Kitano-chō

Kitano-chō is the hillside district above Sannomiya where foreign traders settled from the 1860s onward. Their "ijinkan" — Western-style residences with Japanese touches — still line the sloping streets, painted in pastel colours with wrought-iron railings and bay windows looking out over the harbour. The district has a pleasantly un-Japanese atmosphere: it is the most European-feeling neighbourhood in Kobe.

Several of the ijinkan are open to the public as small museums. Weathercock House (so named for its iron weathervane) is the most visited. Others have been converted into restaurants, boutiques, and wedding venues. The neighbourhood is walkable in an hour or two, though serious ijinkan enthusiasts could spend a full afternoon. The streets themselves — hilly, quiet, with good views back over the city — are a pleasure to wander even without entering any buildings.

things to do neighbourhood sight
A story
The ijinkan of Kitano-chō were built by foreign merchants who were granted residence rights outside the concession areas after Japan opened to trade in the 1860s. The British, Americans, Germans, and others built their homes in Western styles but adapted them with Japanese roof tiles and local materials. One of the mansions has a recreation of Sherlock Holmes's 221B Baker Street sitting room, because the Japanese enthusiasm for Holmes has no obvious limits.