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The Main Entrance of The Oriental Hotel, Ltd., Kobe
Unknown, 1912, Photograph, Postcard
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of 52
The Main Entrance of The Oriental Hotel, Ltd., Kobe
The Main Entrance of The Oriental Hotel, Ltd., Kobe
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Location
Category
Library Item
Item no
16588
Title
The Main Entrance of The Oriental Hotel, Ltd., Kobe
Artist / maker
Unknown
Date
1912
Size
9.0 x 14.0 cm
Type
Photograph
;
Postcard
Location
Art and Design Library
This hotel is one of the most famous and oldest hotels in Japan. It has been open since 1870 in Kobe. This hotel was built in the Kobe Settlement which was a self governing district. It was built as a location where foreigners had to settle and Japanese could not enter this area at that time. The Kobe Settlement was designed by British civil engineer J.W. Hart and constructed on the basis of European modern city planning. The Kobe Settlement was praised as the most beautiful and well planned area in Asia. The hotel was built in number 79 in 1870 at first, moved to 80 in 1888. Unfortunately, the building was burned down by fire in the 1890s and later rebuilt at number 6 on the seafront which is the building on the postcard in 1907. The building was destroyed by bombing attack during World War II in 1945, but again reconstructed at the same place. According to a representative from the hotel, the postcard was used during the 1910s for customers, so the person who collected this postcard might have stayed at the hotel. The Oriental Hotel's postcards are still popular among postcard collectors because of the nostalgic atmosphere. The hotel moved to number 25 during the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964. Unfortunately, the building was destroyed by a big earthquake in which over 6400 people died in 1995. However, it was again rebuilt and reopened in 2010.This postcard offers a nostalgic view of the past to foreign eyes but from the Japanese view, who could not enter this area, the hotel was different world from their daily lives and showed the Japanese government's difficulties to co-operate with foreign countries. However, the history of the hotel may encourage Japanese people, who are still struggling to recover from the terrible 2011 earthquake in which over 18,000 people died or went missing, to realise the possibilities of starting anew.
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Japanese Postcard Views
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Homes
>
Residential buildings
>
Hotels
People
>
Adults
>
Men
Places
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Asia
>
Japan
Transport
>
Land
>
Rickshaws
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