Visit Duration
60 minutes
Nankin-machi
南京町Chuo, Hyogo
Food area
What makes this place special?
At a Glance
Nankin-machi is Kobe's Chinatown, a compact district of more than a hundred shops and restaurants in Chuo Ward. It spans about 200 by 110 meters and is counted as one of Japan's three great Chinatowns, with Yokohama and Nagasaki. A pavilion with stone carvings of the twelve zodiac signs stands at the crossing of the two main streets, with Chang'an Gate to the east and Xi'an Gate to the west.
Many shops sell dim sum, buns, pastries and Chinese tea from open stalls and shopfronts, so eating while walking is part of the visit. The district began after Kobe's port opened in 1868, when Chinese residents, not allowed inside the foreign settlement, settled just to its west. It was devastated in the 1945 air raids and damaged again in the 1995 earthquake, after which shops began selling takeaway snacks to the street, a custom that stayed.
Goshuin within a short walk
Temples, shrines and castles near Nankin-machi that give goshuin, closest first.
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