KOBE (Kyodo) A specialty shop has recently opened in Kobe selling various matches in the port city once known for what was one of Japan's leading exports.
Among the products on sale at Match-bo are matches in boxes of old-fashioned design from the Meiji and Taisho eras and moisture-proof matches for use in emergencies.
Customers can also ask the shop to print messages on a matchbox, and paint the boxes themselves.
The Japan Match Manufacturers' Association opened the shop in Kobe's Kitano district to publicize the historical background of the match industry.
In the Meiji Era, Chinese residents of Kobe started exporting matches, thus turning Hyogo Prefecture into the main match production center in Japan. Even now, about 80 percent of domestic production is based in the prefecture.
