The Kobe Municipal Foreign Cemetery on Futatabi-san holds around 2,900 graves of the foreign settlement's merchants, sailors and missionaries. It is closed to the public except for free guided walks on the fourth Sunday of April to June and September to November.
Why it's unique
Yokohama's Foreign General Cemetery also opens on limited days, so the format is not unique in Japan. The claim is this cemetery and its access model: closed year-round except for twelve guided Sundays, with places by lottery.
The guided walk is the only way to see the graves of the people who made the treaty port, including the two chemists remembered as fathers of Japan's camera industry.
Before you go
Places are by lottery (30 per session), with applications taken on the 1st to the 10th of the month before; do not just turn up.
Among the graves are the two chemists remembered as fathers of Japan's camera industry, and the guide will find them if asked. The weekend city bus 25 that reaches it runs only late March to November, which is why the walks stop in winter.
