Kobe is a port city in south west Japan next to Osaka. It was the last stop on my business trip to Kansai(Kyoto, Osaka & Kobe) back in September. It would also leave me longing for the whole area when I returned to Tokyo. Each city had it's unique atmosphere, Kyoto was tradition, Osaka was culture and Kobe was heart.
Arriving
One thing I like to do when visiting a new city is buy a new album and press play as I explore. It makes reliving moments and sites a bit more vivd when listening to that album thousands of miles away.
When I landed in Kobe for the first time I had heard a lot of foreigners really liked it and liked living there. So I was in a good mood and scanned for some new DnB albums as my soundtrack to this city. I came upon Sub Focus & Wilkinson's "Portals", downloaded it and exited the Sannomiya Eki(station).
One thing that I think makes Kobe special is it's geography. It's squeezed between a mountain range and the ocean. This kind of keeps things centralized, rather than sprawled out. You can walk from the seaside to the mountains in about 15 minutes. In between you have the Wharf district, the shopping district & the entertainment district. It really made exploring the city easy. Ok, it's a small city too.
Wharf district
This area is divided up into 3 main places, Port Island, The piers & Mosaic.
Port Island is a residential & shopping area before you reach Kobe International Airport further out on a second island. For me the attraction here was the Shiosai Park, an area along the water that offered beautiful views of the city back on the mainland. I only visited here at night though so I'm not sure what it's like during the daytime.
(Looking across the bay towards the city)
It's a quiet spot, but a bit out of the way to get to, unless of course you live in the tower apartments that border the park.
Heading over to the opposite side of the wharf is the famous Kobe Tower & Mosaic shopping & dining area. Unfortunately for me Kobe Tower was undergoing renovation.
Kobe still tried to make it look nice with some pink lighting though.
Mosaic is the place I would recommend if you are visiting. There are a plethora of restaurants that overlook the bay as well as a ferris wheel to ride and a boardwalk to stroll along.
The ferris wheel.
As I was having dinner at Bikuri Donkey(surprised Doneky) a dining cruise ship called Concerto pulled in.
My wife has been asking me to take her on a dining cruise in Tokyo so I took this as a sign.
Then there is the Great Hanshin Earthquake memorial located in "Meriken" park opposite Kobe Tower.
In 1995 Kansai was struck by the 7.3m "Great Hanshin Earthquake". I remember it fairly well as I was becoming very interested in going to Japan around that time. The city was totally devastated. Elevated highways collapsed, about 119,000 buildings destroyed, 95% of the piers were destroyed and the city was engulfed in fires. 4,600 people in Kobe city died.
The main portion of the memorial is bleak and cold. While there were displays, it felt very lacking for such an immense tragedy.
Various areas in and near the park left some of the damage as a memorial and a reminder.
It felt surreal to stand on the docks and see the old damaged walkway that had dropped 3 feet.
Then there were remains of the elevated highway.
Steel & reinforced concrete were no match for the violent shaking.
Here is a short documentary on the tragedy if you are unfamiliar with it.
Shopping District
Making our way from the Wharf district let's head over to the shopping district. Much like other big Japanese cities you will find the high end foreign brand shops like Louis Vuitton, Gucci as well as Japanese favorites Beams, Uniqlo & GU.
There are a few Shotengai, covered shopping streets closed to vehicles, with smaller clothing stores, eateries and misc. goods.
Shopping in Japan wouldn't be complete without a unique vending machine. This one was selling gourmet coffee beans.
Entertainment District
Finally we make it over to the entertainment district on the other side of Sannomiya station. Restaurants, bars & host/hostess clubs fill this area.
I spent most of me evenings here looking for places to eat at. There are no shortage of eye catching restaurants as well as Kobe staples like Moriya γ’γΌγͺγ€ Steak House which features Kobe beef.
This area is landmarked by the 29 story Remm Plus Kobe hotel. It's an attractive looking building when lit up at night. I found myself taking many different pictures of it.
In front of the hotel is a public space that I would liken to Shibuya's famous Hachiko.
Every night I walked by people would be gathered here enjoying themselves. My only complaint is it could a bit of greenery. I did really like the gray tiles throughout the pedestrian areas though.
On the other side of the station there is a killer burrito shop called "The Crazy Burrito" you can read about here.
Besides burritos I had also ate at a yaki niku place and a pub that served delicious roast beef, but there are restaurants for just about any type of food in this area.
There was one other place I wanted to mention, a bar called Silly. I stumbled upon it one evening and not only made a business connection with the co-owner, but I found a great bar too. I'll write about that another time though.
Here is a video I did while still in Kobe.
This concludes my Adventures In Kansai. Below are links to my prior posts about my time there. It's a wonderful area and I can honestly say if I wasn't living up in the Kanto region Kansai is definitely where I would like to live, especially Kobe. There's something about the city, perhaps it's long history with Westerners or the fact that it has a bit of everything in a small area, that made it comforting. I can't say for sure, but I definitely want to go back.
Adventures In Kansai P1 Akashi Bridge
Adventures In Kansai P2 Kyoto
Adventures In Kansai P3 Osaka
Adventures In Kansai P4 Osaka
Adventures In Kansai P5 Dotonburi
Of course you can find all of my adventures on Pinmapple.com/@rt395
Thanks for reading!
