a city and port in Japan, in the south of Honshu Island, on Osaka Bay of the Inland Sea of Japan. Administrative center of the prefecture of Hyogo. Population, 1,289,000 (1970).
Kobe is a large industrial center in western Japan, in the heart of the Kansai economic region. The port handles 28 percent of the total export value of the country and 13 percent of the imports (industrial raw materials, such as raw cotton, petroleum, and rubber). Kobe’s economy is based primarily on imported raw materials. Industry accounts for 40 percent of the gross revenue of Kobe; 22.4 percent comes from commerce, 13.4 percent from transportation and communications, and 11 percent from the service sector. More than 70 percent of Kobe’s industrial production is heavy industry; the leading branches are metallurgy, construction of transportation equipment, including shipbuilding, and the chemical industry (in particular, the production of rubber goods). Kobe has great shipbuilding wharfs (just three of them produce 30 percent of the tonnage of ships built in Japan). Kobe also has military industry.
The industrial enterprises are concentrated in the city wards of Fukiai (the eastern section) and Hyogo (in the southwest). The city also houses the affiliates of foreign banks and commercial and industrial firms. Kobe has a school of commerce, a university, a technical college, and an observatory. It is a center for international tourism; in the vicinity of the city are national parks, hot springs, and sea beaches (including the Akashi health spa). Kobe has a subway system.
N. A. SMIRNOV