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57-459: Asics began as Onitsuka Co., Ltd on September 1, 1949. Founder Kihachiro Onitsuka  [ ja ] began manufacturing basketball shoes in his hometown of Kobe , Hyogo Prefecture , Japan . The range of sports activities serviced by the company expanded to a variety of Olympic styles used since the 1950s by athletes worldwide. Onitsuka became particularly known for the Mexico 66 design, in which

114-545: A female focused clothing brand, Unoha has also pledged to use organic and environmentally friendly materials in its products. Unoha's first brand ambassador was Harumi Sato . On July 1, 2024, Asics announced that it had discontinued Unoha the previous month after only 3 years of existence. Nike, Inc. (originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports) was founded to sell Onitsuka Tiger shoes in the US. When Phil Knight visited Japan in 1963, shortly after he graduated from Stanford University , he

171-465: A port city, it remains Japan's fourth-busiest container port . Companies headquartered in Kobe include ASICS , Kawasaki Heavy Industries , and Kobe Steel , while over 100 international corporations have their Asian or Japanese headquarters in the city, including Eli Lilly and Company , Procter & Gamble , Boehringer Ingelheim , and Nestlé . The city is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef ,

228-542: A reclaimed island south of Port Island , also offers mostly domestic and charter flights, while Kansai International Airport in Osaka mainly serves international flights in the area. The JR West Sanyō Shinkansen stops at Shin-Kobe Station . Sannomiya Station is the main commuter hub in Kobe, serving as the transfer point for major intercity rail services: the JR Kobe Line connects Kobe to Osaka and Himeji , while both

285-586: Is also home to 17 Japanese language schools for international students, including the international training group Lexis Japan. International schools serve both long-term foreign residents and expatriates living in Kobe and the Kansai region. The schools offer instruction in English, German , Chinese , and Korean . There are three English-language international schools: Canadian Academy , Marist Brothers International School , and St. Michael's International School. Kobe

342-866: Is hot and humid. As for winter conditions, the north of Hyōgo tends to receive abundant snow, whilst the south receives only the occasional flurry. Hyōgo borders on Osaka Prefecture , Kyoto Prefecture , Tottori Prefecture and Okayama Prefecture . As of 31 March 2008, 20% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks , namely the Sanin Kaigan and Setonaikai National Parks; Hyōnosen-Ushiroyama-Nagisan Quasi-National Park ; and Asago Gunzan , Harima Chūbu Kyūryō , Inagawa Keikoku , Izushi-Itoi , Kasagatayama-Sengamine , Kiyomizu-Tōjōko-Tachikui , Onzui-Chikusa , Seiban Kyūryō , Seppiko-Mineyama , Tajima Sangaku , and Taki Renzan Prefectural Natural Parks. Two major artificial islands are located Hyōgo Prefecture: The city of Akō and

399-633: Is in Harima. There are 163 public and 52 private high schools within Hyogo prefecture. Of the public high schools, some are administered by the Hyogo prefectural government, whilst the others are administered by local municipalities. The sports teams listed below are based in Hyōgo. Baseball Basketball Football (soccer) Rugby Volleyball A popular troupe of Takarazuka Revue plays in Takarazuka . Arima Onsen in

456-637: Is most famous for its Kobe beef (which is raised in the surrounding Hyōgo Prefecture) and Arima Onsen (hot springs). Notable buildings include the Ikuta Shrine as well as the Kobe Port Tower . Nearby mountains such as Mount Rokkō and Mount Maya overlook the city. The city is widely associated with cosmopolitanism and fashion, encapsulated in the Japanese saying, "If you can't go to Paris, go to Kobe." The biannual fashion event Kobe Fashion Week, featuring

513-602: Is significantly higher in summer than in winter, though on the whole lower than most parts of Honshū, and there is no significant snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kobe is 17.0 °C (62.6 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,277.8 mm (50.31 in) with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 28.6 °C (83.5 °F), and lowest in January, at around 6.2 °C (43.2 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Kobe

570-555: Is the site of Japan's first golf course, Kobe Golf Club , established by Arthur Hesketh Groom in 1903, and Japan's first mosque , Kobe Mosque , built in 1935. The city hosts the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club , founded in 1870 by Alexander Cameron Sim , and a prominent foreign cemetery . A number of Western-style residences – ijinkan ( 異人館 ) – from the 19th century still stand in Kitano and elsewhere in Kobe. Museums include

627-673: Is the site of a number of research institutes, such as the RIKEN Kobe Institute Center for developmental biology and medical imaging techniques, and Center for Computational Science (R-CCS, home of the Fugaku supercomputer ), the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) Advanced ICT Research Institute, the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, and

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684-760: The Chūgoku Expressway (Osaka – Yamaguchi). The Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway runs from Kobe to Naruto via Awaji Island and includes the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge , the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Port of Kobe is one of Japan's busiest container ports. Sub Area Activity Hanshin of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces provides monitoring across Osaka Bay and Harima Sea . The city of Kobe directly administers 169 elementary and 81 middle schools, with enrollments of approximately 80,200 and 36,000 students, respectively. If

741-728: The Hankyū Kobe Line and the Hanshin Main Line run from Kobe to Umeda Station in Osaka. Sanyō Electric Railway trains from Himeji reach Sannomiya via the Kōbe Rapid Transit Railway . Kōbe Electric Railway runs north to Sanda and Arima Onsen . Kobe Municipal Subway provides connections to Shin-Osaka and Sannomiya stations from Kobe's western and eastern suburbs. Additionally, Kobe New Transit runs two lines serving Kobe Airport and Rokko Island . Over Mount Rokkō ,

798-637: The Hanshin Industrial Region . Kobe is the busiest container port in the region, surpassing even Osaka , and the fourth-busiest in Japan. As of 2004 , the city's total real GDP was ¥6.3 trillion, which amounts to thirty-four percent of the GDP for Hyōgo Prefecture and approximately eight percent for the whole Kansai region . Per capita income for the year was approximately ¥2.7 million. Broken down by sector , about one percent of those employed work in

855-574: The Kii Channel . The northern portion is sparsely populated, except for the city of Toyooka , The central highlands are only populated by tiny villages. Most of Hyōgo's population lives on the southern coast, which is part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area. Awaji is an island that separates the Inland Sea and Osaka Bay , lying between Honshu and Shikoku . Summertime weather throughout Hyōgo

912-466: The Kobe City Museum and Museum of Literature . The city headquarters the professional wrestling promotion Dragongate , established in 2004 as an offshoot of Último Dragón 's original Toryumon system. The dialect spoken in Kobe is called Kobe-ben , a sub-dialect of Kansai dialect . Kobe hosted the 1985 Summer Universiade as well as the 1991 Men's Asian Basketball Championship , which

969-504: The Kobe Collection , is held in Kobe. The jazz festival "Kobe Jazz Street" has been held every October at jazz clubs and hotels since 1981. It also hosts both a Festival, as well as a statue of Elvis Presley , the unveiling of which was heralded by the presence of former Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi . Kobe is well known in Japan as being a city for the affluent, as many high-end stores and mansions line its streets. Kobe

1026-743: The Taira fortress in Hyōgo-ku and the nearby Ikuta Shrine became the sites of the Genpei War battle of Ichi-no-Tani between the Taira and Minamoto clans . The Minamoto prevailed, pushing the Taira further. As the port grew during the Kamakura period , it became an important hub for trade with China and other countries. In the 13th century, the city came to be known by the name Hyōgo Port ( 兵庫津 , Hyōgo-tsu ) . During this time, Hyōgo Port, along with northern Osaka, composed

1083-598: The abolition of the han system in 1871 and the establishment of the current prefecture system that the area became politically distinct. Hyōgo Port was opened to foreign trade by the Shogunal government at the same time as Osaka on January 1, 1868, just before the advent of the Boshin War and the Meiji Restoration . At the time of the opening of the city for foreign trade, the area saw intense fighting resulting from

1140-688: The confectionery manufacturers Konigs-Krone and Morozoff Ltd. , Sun Television Japan and UCC Ueshima Coffee Co. There are over 100 international corporations that have their East Asian or Japanese headquarters in Kobe. Of these, twenty-four are from China, eighteen from the United States, and nine from Switzerland. Some prominent corporations include Eli Lilly and Company , Nestlé , Procter & Gamble , Tempur-Pedic , Boehringer-Ingelheim , and Toys "R" Us . In 2018, April, Swift Engineering USA, an American aerospace engineering firm established their joint venture in Kobe called Swift Xi Inc. Kobe

1197-603: The primary sector (agriculture, fishing and mining), twenty-one percent work in the secondary sector (manufacturing and industry), and seventy-eight percent work in the service sector . The value of manufactured goods produced and exported from Kobe for 2004 was ¥2.5 trillion. The four largest sectors in terms of value of goods produced are small appliances, food products, transportation equipment, and communication equipment making up over fifty percent of Kobe's manufactured goods. In terms of numbers of employees, food products, small appliances, and transportation equipment make up

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1254-731: The Asian Disaster Reduction Center. International organizations include the WHO Centre for Health Development , an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization . The Consulate-General of Panama in Kobe is located on the eighth floor of the Moriyama Building in Chūō-ku, Kobe . Itami Airport , in nearby Itami , serves primarily domestic flights throughout Japan, Kobe Airport , built on

1311-501: The Australian Olympic Team uniform would not contain cotton sourced from Xinjiang. Kobe Kobe ( / ˈ k oʊ b eɪ / KOH -bay ; Japanese : 神戸 , romanized :  Kōbe , pronounced [koꜜːbe] ), officially Kobe City ( 神戸市 , Kōbe-shi ) , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture , Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan 's seventh-largest city and

1368-487: The Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education. In addition, twenty-five high schools are run privately within the city. The total enrollment for high schools in 2006 was 43,400. Kobe is home to eighteen public and private universities, including Kobe University , Kobe Institute of Computing and Konan University , and eight junior colleges . Students enrolled for 2006 reached 67,000 and 4,100, respectively. Kobe

1425-699: The Onitsuka Tiger label. In 2015, Asics launched its "Asics Tiger" lifestyle brand to market sportswear inspired by the company's designs of the 1970s to 1990s. Asics bought the Swedish outdoor brand Haglöfs for ¥ 11.4 billion ($ 128.7 million) on July 12, 2010. In February 2016, Asics acquired fitness app Runkeeper . LionRock Capital Limited acquired a 100% interest in Haglöfs from Asics on December 18, 2023. Asics generated ¥570.4 billion in net sales and ¥35.2 billion in net income in fiscal year 2023. 50% of

1482-587: The city from east to west. The main transport hub is Sannomiya Station , with the eponymous Kobe Station located to the west and the Shinkansen Shin-Kobe Station to the north. Mount Rokkō overlooks Kobe at an elevation of 931 m (3,054 ft). During autumn, it is famous for the rich change in colors of its forests . Kobe has nine wards ( ku ): per km2 Kobe has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfa ) with hot summers and cool to cold winters. Precipitation

1539-589: The city has two funicular lines and three aerial lifts as well, namely Maya Cablecar , Rokkō Cable Line , Rokkō Arima Ropeway , Maya Ropeway , and Shin-Kobe Ropeway . Kobe is a transportation hub for a number of expressways , including the Meishin Expressway ( Nagoya – Kobe) and the Hanshin Expressway (Osaka – Kobe). Other expressways include the Sanyō Expressway (Kobe – Yamaguchi ) and

1596-553: The city is closely tied to that of the Ikuta Shrine, and the name "Kobe" derives from kamube ( 神戸 , later kanbe ) , an archaic name for those who supported the shrine. During World War II , Kobe was lightly bombed in the Doolittle Raid on April 18, 1942, along with Tokyo and a few other cities. Eventually, it was bombed again with incendiary bombs by B-29 Superfortress bombers on March 16 and 17, 1945 , causing

1653-598: The city were destroyed. The earthquake destroyed portions of the Hanshin Expressway , an elevated freeway that dramatically toppled over. In Japan, this earthquake is known as the Great Hanshin earthquake (or the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake). To commemorate Kobe's recovery from it, the city holds an event every December called the Luminarie , where the city center is decorated with illuminated metal archways. The Port of Kobe

1710-498: The city's Ikuta Shrine ) . Kobe became one of Japan's designated cities in 1956. Kobe was one of the cities to open for trade with the West following the 1853 end of the policy of seclusion and has retained its cosmopolitan character ever since with a rich architectural heritage dating back to the Meiji era . While the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake diminished some of Kobe's prominence as

1767-411: The city's four private elementary schools and fourteen private middle schools are included, these figures jump to a total 82,000 elementary school students and 42,300 junior high students enrolled for the 2006 school year. Kobe also directly controls six of the city's twenty-five full-time public high schools including Fukiai High School and Rokkō Island High School. The remainder are administered by

Asics - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-564: The civil war in progress. Shortly after the opening of Kobe to trade, the Kobe Incident occurred, where several western soldiers sustained wounds from gunfire by troops from Bizen. The region has since been identified with the West and many foreign residences from the period remain in Kobe's Kitano area . Kobe, as it is known today, was founded on April 1, 1889, and was designated on September 1, 1956 by government ordinance. The history of

1881-650: The company's income came from the sale of performance running shoes, 33% from other shoes, 6% from apparel and equipment, and 11% from Onitsuka Tiger. 16% of the company's sales were in Japan, 21% in North America, 27% in Europe, 14% in China and 21% in other regions. In March 2021, Asics launched Unoha (ウノハ), a brand geared towards women. The brand mainly sells its products online and does not use physical locations other than temporary pop-ups that appear around Japan. Apart from being

1938-631: The death of 8,841 residents and the destruction of 21% of Kobe's urban area . This incident inspired the well-known Studio Ghibli film Grave of the Fireflies and the book by Akiyuki Nosaka on which the film was based. It also features in the motion picture A Boy Called H . Following continuous pressure from citizens, on March 18, 1975, the Kobe City Council passed an ordinance banning vessels carrying nuclear weapons from Kobe Port. This effectively prevented any U.S. warships from entering

1995-467: The distinctive crossed stripes (now synonymous with the company as the "Tiger Stripes") were featured for the first time; martial artist Bruce Lee helped popularize the shoe. Onitsuka Tiger merged with fishing and sporting goods company GTO and athletic uniform maker Jelenk to form Asics Corporation in 1977; Onitsuka was named president of the new company. Despite the name change, a vintage range of Asics shoes are still produced and sold internationally under

2052-551: The east and Sanda and Miki to the north. The landmark of the port area is the red steel Port Tower . A ferris wheel sits in nearby Harborland , a notable tourist promenade . Two artificial islands, Port Island and Rokkō Island , have been constructed to give the city room to expand. Away from the seaside at the heart of Kobe lie the Motomachi and Sannomiya districts, as well as Kobe's Chinatown , Nankin-machi , all well-known retail areas. A multitude of train lines cross

2109-542: The east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, and Okayama and Tottori prefectures to the west. Kobe is the capital and largest city of Hyōgo Prefecture, and the seventh-largest city in Japan, with other major cities including Himeji , Nishinomiya , and Amagasaki . Hyōgo Prefecture's mainland stretches from the Sea of Japan to the Seto Inland Sea , where Awaji Island and a small archipelago of islands belonging to

2166-506: The former provinces of Harima , Tajima , Awaji , and parts of Tanba and Settsu . In 1180, near the end of the Heian period , Emperor Antoku , Taira no Kiyomori , and the Imperial court moved briefly to Fukuhara, in what is now the city of Kobe. There the capital remained for five months. Himeji Castle , a UNESCO World Heritage Site , is in the city of Himeji. Southern Hyōgo Prefecture

2223-522: The home of Kobe University , and the site of one of Japan's most famous hot spring resorts, Arima Onsen . Tools found in western Kobe demonstrate the area was populated at least from the Jōmon period . The natural geography of the area, particularly of Wada Cape in Hyōgo-ku , led to the development of a port, which would remain the economic center of the city. Some of the earliest written documents mentioning

2280-426: The largest ports in Japan. Kobe Port also hosts one of the world's fastest supercomputers, and Hyogo Prefecture passed laws to keep Kobe Port free of nuclear weapons (a nuclear-free zone ) since the year 1975. Hyōgo is a part of the Hanshin Industrial Region . There are two research institutes of Riken , natural sciences research institute in Japan, in Kobe and Harima. " SPring-8 ", a synchrotron radiation facility,

2337-842: The new official kit manufacturer for the Australian Cricket Team , replacing German manufacturer Adidas . In March 2017, employees assembling Asics products in Cambodia fainted due to thick smoke present in the factory where they were working. The company responded to this by saying that it, along with the factory in question, would "address specific measures, with a focus on workers’ awareness and health and safety training, as well as including an improved air ventilation system". In March 2021, while several Western clothing brands expressed concern over allegations of forced Uyghur labor involved in Xinjiang cotton production, Asics also announced that

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2394-510: The only town in Akō District ( Kamigōri ), were scheduled to merge and the city would still retain the name Akō . Akō District would be defunct if the merger was successful. However, the merger has not taken place. As in all prefectures nationwide, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries play a big role in the economy of Hyogo Prefecture. Hyōgo Prefecture also has an IT industry, many heavy industries, metal and medical, Kobe Port being one of

2451-403: The population are between the ages of 0 and 14, sixty-seven percent are between 15 and 64, and twenty percent are over the age of 65. Approximately 44,000 registered foreign nationals live in Kobe. The four most common nationalities are Korean (22,237), Chinese (12,516), Vietnamese (1,301), and American (1,280). The Port of Kobe is both an important port and manufacturing center within

2508-399: The port, because U.S. policy is to never disclose whether any given warship is carrying nuclear weapons. This nonproliferation policy has been termed the " Kobe formula ". On January 17, 1995, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred at 5:46 am JST near the city. About 6,434 people in the city were killed, 212,443 were made homeless, and large parts of the port facilities and other parts of

2565-574: The prefecture are located. Hyōgo Prefecture is a major economic center, transportation hub , and tourist destination in western Japan, with 20% of the prefecture's land area designated as Natural Parks . Hyōgo Prefecture forms part of the Kobe metropolitan area and Osaka metropolitan area , the second-most-populated urban region in Japan after the Greater Tokyo area and one of the world's most productive regions by GDP . Present-day Hyōgo Prefecture includes

2622-613: The province of Settsu (most of today's Kobe belonged to Settsu except Nishi Ward and Tarumi Ward , which belonged to Harima ). Later, during the Edo period , the eastern parts of present-day Kobe came under the jurisdiction of the Amagasaki Domain and the western parts under that of the Akashi Domain , while the center was controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate . It was not until

2679-536: The region come from the Nihon Shoki , which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD 201. For most of its history, the area was never a single political entity, even during the Tokugawa period , when the port was controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate . Kobe did not exist in its current form until its founding in 1889. Its name comes from Kanbe ( 神戸 , an archaic title for supporters of

2736-612: The region include the Nihon Shoki , which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD 201. During the Nara and Heian periods , the port was known by the name Ōwada Anchorage ( Ōwada-no-tomari ) and was one of the ports from which imperial embassies to China were dispatched. The city was briefly the capital of Japan in 1180, when Taira no Kiyomori moved his grandson Emperor Antoku to Fukuhara-kyō in present-day Hyōgo-ku. The Emperor returned to Kyoto after about five months. Shortly thereafter in 1184,

2793-588: The south of the province in Kita-ku, Kobe is one of the Three Ancient Springs in Japan. The north of Hyogo Prefecture has sightseeing spots such as Kinosaki Onsen, Izushi , and Yumura Onsen . Takeda Castle in Asago is often referred to locally as the "Machu Picchu of Japan". The matsuba crab and Tajima beef are both national delicacies. Hyogo entered a sister state relationship with Washington state in

2850-542: The third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama . It is located in the Kansai region , which makes up the southern side of the main island of Honshū , on the north shore of Osaka Bay . It is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kyoto . The Kobe city centre is located about 35 km (22 mi) west of Osaka and 70 km (43 mi) southwest of Kyoto. The earliest written records regarding

2907-575: The three largest sectors. The GDP in Kobe Metropolitan Employment Area (2.4 million people) is US$ 96.0 billion in 2010. Japanese companies which have their headquarters in Kobe include ASICS , a shoe manufacturer; Daiei , a department store chain; Kawasaki Heavy Industries , Kawasaki Shipbuilding Co. , Kinki Sharyo , Mitsubishi Motors , Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (ship manufacturer), Mitsubishi Electric , Kobe Steel , Sumitomo Rubber Industries , Sysmex Corporation (medical devices manufacturer) and TOA Corporation . Other companies include

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2964-492: Was 38.8 °C (101.8 °F) on August 5, 1994; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −7.2 °C (19.0 °F) on February 27, 1981. As of September 2007, Kobe had an estimated population of 1,530,295 making up 658,876 households . This was an increase of 1,347 persons or approximately 0.1% over the previous year. The population density was approximately 2,768 persons per square kilometre, while there are about 90.2 males to every 100 females. About thirteen percent of

3021-426: Was Japan's busiest port and one of Asia's top ports until the Great Hanshin earthquake. Kobe has since dropped to fourth in Japan and, as of 2012, was the 49th- busiest container port worldwide . Wedged between the coast and the mountains, the city of Kobe is long and narrow. To the east is the city of Ashiya , while the city of Akashi lies to its west. Other adjacent cities include Takarazuka and Nishinomiya to

3078-446: Was held in the Exhibition Hall in Port Island with over 50 countries competing. Sister cities Hy%C5%8Dgo Prefecture Hyōgo Prefecture ( 兵庫県 , Hyōgo-ken ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu . Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 (as of 1 June 2019 ) and a geographic area of 8,400 square kilometres (3,200 square miles). Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to

3135-478: Was impressed by Onitsuka Tiger shoes and immediately visited the Onitsuka Tiger office and asked to be their sales agent in the US. After a number of years the relationship crumbled and both companies sued each other, with Nike retaining the naming rights to several shoes. Asics sponsors a variety of sports associations, teams and individuals; sponsorships include World Athletics and the Los Angeles Marathon . The company announced on October 4, 2011, that it would be

3192-406: Was severely devastated by the 6.9 Mw Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995, which destroyed major parts of Kobe and Awaji , as well as Nishinomiya and Ashiya and the neighboring Osaka Prefecture , killing nearly 6,500 people. Hyōgo has coastlines on two seas: to the north, the Sea of Japan , to the south, the Seto Inland Sea . On Awaji Island , Hyōgo borders the Pacific Ocean coastline in

3249-458: Was the qualifier for the 1992 Summer Olympics Basketball Tournament . Kobe was one of the host cities of the 2002 FIFA World Cup , hosting matches at Noevir Stadium Kobe (then known as Wing Stadium Kobe), which was renovated to increase its capacity to 40,000 for the event. Kobe was one of the host cities for the official 2006 Women's Volleyball World Championship . Kobe also hosted the World Darts Federation World Cup in October 2017. The event

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