Near the Kobe 神戸 waterfront is a grand stone building. A weathered plaque bears the following inscription:
On this site in July 1868
was established the first
American consulate in Kobe
The American consulate can be seen in this map of Kobe from 1929:
And in detail:
It is no longer an American consulate. The yellow awnings above the windows read “Grand-Back 大きいサイズの紳士服専門店”. It is a clothing store for large people:
- Grand-Back Big & Tall グランバック.
- グランバック神戸元町 / Grand-back Motomachi Kobe
- 兵庫県神戸市中央区海岸通り1-1-1, 〒650-0024
- TEL.078-393-3344
- Google map
Am I alone in finding this amusing?
For a list of all of Grand-Back’s store locations, see their website. For stores in Tokyo, 東京大きいサイズの店, two of the more popular Tokyo locations are:
Yurakucho Grand-Back- 1-7-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 〒 100-0006
- グランバック有楽町店
- 東京〒100-0006都千代田区有楽町1-7-1
- Google map
- TEL.03-5222-5700
Aoyama Grand-Back
- 1-2-3 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 〒 107-0061
- グランバック青山店
- 東京〒107-0061都港区北青山1-2-3
- Google map
- TEL.03-3478-6941
Links and Glossary:
- Link: Maps of Kobe, Japan in 1914, 1929, 2016
- 大きいサイズの服 = large size clothing
- 大きいサイズの紳士服店 Large size men’s clothing store
- Kobe, taxes, and hills: the golf courses of Hyogo Prefecture ゴルフ場利用税堅持のための全国市町村連盟
- Maps of Kobe, Japan (1914, 1929, 2016) 神戸市の地図
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