Kobe · MotomachiNo.133★★Open in map →
Nankinmachi
— Kobe's Chinatown
Nankinmachi is Kobe's compact, walkable Chinatown near Motomachi Station — a dense grid of Chinese restaurants, food stalls and shops that counts among Japan's three great Chinatowns.
Nankinmachi packs more than a hundred Chinese restaurants, groceries and street-food stands into a grid roughly 270 metres east to west and 110 metres north to south — small enough to walk end to end on foot. It is one of Japan's three great Chinatowns, alongside Yokohama and Nagasaki Shinchi. Three Chinese-style gates mark the entrances: Choanmon in the east, Seianmon in the west, and Kaieimon in the south. At its centre sits Nankinmachi Square. Most shops open from around 10:00 to 10:30, so arriving at opening is the best way to walk the lanes before the food crowds fill them.
Background & history
The area grew after the port of Kobe opened to foreign trade in the late 1860s. Chinese merchants who were not allowed to live inside the designated foreign settlement built homes, groceries and eateries in the streets next to it, and the district took the name Nankinmachi after Nanjing, a former Chinese capital. The present shopping-street association was organised in the 1970s, and the district's landmark gates and central square were built in the 1980s.
What to look for — in walking order
- Choanmon Gate (east entrance)
- the white-marble east gate, built in 1985; the district's main and most photographed entrance
- Nankinmachi Square
- the central plaza with a hexagonal vermilion pavilion about 6.8 metres tall, and twelve zodiac animal statues around its edge
- Street-food stalls on the main lanes
- steamed pork buns, dumplings and other Chinese snacks along the two main lanes
- Seianmon Gate (west exit)
- the west gate at the other end of the main east–west lane
How to enjoy it
Arrive when shops open around 10:00 to walk the lanes before the crowds, then eat your way between the gates on steamed pork buns and dumplings. Street-food stalls are often cash only, so carry coins. On a rainy day, the covered Motomachi shopping arcade runs right alongside the district and makes an easy sheltered route.
How to actually get there
- Osaka Station to Sannomiya Station (JR Kobe Line, Special Rapid, ~22 min)
- Sannomiya Station to Motomachi Station (JR local, ~2 min, one stop)
- Motomachi Station south exit to Nankinmachi east gate (walk, ~5 min)
- JR Special Rapid to Kobe, then one stop to Motomachi
- From Osaka Station, take a JR Special Rapid Service on the JR Kobe Line to Sannomiya Station (~22 min). From Sannomiya, take a local train one stop to Motomachi Station (~2 min), or walk about 10 min. From Motomachi Station's south exit, walk south about 5 min to Nankinmachi's east gate (Choanmon). Total about 30-40 min. From Kyoto Station the same JR Special Rapid Service reaches Sannomiya in about 50 min. Trains run very frequently (several per hour), so no reservation is needed.
- Return anytime — trains are frequent all day
- Walk back to Motomachi Station and take a JR train toward Osaka (or toward Kyoto), or walk east through the Motomachi shopping arcade to Sannomiya Station. JR trains on this line run until late at night, so there is no tight last connection during the day.
Before you go
- Cash
- Most sit-down shops accept IC transit cards and cards, but the street-food stalls are often cash only — carry some coins.
- Closing days
- Shop hours vary by vendor; the district is busiest from about 10:00 to 19:00. The lunch hour (12:00-13:00) has the longest queues, so come at opening if you want it quiet.
- Another way
- On a rainy day, enter through the covered Motomachi shopping arcade just to the north — it is roofed and connects through to the Chinatown lanes.
- After you get off
- From Motomachi Station's south exit, Nankinmachi's east gate (Choanmon) is about a 5-minute walk south on a flat city street.