Day 6 - Kobe

Kyoto National Museum

Again it was breakfast at station, then headed of for a little shopping in the Teramachi area before going to the Kyoto National Museum. The museum displays and explains the culture of Kyoto, how it came into existence and developed, as well as what influenced that development. The Permanent Exhibition has a historical museum introducing history and culture and an art gallery displaying works of painters of Japanese painting and Western painting, sculptors and artisans associated with Kyoto. The museum really gave a good insight into the history of the region.

Kobe harbour area

View of Kobe Harbour district

We decided to go to Kobe for the afternoon and caught the train for the hour and a half trip. By the time we arrived at Sannomiya Station we were starving, and had lunch at the very stylish Dining Road & Deli Cafe.

Kobe has always been a port city, and was one of the cities to open for trade with the West following the 1853 end of the policy of seclusion. In 1995 It was hit by the Great Hanshin Earthquake, 7.2 on the Richter scale. 6,434 people in the city were killed, 212,443 were made homeless, and large parts of the port facilities and other parts of the city were destroyed.

The wave-shaped Orient Hotel

Central Kobe with the mountain backdrop

The port area has been completely rebuilt in a modern style, and feels similar to Darling Harbour in Sydney or Docklands in Melbourne in that  shopping and entertainment facilities have been incorporated into its maritime functions. The weather was very overcast and grey, making photography quite difficult. We caught a ferry out to Port Island which has shipyards and a museum, but the most interesting part was looking back at the city with a massive hotel on the foreshore that looks like a giant wave - It's called the Orient Hotel, but may be better described as the Tsunami Hotel?

View of Kobe from the funicular

A wedding on the mountain above Kobe

One of the attractions of Kobe is a funicular that you can take to the top of the mountain behind the city. Great for panoramic views, and the location is also popular for Western style weddings. There is also a very large greenhouse garden there which is used for growing herbs and medicinal plants.

Like something in a boot?

We spent a little time in the city itself but it was not really remarkable and after looking at some small specialist shops under the railway viaduct, headed back to Kyoto.

Japanese theatre

That evening we went to a performance of traditional Japanese theatre (a potpourri of theatrical styles rather than a single performance) at the Goin Corner. This is only for foreign tourists as a full performance can be a trial for non-Japanese.

Afterwards we had dinner at the Asian Restaurant (Chinese for a change) and then back to the hotel.