page_title: Kobe foreign settlement
section_title: Businessmen
hierarchical_section_title: Kobe foreign settlement / Foreign residents / Important foreign residents / Businessmen
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: アレキサンダー・キャメロン・シムの顕彰碑。1901年建立&#91;1&#93;。 所在地は東遊園地（兵庫県神戸市神戸市中央区加納町6丁目）。 English: Monument of Alexander Cameron Sim (Higashi-yuenchi Park,Chūō-ku,Kobe,Hyogo,Japan).Built in 1901&#91;1&#93;.
context_page_description: The Kobe foreign settlement, also known as the Kobe foreign concession, was a foreign settlement located about 3.5 kilometers east of the Port of Kobe, in the future Chūō-ku of Kobe, Japan. Established based on the Ansei Treaties, it existed from January 1, 1868, to July 16, 1899.
  The site was located between the Ikuta River to the east, the Koi River to the west, the sea to the south, and the Saigoku Kaidō highway to the north. It had an area of 78,000 tsubo, and was developed based on a logical urban plan. For these reasons, it has been praised as the "best-planned foreign settlement in the Orient". Its extraterritoriality was acknowledged in some of its administrative and financial affairs, and it was managed by an autonomous organization structured with foreign residents at its center. Its operation was smooth, and relations between the Japanese and foreign sides were generally favorable. The settlement prospered as a gateway to Western culture and base of trade, spreading its economic and cultural influence to the surrounding areas as well.
context_section_description: Alexander Cameron Sim moved to Kobe in 1870, where he worked for the settlement druggist Llewellyn & Co. before establishing Sim & Co. on Lot 18. In addition to distributing Ramune and proposing the foundation of the KRAC, Sim was also known for leading the settlement's internal firefighting force, for which he held lookout from a fire lookout tower in Nishimachi Park near his home. He kept his firefighting clothes, helmet, and axe beside his pillow even when he slept and participated personally in almost every fire-fighting effort during his tenure. After the settlement was returned and the firefighting force incorporated into Kobe's, Sim was left a position as honorary advisor in the new structure and allowed to direct a team. Sim was also the vice chairman of the settlement's Municipal Council, and as the chairman was sick during the ceremony for the return of the settlement, Sim attended in his place and signed the associated documents.
  In 1868 Arthur Hesketh Groom, in the service of Thomas Blake Glover's Glover and Co., came to Kobe to establish a branch office of that company. In 1871, Groom helped establish Mourilyan, Heimann & Co. at Lot 101 of the foreign settlement with his Glover and Co. colleague Heimann, exporting Japanese tea and importing Ceylon tea. In 1895 Groom built a villa on land on the peak of Mount Rokkō borrowed under his son's name. Proceeding to sell off lots on the mountain to other foreigners, he laid the foundation for development on the mountain. Groom was also known as a sportsman, and was involved in the founding of both the Kobe Cricket Club and the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club. Groom's private four-hole golf course, which he built in 1901 on Mount Rokkō, was the first golf course in Japan. In 1903, after the return of the settlement, this developed into the Kobe Golf Club, with a membership system. Groom also worked as president of the managing company of the Oriental Hotel from 1897 to 1916.
  Edward Charles Kirby established Kirby and Co. immediately after the opening of the port, importing machinery as well as various goods and sundries. In 1869, Kirby and two Englishmen established Onohama Iron Works, which Kirby then took control of as Onohama Shipyards. Onohama Shipyards made a large contribution to Kobe's shipbuilding industry. In 1882 it produced Japan's first iron steamboat, the Dai-ichi Taiko Maru (第一太湖丸) (a train ferry over Lake Biwa). However, it fell into management difficulties, and in 1884 Kirby committed suicide.
  Edward Hazlett Hunter, a previous employee of Kirby and Co., left that company to establish his own trading business, Hunter and Co., at No. 29 in 1874. In 1879, he gained the cooperation of the lumber dealer Kadota Saburōbee to found Osaka Iron Works (the future Hitachi Zosen Corporation) at the mouth of the Abe River in Osaka and thereby expand into shipbuilding. Hunter succeeded in building a wooden dry dock in 1883, when the project was considered quite difficult with contemporary technology, and successfully transformed Osaka Iron Works into a leading shipbuilder of the Kansai region. Hunter's diversified management put his enterprise on a strong track. When the effects of the Japanese government's deflation measures drove Osaka Iron Works into dire straits in 1882, his company was able to endure the crisis with profits from exporting polished rice. At this time, Hunter exported over 10,000 tons of rice a year, and Kobe rice set the price standard on London's grain market. In his later years, Hunter trusted his business to his son Ryutaro Hunter, who worked hard to deepen cultural exchange between foreigners and Japanese, including by gathering votes for the amendment of the unequal treaties from the foreign residents.
  The Walsh Brothers, Thomas and John, moved to Kobe as soon as the port opened and established a branch of their trading business Walsh and Co. (later Walsh, Hall, and Co.). Walsh, Hall, and Co. purchased cotton, which was at the time used in the West to make paper, in Japan and then sold it abroad. They then used quicklime to harden the cotton b
caption: Monument honoring Alexander Cameron Sim in Higashi Yūenchi Park
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