Weekend Trip to Kobe

This past Monday was a national holiday, so for the three day weekend Jess and I went to Kobe. We stayed in a hostel not far from Sannomiya Station, which I took to be more or less the center of the city. It was about four hours by bus, and it was a pretty familiar route as it's the one I've taken to get to Osaka several times.

Neither Jess nor I had a very particular agenda for what we wanted to do in Kobe, but the general idea was to sight-see, shop, and eat. We went to a number of shopping areas but against all expectations, I didn't buy much clothing. For sight-seeing we checked out Kobe Harbor, Ikuta Shrine, the Nunobiki Herb Garden and waterfall, and the Kobe Kachoen (flowers and birds park).

The Kachoen was by far my favorite part of the trip. It was basically an indoor aviary with tons of flowers and different kinds of birds. Most of the birds were loose within their respective sections of the aviary. For example, there was a waterfowl pond with ducks, swans, and a couple of cranes. The ducks could leave the pond and walk around on the visitor paths if they wanted, but mostly they stayed in the water. There was also a section with several small toucans flying around loose, and for 100 yen (about $1) you could buy a cup of fruit and feed them. Throughout the park there were different ways you could interact with the birds, usually involving food. For 500 yen you could take a picture with a penguin seated on your lap, but it was limited to five groups, and we didn't get signed up fast enough. Oh well.

Flowers in the entryway of the Kobe Kachoen

Feeding the toucans! He flew right onto my arm once he saw me hold out the food.

A small owl

Dining area

A sign warning the visitors not to step on the ducks' feet

A crane

Penguins!

Water lily pond

There was also a neat bird show where some trained birds demonstrated their talents. There was a cockatoo that could say "Konnichiwa" (hello) and her own name. She also would take a small scrub brush in her beak, fly to another perch, and drop it into a bucket on command. When her part of the show was over, she waved bye-bye with one foot. There was also an owl and a Harris hawk that were trained to fly back and forth between various perches. The owl was less than enthusiastic about the flying, but the trainers sent the hawk back and forth all over the place and it never balked. To add to the excitement, the trainer would hold her glove fairly low so that the hawk skimmed just barely over the tops of the visitors' heads.

The weather was great all weekend, so we were able to enjoy outdoor activities as well. We went most places on foot. Ikuta Shrine was very beautiful, and we even got to see part of a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony. Nowadays a lot of people have western-style weddings, but this was a Shinto ceremony, I think. I didn't take any pictures of the wedding itself, though, because it seemed weird to take pictures of a stranger's wedding.

Torii gate at Ikuta Shrine

The Nunobiki Herb Garden extended partway down the side of a mountain. To get to the start of the garden, we took the ropeway (gondola) and got a great view over the city. Though the garden's focus seemed to be herbs, there were also plenty of flowers as well. We walked all the way back to the bottom so that we could check out Nunobiki Falls along the way. Both of us were pretty tired by the end of that expedition.

View of Kobe from the top of the gardens

Cityscape and cosmos flowers

Nunobiki Falls

And of course, while in Kobe we tried the famous beef. We went to a restaurant called Steak Land, and since we went at lunch time, a Kobe beef set meal only cost about $30. If we had gone at dinner time, it would've been more like $70. At the fancier restaurants, the price only goes up from there. Our meal came with cooked vegetables, miso soup, pickled vegetables, a small salad, and a drink, so it was a pretty good deal. The meal was prepared teppanyaki-style, where we were seated around a grill and the chef prepared the food in front of us. I don't eat a ton of meat in general, but I thought it was delicious. The flavor was good, and it was tender enough that it really didn't take much chewing. I'm glad we tried it.

All in all, it was really nice to get out of Kochi and go somewhere a little more cosmopolitan. It was easy to get around, there were plenty of different things to see and do, and people mostly ignored us (as opposed to staring all the time). I'd be interested to go back sometime.