The Oriental Hotel – A Symbol of Kobe’s International History
Kobe is one of the Japanese cities where the influence of the outside world can still be seen clearly in its streets, architecture, food, and culture. At the heart of that history is a legendary name: the Oriental Hotel.
The story began in 1870, only a few years after the Port of Kobe was opened to international trade. Foreign merchants, diplomats, travelers, and sailors were arriving in the rapidly developing port city, and Kobe was becoming one of Japan’s important gateways to the world.
The Oriental Hotel was established during this extraordinary period of change. It became one of the pioneers of Western-style hotels in Japan and, in its early years, primarily served foreign visitors. Over the following century, it became a prestigious meeting place for international travelers as well as prominent figures from Japanese political and business circles.
Its location was also significant. The hotel was closely associated with Kobe’s Former Foreign Settlement, an area created for foreign residents after the opening of the port. Western-style buildings, broad streets, banks, trading companies, and consulates transformed this part of Kobe into a cityscape unlike most places in Japan at the time.
This international atmosphere gradually became part of Kobe’s identity. Western cuisine, bread, confectionery, coffee, fashion, and architecture all found particularly receptive audiences here. The Oriental Hotel belonged to this world and became one of its enduring symbols.
The hotel’s history, however, was interrupted by disaster. In 1995, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake devastated Kobe, and the former Oriental Hotel was forced to close.
For fifteen years, the famous name disappeared from the city.
Then, in 2010, a new Oriental Hotel opened in Kobe’s Former Foreign Settlement, carrying forward the history and traditions of its predecessor. Rather than attempting to reproduce an old building exactly, the new hotel sought to preserve the atmosphere and memory of the institution within a contemporary setting.
In February 2026, the hotel entered another chapter when its name was changed from ORIENTAL HOTEL to THE ORIENT. The change resulted from the end of the licensing agreement for the Oriental Hotel trademark, but the hotel continues in the same location while emphasizing the hospitality and heritage it inherited from the former Oriental Hotel.
For visitors from overseas, this history tells us something important about Kobe itself.
Kobe has always been a city facing outward.
The sea brought foreign people, products, technologies, architecture, and ideas to its port. Japanese and international cultures met here, sometimes producing something that belonged completely to neither world.
The history of the Oriental Hotel reflects that exchange.
It is not simply the story of a hotel.
It is part of the story of how Kobe became Kobe.
BRONZE MUSEUM JAPAN
photo : Supervisor K