Since the opening of the Port of Kobe in 1868, the food industry, including western-style confections, Kobe beef, and liquor, as well as fashion and tourism industries have become well developed in the city. In an attempt to restore the urban infrastructure that was destroyed during the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, the city built a biomedical innovation cluster on an artificial island called Port Island, which is the largest advanced medical cluster in Japan. Kobe was appointed to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Design, and currently it is dedicated to creating a city of design through its residents’ participation

• Location : southern Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
• Population : 1.52 million
• Area : 557 km2