OrpheusGrey

The first weekend in November was another 3-day weekend in Japan. The nation official celebrated Culture Day, and Jenn and I decided to head up to Kobe for a couple days. Kobe is about 2 hours northeast of Okayama, and is renowned for the beef produced there. Even minus import/export costs this delicacy was still too expensive for us to sample.

After getting sidetracked in Himeji by running into some friends on the train, we made it into Kobe around 3pm Friday. We were surprised at how American the city felt. The new buildings built after the 1995 earthquake have a very Western style. Plus, with the harbor and the palm trees as a backdrop, the whole city felt a bit like San Diego.

We walked around the city a bit, then down to the harbor to see the maritime museum and Kobe Tower up close. There were lots of interesting people there, but not much in the way of activities or sights. There is a huge mall complex on the harbor, that hosts some cool restaurants like a churrascaria, chic sushi, and a kobe beef place. There were also some cool shops, a nice viewing deck, and a little carnival with a ferris wheel, roller coaster, and tilt-a-whirl type things.

The whole place was covered in Xmas decor, which was also a bit surprising. After taking it in, doing a little taiko-drumming at the arcade, and catching a beer, we finally found a place to stay for the night.

The next morning we decided to head for the little town of Suma, on the beach to the south of Kobe. Not much to do there but hang out on the beach. The water was relatively warm for November, and the air a bit crisp. We watched the fisherman, walked down the wharf, contemplated going into the poor excuse for a Sea World, then left for Himeji Castle.

All in all, Kobe is a nice place, with a lot of nightclubs. But nothing much to see otherwise.