Treaty Ports

Hyōgo/Kobe

Kobe was the last of the major Japanese treaty ports to open. The Japanese government had been able to delay the opening until January 1, 1868. Just a month later, on February 4, Kobe was caught up in late skirmishes of the Boshin War (that brought about the Meiji Restoration). Several foreigners were wounded, and although it had to the potential to provoke a severe armed response as had been the case in Satsuma and Shimonoseki just five years before, in this case the consuls of the Five Powers decided to maintain neutrality. They were rewarded with a death sentence for the instigator, Taki Zenzaburō.

In contrast to Yokohama, Kobe was an established city of 10,000, but it paled in size to nearby Osaka. Kobe hada better harbor and the area adjoining the water was uninhabited and could be constructed into an excellent bund. Kobe was noted among the treaty ports for its beautiful architecture and wide streets. Like the other main ports, a significant Chinese population sprung up in Kobe although it never approached that of Yokohama. In contrast, even by the turn of the century there were fewer than a thousand Westerners in Kobe.

One of the most widely known impacts of treaty port residence in Kobe was the beef. It has become so well known that basketball star Kobe Bryant was named for it. In part because of Buddhist prohibitions and in part because arable land was devoted to paddy rice rather than grazing, beef eating was extremely rare in Japan before the Meiji period. The Dutch were supplied with special herds in Kyūshū but, otherwise, cows were considered draft animals. Westerners were, however, accustomed to eating large quantities of meat. Thus, butchers and beef breeders sprung up around the other treaty ports to meet the demands of foreigners. Tajima cows, also known as Japanese Black are the basis of Kobe beef. They were specifically crossbred with European breeds to produce a tender beef animal. They are feed a grain (soybean) and beer diet and are massaged to produced melting soft marbled beef.

One of the most important industries of Kobe, rubber, did not begin until after treaty revision. British firm J. P. Ingram established in Kobe in 1908, and Dunlop the following year, and from there the technical knowhow spread to many smaller Japanese firms. Kobe also became a center for rubber and synthetic rubber production. The location was chosen by these companies in part because of their location as a treaty port.