Nankinmachi

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About Nankinmachi

Nankinmachi is Kobe’s Chinatown, a few minutes’ walk from Motomachi Station and the waterfront. It formed after the port opened in 1868, when Chinese merchants settled near the former foreign settlement. The name comes from Nanjing, the Chinese city, a name Japanese people used historically to refer to China in general.

The district is compact, with two main streets that cross at a central plaza featuring a colorful Chinese pavilion. The best-known entrance is the Choanmon gate, with a red-and-green roof, on the street coming from the east. Facades show red lanterns, Chinese signage and open counters facing the street.

Visitors to Nankinmachi usually come to eat standing up. The butaman (steamed pork bun) is sold at a long-established shop that forms a line from opening; other stalls offer grilled gyoza, shrimp dumplings, Beijing-style chicken skewers and tea-flavored ice cream. Sit-down restaurants are on upper floors and side streets.

The Shunsetsu-sai lunar New Year festival brings parades with imperial costumes and performances in the central plaza, and at other times the lantern festival decorates the streets at night. The waterfront, with Meriken Park, is about a 10-minute walk away, and the covered Motomachi shopping street with long-standing shops runs beside it.