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KOBE-HYOGO
large lawn for all kinds of sports. The Union Protestant Church and a French Roman Catholic Church are in what was formerly known as the Concession. An English Episcopal Church, All Saints, was opened in 1898 on the Hill behind, and there are several native Protestant churches in Kobe town. There are two foreign hotels in the town-the Oriental and the Grand, while the Mikado (near Kobe railway station), is in foreign style but under Japanese management. Two foreign daily papers, the Japan Chronicle and the Kobe Herald, and one weekly, the Japan Weekly Chronicle, are published in Kobe. There are also two native papers. The population of the city of Kobe exceeds 300,000. There are about 3,000 foreigners residing in Kobe, but of this number nearly two-thirds are Chinese. When a census was taken in 1901, the British numbered 602, Germans 188, Americans 179, French 67, and the Portuguese 70.
The Temple of Nofukuji, which possesses a large bronze Buddha, and which is situated in the old town of Hyogo, is worth a visit; and there is a monument to the Japanese hero Kiyomori, erected in 1286, in a grove of trees in the vicinity of the tem- ple, which claims some attention from its historic associations. On the Kobe side of the old river known as the Minato-gawa also stands a temple dedicated to Kusunoki Masashige, so famous in Japanese history for loyalty and valour, who died on the spot in 1336, during the unsuccessful wars for the restoration of the Mikado's power. The Kawasaki Shipbuilding Yard situated at Hyogo is one of the largest in Japan. The new graving Dock will accommodate vessels of some 5,000 tons. The Government in 1906 sanctioned a scheme for the improvement of the harbour involving an expenditure of 32,000,000 yen. Large reclamations are to be undertaken at Onohama, and com- modious wharves and other facilities for the working of cargo are to be provided. The work is to be completed in eight years.
Kobe's excellent railway communications, both north and south, have naturally tended to centralise trade at this port.
In 1906 the values of the different classes of Imports of foreign produce and manufactures were :-
***
Beverages and Comestibles...Yen 4,321,536 Metals, & Manufactures of...Yen 21,856,206 Cotton, Raw and Ginned... 64,164,584 Oil & Wax (mostly Kerosine Oil) 6,490,180 Cotton Yarn and Piece Goods... 12,829,995 Rice...
8,672,433 Drugs, Chemicals &c.
5,879,736 Wool and Woollen Manufactures 11,556,995 Grains and Seeds...
5,244,057 Sundries...
41,179,218 Machinery, Watches, Arms, &c. 9,706,093
***
Total Imports
Yen 191,901,033
The values of the principal articles of Export in the same year were as follows :— Beverages and Comestibles, Yen 7,919,251 Porcelain and Earthenware Yen 5,589,685 Clothing and Accessories
Cotton Yarn & Cotton Goods Drugs, etc. (mostly Camphor) Matches
Mats for Floors
...
...
..3,218,940 26,354,312
Rice... Straw Braid
5,074,957 Tea ... 8,448,621 Sundries... 5,814,554
Metals and Metal Manufactures 17,312,590
Total Exports
2,673,028
3,563,887
2,698,132
26,013,314
...Yen 108,866,717
The quantity of tea exported from Kobe-Hyogo during the year 1906 was 8,397,572 catties or kin. Practically the whole of this went to the United States of America and Canada.
The following table of values in Yen shows the total trade of the port from 1897 to 1906:-
Total 219,264,254
Imports
Exports
Total
Imports Exports
1899 120,289,524
1900 137,484,281 1901 125,979,022
1897 110,741,830 51,408,080 162,149,910 1902 1902 1898 138,133,798 60,119,645 198,253,443 | 1903 1903 75,320,884 195,610,408 | 1904 69,706,549 207,190,830 | 1905
144,516,111
154,534,013
174,855,201
74,748,143 90,518,216 245,052,229 87,976,178 262,831,379
228,614,005
84.458,679 313,072,684
77,206,226 203,185,248 | 1906 192,190,166 110,605,293 202,795,459
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