Kobe???K?be-shi is the sixth-largest city (List of Japanese cities by population) in Japan and is the capital city of Hy?go Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honsh?, approximately convert500km2abbr=onlk=out west of Tokyo. Kobe is a prominent port city with a population of about 1.5 million. The city is located in the Kansai region of Japan and is part of the nihongoKeihanshin???Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kyoto. Keihanshin in turn is part of the Taiheiy? Belt, a megalopolis (Megalopolis (city type)). Kobe is classified as one of Japans seventeen designated cities (City designated by government ordinance).

Known by the name nihongo?wada Anchorage?????wada-no-tomari, the earliest written records regarding the region come from the Nihon Shoki, which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jing? (Jing? of Japan) in 201 AD (201) For most of its history the area was never a single political entity, even during the Tokugawa Period, when the port was controlled directly by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Kobe did not exist in its current form until its founding in 1889. Its name comes from nihongo"kanbe"??, an archaic title for supporters of the citys Ikuta Shrine.Entry for langja-Hani?????????. K?jien, fifth edition, 1998, ISBN 4-00-080111-2 Kobe became one of Japans designated cities (City designated by government ordinance) in 1956.

Kobe was one of the cities to open for trade with the West (Western world) following the end of the policy of seclusion (Sakoku) and has since been known as a cosmopolitan port city. While the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake (Great Hanshin earthquake) diminished much of Kobes prominence as a port city, it remains Japans fourth busiest container port. Companies headquartered in Kobe include ASICS, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Kobe Steel, as well as over 100 international corporations with Asia or Japan headquarters in the city such as Procter & Gamble, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Nestl�."Number of foreign corporations with headquarters in Kobe passes 100." (Japanese) in Nikkei Net, retrieved from NIKKEI.net on July 3, 2007. The city is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef as well as the site of one of Japans most famous hot spring (onsen) resorts, Arima Onsen.