The second weekend in June I was lucky
enough to have a 3 day weekend. I was also lucky that it was a sunny one –
seeing as Japan has now gone into the rainy season and soon the days will
become water filled and it will be hard to go out exploring.
I decided that I wanted to get off of
Shikoku and picked Kobe to visit, as I hadn’t been to that city before.
From what I had heard and read about Kobe
it was a great city if you enjoy shopping, but also a more interesting place
for Japanese tourists than foreign ones – compared to Osaka or Kyoto. However I
looked up the city and found that there are some interesting places to see.
I arrived in the city just after lunch and
took a walk from the Shinkansen down to the Ikuta Shrine. The Shrine has an
1800-year history and it is a place of vibrancy and energy.
After that I walked back up to the
Shinkansen station to take the Kobe Ropeway up to see the Nunobiki Herb Garden.
The ropeway takes you to the top of the Herb Garden; here there is a
confectionary and an observation deck where you can see to the port. It was a
cloudy day, so the view wasn’t clear – but still it was beautiful to see the
cityscape.
The Herb Garden was also a beautiful walk.
It being a seasonal garden different flowers and herbs grow at different times.
At this time in the year it was the roses that were the big draw, as well as
the newly blooming hydrangeas (which are my favourite flower so I took quite a
few pictures of them – I won’t be posting all of them). The smell in the garden
was also lovely. It was a mix of herbs like dill and fennel, but also the
flowers and it created this calm and enjoyable atmosphere.
From the herb garden I walked back down to
where the shrine was, but this time I headed for the stores. I walked through
the Motomachi District, which is a long shopping street. I didn’t do any
shopping but it’s a great way to pass the time and to see the city. After
window shopping it was back to the hotel.
The next day I was up early. I had a full
day planned and wanted to get all of it in before having to catch the
Shinkansen home.
I started out my day in the Kitano area.
This is the northern part of the city and within it is the Ijinkan Quarter. It
is a historical district that contains foreign residences from the late Meiji
(1868-1912) and early Taisho (1912-1926) periods. Ijinkan refers to any foreign residence from that time, but it is
more commonly applied to this area of Kobe.
I bought a pass that allowed me to see into
the 9 major residences and allowed me to have photo taken dressed in clothing
styled after that time period. The residences belonged to people from parts of
the Western world including France, England, Panama and Germany as well as
others. Each residence has been preserved and kept to show the difference
between former resdents. It’s quite interesting to see how the foreign
residences mixed in with cities that still contain many traditional Japanese
homes.
After finishing in the Ijinkan I caught the
bus to Kobe Port. The port is probably the most well known image of the city –
with its tower covered in vermilion piping and the giant metal fish statue.
There isn’t much to see at the port in terms of scenery but there is a view of
the Inland Sea, as well as a nice walk to Mosaic, which is a market place.
Though filled with modern stores now it preciously was a dockyard building.
I wasn’t up for much shopping, but I did
stroll through the market before catching the bus back to the Shinkansen
station.
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| I did get to enjoy the tasty Black Sesame ice cream. |
Overall it was a fun 2 days in Kobe, and I enjoyed my time there quite a bit. I was glad that I chose to see the city before I leave Japan.
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