- Kobe Night Skyline
Over the long weekend, I commenced my first overnight travel in Japan. As a prelude to better and further travels, I decided upon a 3 day and 2 night trip to Kobe and Himeji Castle. On Saturday morning, four of us left Hirakata City and arrived in Kobe fairly quickly. We first toured around Kitano-cho which is a section of Kobe that was historically foreign diplomat dominated and contain numerous examples of western architecture situated along the mountain side. The destination is quite popular with Japanese; however, the group consensus was that it was probably far from the best part of the trip. Although it is a nice hike up the mountain, beware of the outrageous entrance fee that most of the houses charge. I recommend just walking around the area as there is little to see inside of the houses.
Kobe Port
For lunch we headed to Chinatown located in Metropolitan Kobe. The Chinatown is quite small compared to Richmond or even Vancouver Chinatown, but it was nice to see some Chinese food being served. We settled on a relatively inexpensive Chinese restaurant and were left less than satisfied. However, some of the street vended food was superb, albeit expensive (especially the duck!).
Kobe Chinatown
Upon noticing that daytime was limited we hurried to the Sake district hoping to score some free alcohol, but by the time we arrived all of the Sake breweries were closed. We then headed to Kobe tower and which was a great end to a long day, with magnificent views of the entire Kobe city and port. I highly recommend the tower as the admission fee was nominal and the night views were second to none. Over the weekend I managed to take numerous photos so please enjoy!
Kobe Tower
Clearly you never had the chance to visit the world’s largest Chinatown in Yokohama!
When you come to Tokyo again, we’ll go there. It’s called 中華街. Also, a most excellent picture of Kobe Tower! You must’ve used a tripod or something.
P.S. follow up on peoples’ comments if you want them to comment more!!
By: Ben on September 19, 2008
at 1:05 am
bro, pro shots of the scenery. missing you over here. i got my cc. woohoo!! all thanks to you!
p.s. your not missing much over here
By: Chris S on September 19, 2008
at 2:31 am
Wow, such great pics! So, does everyone visit Kyoto during orientation at Kansai??
By: Steph on September 19, 2008
at 10:39 am
Ben – Actually, I just steadied myself against the railings and took the picture in night landscape mode with shake reduction on. Although the night landscape mode has a slower shutter speed, by using the railing for support, I was able to craft the shot. And I will reply to comments from now on!
Chris – Glad to see you got your CC! If u need anything else let me know! I miss chilling with my bros as well.
Steph – The Kyoto trip is optional, but almost everyone signs up because 1) to visit Kyoto (it may be their first ryoko in Japan) 2) to meet some of the local students. I am still in contact with my guides from that day. So i highly recommend that you sign up for it!
By: Darrell on September 19, 2008
at 9:10 pm