Kobe City Centre encompasses a vast business district, located in the heart of Kobe, a port city 33 kilometres west of Osaka in Japan. The majority of the area’s attractions are situated in the downtown area of the Kobe City Centre, also referred to as Kyu-kyoryuchi.
Primary attractions in the Kobe City Centre include the Chartered Square and the 15th Building as well as a concentration of high-end fashion boutiques attracting shoppers from all over the region. The Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum offers tourists a unique insight into the history of hand carpentry tools dating back to the Stone Age. The Kobe Port Tower provides great views of the city below, and the city centre area also contains many prominent restaurants and sake breweries.
The central district of Kobe is served by the Sannomiya train station which is less than 2 kilometres from the Shin-Kobe Station. Walking is the most popular form of transit around the city centre.
The most notable event in the history of the city of Kobe was the Great Hanshin Earthquake which occurred in 1995. The earthquake killed thousands of people and decimated twice as many buildings. In less than ten years the city was completely restored, and visitors can no longer see traces of the devastation.