History
Minatomotomachi Station opened on 7 July 2001 with the inauguration of the Kobe Municipal Subway Kaigan Line. The provisional construction name was "Sakaemachi," and the present name was chosen after local advocacy because the station sits at roughly the east-west midpoint of the Motomachi district. It is, however, around 600 metres from the JR/Hanshin Motomachi Station, which is more conveniently reached from the neighbouring Kyūkyoryūchi-Daimarumae stop. The single island platform with two tracks lies underground. The west entrance reuses the surviving facade of the 1908 former Daiichi Bank Kobe Branch (designed by Tatsuno Kingo); it is illuminated at night and helped earn the station inclusion in the second Kinki Station 100 Selection.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
The west entrance is built into the surviving 1908 facade of the former Daiichi Bank Kobe branch — designed by Tatsuno Kingo, also the architect of Tokyo Station's red-brick Marunouchi building — which is lit up at night above the subway entrance.