History
Kobe's history is dominated by two important events; the opening of Japan's ports to foreign trade in 1868 and the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. Although it had been a port as long ago as the eighth century, Kobe's fortunes really took off when foreign traders set up shop in the city in the latter part of the nineteenth century, bringing their new ways and styles of living with them. Japan got its first taste of beef and soccer in 1871 in Kobe, the first cinema film was shown here in 1896, and the first golf course was laid down close to the city in 1903, designed by Arthur Gloom, a Brit. This trendsetting nature and booming trade made Kobe a very popular place and, despite suffering heavy bombing during World War II, by the 1960s the city was bursting in its narrow stretch of land between the mountains and the sea. A solution was found by levelling the hills and dumping the rubble in the sea to create Port Island and Rokko Island in the bay. All this came to a sudden halt, though, at 5.46am, January 17, 1995, when a devastating earthquake struck the city and surrounding area. As dawn broke, Kobe resembled a war zone, with buildings and highways toppled, whole neighbourhoods in flames, some 5500 people dead and tens of thousands homeless. Although the authorities were criticized for not responding promptly to the disaster, Kobe has quickly got back to business and the city bears little physical sign of its tragedy today.
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