Today I went to Kobe and brought a visit to Ijinkan-gai (異人館街).
First, I have to explain the name 「異人館街」. The Japanese word for "foreigner" is 「外国人」, which is sometimes abbreviated to 「外人」, literally meaning "outsiders" (with a negative connotation). But an older word for "foreigner" (especially Western foreigners) is 「異人」. The Kanji in this word are 異, meaning "strange", "different", "unusual", and 人, meaning "man", "human". 「異人」 thus literally means "strange people", and this word too has a negative connotation. It is basically not used anymore.
In the case of 「異人館」, 「異人」 refers to Western business people living in Japan at the end of the 19th century, mainly in Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki, the three main ports that were open to foreign trade at that time. The word 「異人館」 refers to the houses these business people lived in (館 means "mansion", or "building"). 「異人館街」 refers to a village of mansions of these foreign business men. There are such villages (or better: what remains of them) in Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki.
Phew, that was a long introduction!
I went to visit the Ijinkan-gai in Kitano in Kobe. It contains about 40 such buildings, all reflecting the life of Western people over 100 years ago in Japan, a country where contacts with the foreign world was very limited and strongly regulated. I really admire these people, as many foreigners find Japan a difficult country to live in, even now.
The picture below is the 風見鶏館 ("Kazamidori-kan). 「風見鶏」 ("Kazamidori") stands for "weather vane", referring to the weather vane on the top of the tower of the building.
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