Satori - Are you living in Kobe now? Where at? We should hook up when I am down there next week.
So Kobe is very interesting. It is actually quite small. The city is just a strip between the hills and the sea. Just a 10 minute walk from the city center, Sannomiya, and there are all kinds of great hiking trails that wind through beautiful woods and number of waterfalls. I hopped on the ropeway up to the herb and botanical gardens and took my time walking down. Here are some pics:
View of Kobe looking towards Osaka from the ropeway
Gardens on the hilltop.
A 2 inch pineapple in the green house.
These falls are 10 minutes from the city!
The city itself is not incredibly exciting. I imagine a lot of the residents go into Osaka for a night on the town. However, I did find the Kitano area quite charming. It had a very western feel quite unlike any Japanese city I have visited (amazing, I know). I think db would enjoy Kobe.
But the harbor area was a bit disappointing. Mosaic is a lot like Odaiba, including the fact that everything closes at 10pm (even on weekends) although unlike Odaiba it is very easy to get to and there is no need for it to shut down so early. I did see this very strange futuristic boat on display near the maritime museum. It is supposed to be some kind of ferry, but why no windows?
I also spent a day exploring Osaka. While one day in Kobe was enough I really need some more time here. The Umeda area is basic metropolis and not too exciting but here is a cool futuristic skyline shot:
The Orange Street area further south was filled with trendy shops a bit like Aoyama. There were some really cool design shops here SpiderMonkey would have enjoyed. This boutique had an especially cool exterior:
Unfortunately I finally stumbled upon Namba and Amerikamura late in the afternoon and my time was limited. Amerikamura is like the atmosphere of Harajuku with the coolness of Shimokitzawa.
And right around the corner, Namba has all the glitz of Shinjuku and was packed with people on a Friday night.
I really need to explore this area some more.
I have a lot more pictures of Japan that I want to post. I am working on coming up with a better way than my current pics page but the pictures keep mounting up and it is becoming a daunting task. More to come though for sure.
