant, hilly neighbourhood is Kōbe, thanks to the dozen or so well-preserved homes of (mostly) Western…

7. Kitano Tenman-jinja

0.92 MILES

Up a steep hill past the homes of Kitano-chō, this shrine has good views over the city.

8. Nunobiki Falls

1.46 MILES

You'd never guess that such a beautiful natural sanctuary could sit so close to the city. This revered waterfall in four sections (the longest is 43m tall…

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