Explore Nankin-machi, the Chinatown in Kobe! [A fun trip to Kobe, Chapter 3]

Explore Nankin-machi, the Chinatown in Kobe! [A fun trip to Kobe, Chapter 3]

Albatross. Explore Nanki Machi, the Chinatown in Kobe. A fun trip to Kobe. Chapter 3. I’m at the Q Karuchi Daimarai station on the Kobe subway Kai gun line. This time I’m going to walk around Kobe’s Chinatown called Nanking Machi. Good afternoon. I’m Albatross. I am Jay. Nanking Machi is one of Japan’s three largest Chinatowns along with Yokohama Chinatown, Nagasaki Shinchi Chinatown. There are over 100 restaurants and stores in an area measuring approximately 200 m east to west and 110 m north to south. There are three gates in Nanking Machi. Choen gate in the east, Kayi gate in the south, Cien gate in the west, and there is no gate in the north. Let’s enter Nanking Machi from Choing Gate. Choing gate which can be said to be the main gate of Nanking Machi says Choing gate alone with a word Tongbach. [Music] Tombok means good human relationships. Looking at the gate from the opposite side, it says Choen gate and friendship. [Music] Let’s walk west along East Nanking Road, the main street of Nanki Machi, which extends from Choing Gate. There are many Chinese restaurants and delicious looking food is lined up in front of the restaurants. However, it seems that eating while walking is prohibited. I recommend eating your food in the restaurant’s eatin space. If you continue west on East Nank King Road, you will arrive at an intersection that is located at the center of Nanking Machi. From this intersection, East Nank King Road changed its name to West Nank King Road, North Nank King Road, South Nank King Road. At this central intersection is Nank King Square with its iconic red building. Let’s go and check it out. Next, let’s walk along South Nank King Road. Comparing to East Nank King Road, which we’ve just walked, South Nank King Road is shorter and has fewer Chinese places. The large building on the right is a hotel called Dormy in Kobe Modachi. Only Kay Gate in front of us gives us Chinese atmosphere. Kayai gate completed in 1982 is the oldest gate in Nankin Machi. It has recently been renovated and is now beautifully restored. When you look at this gate from outside, it says Nankin Machi and Kay Gate. Among the three gates in Nankin Machi, this is the only one that has the word Nankin Machi written on it. When you look at it from inside, the word flying is written on it. The character of flying was apparently added during the renovation with the intention of recovery from the great Hanchininoaji earthquake in mind. [Music] I came back to Nank King Square, walking north on South Nank King Road. This time I will enter West Nangqing Road. The word Nankin Machi used to be a general term referring to Chinatown. However, today the word Nankin Machi is the name of the shopping streets maintained by the Nankin Machi Shopping District Promotion Association. [Music] Currently, the Japanese Chinese population is said to be over 6,000 in Yokohama and over 10,000 in Kooi. However, Kobe Nangin Machi is much smaller than Yokohama Chinatown. Yokohama Chinatown is where Japanese actually live, but Kobe Nenkin Machi is positioned as a business area, and it is said that there are only a few Japanese Chinese living there. Before the end of the Pacific War, air raids hit Kobe and the area around Nankin Machi was destroyed. After the war, Nankin Machi became a black market lined with shacks. It can be said that the prosperity of Nankin Machi today was achieved thanks to the efforts of Kobe residents, including Japanese. I have arrived at Chiian Gate. When you look at Saiyan gate from outside, it just says Saiyan gate. When you look at it from inside, it says Kofuku. This means reconstruction in Chinese. It’s a little early, but let’s have dinner. I chose a Sichuan cuisine restaurant. It’s a restaurant on West Nank King Road near Nank King Square. They have delicious looking Chinese food. Let’s go inside. First, a singo beer. This is century egg and tofu. Century eggs are fermented duck eggs using a special fermentation method. I like them, but some people might not like them because they look so different from regular eggs. The next dish is dumplings. I’ve heard that boiled dumplings are common in China, but these were pan fried dumplings. I will leave Nankin Machi via North Nanking Road. This time I have introduced Nankin Machi in Kobe. Thank you for watching my video. That’s it from Albatross NJ. This channel mainly deals videos about travels using trains. If you like such topics, please subscribe to my channel. See you in the next video. [Music]