“Sannomiya (三ノ宮) is a district of Chūō-ku, Kobe, Japan. Today, it is the biggest downtown area in the city.
Before the 1920s, Sannomiya was just an edge of the city. The major downtowns were Motomachi and Shinkaichi, which are west of Sannomiya. However, after Sogo Department Store moved to the place in front of Sannomiya Station from Motomachi in 1933, the area started to develop rapidly.”
Above cut and pasted from Wiki.