Kobe (神戸市 Kōbe-shi?) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture and a prominent port city in Japan with a population of about 1.5 million. The city is located in the Kansai region of Japan to the west of Osaka. Kobe is classified as one of Japan's seventeen designated cities and is a part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan sprawl.
It was one of the first cities to open for trade with the West, in 1868, and as such it is known as a cosmopolitan port city. Consistent with this reputation, Kobe has a population of 44,000 foreign residents from more than 100 countries. The city hosts the Asian or Japan headquarters of a number of companies including Procter & Gamble and Nestlé, and is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef.