Kobe

After Kawasaki, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city, third-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital of Hygo Prefecture. It is 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of Osaka, on the southern side of Honsh's main island, on the north shore of Osaka Bay. The city, together with Osaka and Kyoto, is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area, which has a population of roughly 1.5 million people. Following the end of the policy of isolation in 1853, Kobe was one of the first cities to open for trade with the West, and it has since become regarded as a cosmopolitan and nuclear-free zone port city.

The city of Kobe in Japan is recognized for its high literacy and life expectancy statistics. Could it be, however, that the people who live here live longer and have a brighter outlook as a result of the clean atmosphere they share? To safeguard the city from flooding in the event of a storm, Kobe has a seamless sewerage system and a separate drainage system.

They have the best waste management systems and a well-connected road network that keeps traffic moving. This means less pollution of the air and environment.

• Country: Japan