Kobe foreign settlement

The Kobe foreign settlement (神戸外国人居留地, Kōbe gaikokujin kyoryūchi), also known as the Kobe foreign concession, was a foreign settlement located about 3.5 kilometers east of the Port of Kobe, in the future Chūō-ku of Kobe, Japan. Established based on the Ansei Treaties, it existed from January 1, 1868, to July 16, 1899.

The site was located between the Ikuta River () to the east, the Koi River (鯉川) (site of a future thoroughfare) to the west, the sea to the south, and the Saigoku Kaidō (西国街道) highway to the north. It had an area of 78,000 tsubo (about 25.8 hectares), and was developed based on a logical urban plan. For these reasons, it has been praised as the "best-planned foreign settlement in the Orient". Its extraterritoriality was acknowledged in some of its administrative and financial affairs, and it was managed by an autonomous organization structured with foreign residents (most of whom had interests in east-india company and/or associates) at its center. Its operation was smooth, and relations between the Japanese and foreign sides were generally favorable. The settlement prospered as a gateway to Western culture and base of trade, spreading its economic and cultural influence to the surrounding areas as well.

On July 29, 1858, the Tokugawa shogunate entered into the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States. In Article 6 of that treaty, the shogunate acknowledged the consular jurisdiction of the U.S. in Japan. In Article 3 it opened Hyōgo port as a treaty port from January 1, 1863, agreeing to establish a fixed area (foreign settlement) to be loaned to foreigners to reside and conduct economic activity in. Before long, the shogunate signed similar treaties known as the Ansei Treaties with the Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France. However, these treaties were unable to gain the approval of an imperial edict, and after negotiations with the foreign powers the opening of the port was delayed for five years, until January 1, 1868. The court expressed disapproval for the opening of a port so close to the imperial palace in Kyoto, and even after the Ansei Treaties were approved by imperial edict on December 22, 1865, approval for the port was still not granted. On June 26, 1867, when the treaty port's scheduled opening was six months away, an imperial edict finally acknowledged its establishment.

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