or is a historical district in

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whi ...

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, which contains a number of foreign residences from the late Meiji and early Taishō eras of

Japanese history The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inventi ...

. While the term can refer to any foreign residence of this period in Japan, it usually refers to those of Kitano given the number and high concentration of those that remain. ''Ijinkan'' districts exist in other locales (notably

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

and

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

), but due to

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

and natural disasters, these districts are not as well preserved. While some of the houses still serve as residences, many are open to tourists, making Kitano-chō one of the principal

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural ...

s in Kobe.Fodor's
- "Kobe Sights & Activities: Kitano", retrieved February 15, 2007

References

External links

City of Kobe: photo a la Carte
- a collection of photos and stories of the Kitano Ijinkan area
Ijinkan Net
- Tourist site with maps and information on the Kitano Ijinkan area Geography of Kobe Buildings of the Meiji period Tourist attractions in Kobe {{Hyogo-geo-stub

See also

References

External links