Directory_and_Chronicle_1919 — Page 517

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

KOBE-HYOGO

459

the attractions of Rokkosan are excellent golf links. Kobe and Hyogo stretch for some five miles along the strip of land between the hills and the water, and the former is rapidly extending in the direction of Osaka, which is connected with Kobe by the Hanshin Electric Railway. What was at one time known as the foreign settlement at Kobe is well laid out; the streets are broad and clean, and lighted with gas. The Bund has a fine stone embankment and extends the whole length of the foreign business quarter. The foreign houses are neatly built, and the Sannomiya railway station, within three minutes' walk of the Bund, has a very English look. The railway terminus is at the other end of Kobe, where it meets Hyogo, and there are extensive carriage works adjoining the station. There are three Clubs - the Kobe Club (British, but including members of all nationalities), the Masonic Club, and the Oriental Club (Indian). At Mirume the K. R. & A. C. have a fine boathouse and 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 some foreign hotels in the town, the principal being the Oriental and the Tor. The former 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 several native papers. The population of the city of Kobe in 1916 was 529,865. There were 3,993 foreigners residing in Kobe in 1916, but of this number 2,779 were Chinese,

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 Mitsubishi Co. also have a dockyard at the Western extremity of the ports. The Government in 1906 sanctioned a scheme for the improvement of the harbour' involving an expenditure of 32,000,000 yen. Large reclamations were undertaken at Onohama, and commodious wharves and other facilities for the working of cargo are provided.

Kobe's excellent railway communications, both north and south, have naturally tended to centralise trade at this port.

The following table of values in Yen shows the total trade of the port from 1908 to 1917:-

Imports

Exports Total

Imports Exports Total 1908 191,080,866

84,114,773 275,195,639 1913 346,608,977 170,170,039 517,079,019 1909 184,224,779 100,616,555 284,841,334 1914 281,959,911 167,522,636 449,482,549 1910 230,336,984 121,049,552 351,386,536 1915 269,216,398 197,597,830 466,814,228 1911 256,235,347 119,054,086 375,289,433 1916 374,099,070 325,671,735 705,203,711 1912 302,199,803 150,475,871 452,675,674 | 1917 580,929,041 479,770,388 1,060,699,429

Directory_and_Chronicle_1919 — Page 517

Comments

Private Research Note