KOBE -- The Kaigan Building, once a symbol of Kobe's former "kyoryuchi," or foreigners' district, in Chuo Ward, has been resurrected and enlarged, after the original structure was destroyed in the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
The first four floors of the building opened Monday, retaining the original brick, granite and concrete walls. The fifth to 15th stories are completely new and resemble a glass tower.
Kyoryuchi were restricted, self-governed areas for foreign residence and commerce established by the government following the Ansei Commercial Treaties of 1858. Districts were opened in Yokohama, Nagasaki, Kobe, Osaka and Edo (Tokyo) in and after 1859.
Kobe's former kyoryuchi incorporates boutiques and several Western-style buildings, giving the district an exotic air. Tokyo-based Showa Hikoki Kogyo Co., which restored the Kaigan Building, said it made efforts to harmonize the new structure with its surroundings.
The original building, a concrete, granite and brick structure, was completed in 1919. In the January 1995 earthquake, its granite walls were severely cracked. The building was later demolished.
To restore the appearance of the old building, more than 70 percent of the original granite walls were reused. The new building, said to be able to endure a temblor of the same intensity as the Great Hanshin Earthquake, cost about 3.8 billion yen. It houses restaurants and offices. Part of the first floor, which has an inner court open to the fifth story, is open to the public.